Comparing Tone In The Scarlet Ibis And The Girl Who Can

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Short stories with the same underlying topic can differentiate in meaning. Author of “The Girl Who Can”, Ama Ata Aidoo, and author of “The Scarlet Ibis”, James Hurst, both deal with body weakness. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, Hurst uses his voice and to direct the reader’s feelings. His use of details and imagery changes the meaning of the story. In “The Girl Who Can”, Aidoo uses details as well as direct statements to change the mood instead of indirectness. Both stories differentiate in the tone throughout the story, the type of irony, and the climax of the plot. First, “The Scarlet Ibis” has a much deeper tone that gives the reader a chilled feeling. The tone is a lot darker with the underlying plot of death. The details and setting create an image of eeriness. “The Girl Who Can” creates an underlying tone of hopefulness. The main character, Adjoa, persevered and her actions gave the entire short story an uplifting tone. The two short stories begin with the same problem but evolve into totally different stories because of the path the tone makes it take. …show more content…

The irony is that he helped him learn to walk, which was the thing that killed him. His actions to help his brother were undermined by his evil nature. The irony in “The Girl Who Can” is that her grandma considers her legs to be too thin to do anything but Adjoa ends up winning the school race. The difference of irony between the two stories is that in this story she overcame a struggle but in “The Scarlet Ibis”, the older brother ended up killing his younger brother. Both of these stories include situational

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