alike but different

Austin Johnson

Alike but Different

This essay is comparing the main characters and their books

            When you are a kid everything bad seems so far away but when something bad happens to you start to see the world differently.  The books “The Outsiders” and “April Moring” both have the same theme of loss of innocence even though both of the main characters are both clearly different 

Even though both main characters have different events happen to them they both lose their innocence.  Both books have death in it in the Outsiders there was a lot of death.  Ponyboy’s parents died, his friend died from burn from a fire and a man named dally died from police bullets.  While in the book “April Morning” Adam has never experienced death, but because the British are coming he enlists to defend his town, because he enlists he has to kill or be killed. 

Another way they are alike is the way they both lose their innocence.  The way they both lost their innocence is through the death or the reality of death. Ponyboy’s wakeup call was when his parents died it made him realize all the things that he takes for granted.  His whole life changed when that car accident happened.  While Adam’s wakeup call was when the rider came to the town and told everyone about the marching British army.  He had to defend his village from the attack.

Even though their stories have the same theme they are two very different characters.  One example is Adam has to kill and Ponyboy would never kill anything.  Ponyboy had so much death around him that he hates it, two of his friends died and his parents died. While Adam signed up for killing the enemy soldiers he has no experience with death so he does not care.  After all they are the people who attacked him, he is just defending his village.  Ponyboy’s first death he experienced was his parents’

The last example of how they are different is the difference with their family.  Ponyboy’s family was fine until that car crash. His parents were good parents and gave him and his brothers a good life.  But after the car crash his brothers Darry, Sodapop became his new guardians.  While Adams parents did not very love they still loved him but were not showing it very well.  His dad was the worst he constantly put him down and found everything wrong with him and yelled at him for it.  It was not until the enlistment that he gained his father’s respect.

Even though the characters are different the two books still have the same theme of loosening innocence.  The most common way of loosing innocence is through the experience of death of a loved one or the knowing of death.  Death the way both characters lost their innocence.