Comparison/Contrast Summer Assignment
Life is a subject that can take, well, a lifetime to learn about. Everyone
seems to have a unique way of viewing life, from out to live it, to adapting
to it, or simply how to enjoy it. Both Walden(or, A Life in the Woods)
by Henry David Thoreau and Chapter 2 by Neil Simon pivot about the
subject of life, though in slightly different ways. Walden was written
as more of a journal or outlet for Mr. Thoreau's thoughts and revelations
during his two year 'isolation' in the woods when he tried to find out the
essentials of life, and if one could happily live with the bare minimum. In
Chapter 2, the issue at hand was more of what you could do to be happy-and
stay that way.
The two novels are in different centuries, places, and situations, and yet
you could say they still address the same issue: what does it take to be happy?
The reasons they wish to know are simply just different, as well as the characters.
However, the experience of the characters have their similarities.
Mr. Thoreau expresses frustration when writing down the words of a friend
who worked very hard to have milk, tea, coffee and meats everyday. Mr. Thoreau
thought that if you worked moderately, you wouldn't need or even want milk,
tea, coffee and meats everyday. He believed that simplicity was the only way
to contentment. He worked on his farm, but only just enough for himself and
most of the time he lounged about Walden Pond and wrote. He didn't understand
why no one else would do the same.
George, the protagonist from Chapter 2, feels similar frustration,
but it was born more out of resentment than confusion, and it was directed
to his new wife. He had been previously(and happily) married, but his wife
had died of cancer. He loved Jennie(his new wife), but he didn't like starting
a new relationship and often acted as though he had been with her for years
rather than weeks. She didn't know all of his quirks and pet peeves and some
part of him didn't understand why she was taking so long.
In addition to that, both of the authors found ways to state their opinions
in matter-of-fact ways, and tried to work humor into their novels to balance
the seriousness of their content. It was actually not something I expected
from Walden, a book written more than a century before I was born, and it
was an essay rather than a fictional story. Still, Mr. Thoreau and Mr. Simon
both seem to share a laid back and friendly type of writing that can interrupt
even the most serious moments and cause the reader to smile without wrecking
the emotion of the current scene or looking out of place. One particular scene
in Chapter 2 made me cry, laugh and question how I treat others at the same
time. Walden did not make me cry, but it also stirred my emotions. After reading
it, I couldn't help but look about my house and my neighborhood and count
out everything that was unnecessary and should probably be given the truly
needy. Walden made me realize just how much I have, and just how little I
do to help others who have less.
So despite that in the beginning the two novels seemed nothing alike, in the
end they(as well as their authors) had much more in common than I realized.
They contained the same writing styles, simply different angles to support
a basic idea, and put to use their passion for the subject to evoke thought
from a reader. Besides the time frame, the only glaring difference is that
although the ending of Chapter 2 was clear, Walden's ending told us nothing
of what Mr. Thoreau did after his stay in the woods.
MD 8-29-02 TEACHER COMMENTARY: As an example of the summer project work this
paper is clear, fairly concise and definitely to the point. The content could
be improved by a detailed comparison of short passages from each work to show
(not simply tell about) the differences or similarities the writer refers
to. This would, of course, also make the paper fuller, longer, more like an
image than a recitation. Perhaps a bit more could be said about the differences
that time had wrought and something of those differences, in Thoreau's and
Simion's styles could have been shown.
Stylistically, the writer falls into the use of the second person, "you,"
which can detract from the seriousness and formality of the subjects. The
same could be said about the use of "I," the first person. More
effort to place the writers and their works in context, early 19th century
prose from a Harvard graduate, local historian as compared to a late 20th
century popular playwright whose plays regularly run on Broadway. The difference
between presenting ideas in prose as opposed to dialogue might also have been
explored.
