Comparing C. B. Bryan And The Palace Thief By Ethan Canin

In literature, often times you would notice correlation between characters of completely different stories. Maybe they get to face the same problem, make similar decisions, or just have a similar story. Every author, however, brings characters to life with his own imagination, making even the most look-alike characters differ enough for you to wonder how they would act one another's shoes. Such case could be observed with the protagonist of "So Much Unfairness Of Things" by C. D. B. Bryan and the main character of "The Palace Thief" by Ethan Canin. Both P. S. Wilkinson from the first story and Mr. Hundert from the second one are similar, because they get stuck between their conscience and other people's expectations, until they get to choose

which option soothed them best.
The first similarity of those characters can be seen by just comparing their background stories. Mr. Hundert is a history teacher, who gets a son of a local senator as a student, which brings him towards contacting the senator himself, and P.S is the fifteenth member of Wilkinson dynasty studying in the Virginia Preparatory School, under a keen eye of his imperious father. They both try to stay true to themselves, as far as teaching or student life goes, while also trying to please person watching them, be that a senator or a father.
Each of the two characters has a big goal they need to achieve.

P.S has to pass a Latin exam to impress his parent, and Mr. Hundert wants the senator's son, Sedgewick Bell, to participate in the "Mr. Julius Ceazar" competition, so that he can prove himself as an intellectual instead of an outsider. As they follow along on their paths, they both make a decision that further proves the similarity between two characters. During the Latin exam P.S. realizes he can not possibly pass with the little knowledge he has, just as he finds a cheat sheet with translations inside his desk. He has to choose whether to be chivalrous and ignore the temptation, or do everything he can to please his father and cheat. The pressure he felt from the expectations laid on him by his father compelled P.S. to betray his conscience and cheat. In the second story, Mr. Hundert is was living through a completely different, yet oddly similar story. As the roman history contest began, his outermost goal was to keep the competition fair. However, in the middle of the competition he noticed that Sedgewick Bell was cheating off the outline hidden within his clothes. Mr. Hundert knew it was his duty to speak up in front of the crowd, so that everyone could see the truth. But the senator, Sedgewick's father, was in the room as well, so after asking the headmaster for advice Hundert decides to keep it secret, thus letting Sedgewick off the hook for

free.
The aftermath of those events differs, due to the difference in positions P.S.

and Hundert were in, but overall outcome only wurther proves the similarity between the protagonists. P.S gets turned in by his classmate, and when directly asked whether he cheated or not, he admits to the deed. P.S suffers from the thought that he disgraced his father and the dynasty, but the burden of lies his soul carried after the exam fell off, so his mind could find peace soon. In the case of Mr. Hundert, everyone was happy how the issue settled down, so no one was there to call him out. He carried the weight of his deed for the rest of his life, until he finally got to confront Sedgewick many years later. Hundert's thoughts about his life were identical to the thoughts of P.S. as he was walking out of the classroom, which means, considering how similar the two characters are, if P.S. did not get caught, he would have been more unhappy that he was after getting expelled from Virginia Preparatory

school.
P.S. Wilkinson and Mr. Hundert are extremely similar characters created by two different writers. Even though the time period they lived in differed, I believe if they ever met, they would have made good friends.