Compare & Contrast Essay

The famous French playwright Moliere once said, “The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.” Throughout our lives, we often are faced with hardships that cause us to change ourselves, the people around us, and the situation itself. Because of this, it may reveal our true characteristics to show who we truly are. In the memoirs “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls and “Warriors Don't Cry” by Melba Patillo, they vividly illustrate the story of how they faced their struggles. They both prevailed because of their tenacious mind sets, but handled the situations in both different and similar ways. The characteristics of the characters Jeannette and Melba show the similarities and differences between the characters.

Jeannette Walls was born into a poor family who often had to live homeless and without food. The environment in which she grew up in is what gave her the characteristics she possesses. One trait that describes Jeannette is that she is very adventurous. Since she was constantly exposed to new surroundings, she became curious of them. While she was homeless in the desert, she would play a game with her father called Monster Hunting. She grew to not be afraid of anything, since she could fight off these so called “monsters.” Also, Jeannette is very decisive. To get away from Welch, a poor town in West Virginia, she made sure that she would get enough money to move to New York. She did this by getting a job to save up money for a bus ticket and for college. Along with this, Jeannette is very ambitious. She worked very hard to get accepted into college by working for the school newspaper, since she wanted to become a journalist. On the other hand, Melba Patillo was born into a middle class family who lived in Lit...

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...nd many other soldiers were removed from the school, Melba became more frightened of what could happen to her. This makes them different because while Melba would worry about what would happen without protection, Jeannette was not focused on needing other people to achieve her goals.

To conclude, the characters Jeannette Walls and Melba Patillo display both similar and different characteristics. The traits that they retain effected their stories in many ways, and ultimately determined the outcome of them. Since Jeannette showed ambition towards her future, it lead her to become successful, making the story end positive. As for Melba, her courageousness and determination towards ending segregation created an inspirtational environment to readers. Overall, the characteristics of a character can create vivid images for readers, making reading an interesting experience.