Comparing Themes

Comparing Themes

Author’s note: This is a 5 paragraph essay about the similarities and differences of the theme of April Morning and The Outsiders.

Do you remember when you were a child? When you could just run around without worrying about anything at all? One thing that you have when you are a child is innocence. Innocence is basically just the state of when you are innocent. It is something that mainly children have because when you are a kid you can’t really do very many things that would be that bad. In both April Morning and The Outsiders, the characters lose their innocence, before they should.

In April Morning, the main character Adam, signs up to fight the British in the local militia. Now, you might think that he lost his innocence because he shot someone. I think that Adam would have felt better if that was why because, he was prepared to take the life of a man, however, he was not prepared to lose his father. That is why he lost his innocence. Because in one day, he went from a boy to a man due to him watching his father die and realizing that he will now have to get used to living without him. In April Morning Father says “Yesterday he was a boy, tonight he’s not.” In The Outsiders, the two characters Ponyboy and Johnny lose their innocence as well. When Ponyboy is about to be drown by the hands of some kid Johnny steps in to save him and by doing so, takes the life of the other boy. That is how Johnny loses his innocence but Ponyboy loses his because he goes along with Johnny on the run hiding from the cops.

These situations are similar also because; both the main characters lose their innocence not purposely. Ponyboy didn’t choose for his friend to kill someone, and Adam didn’t choose or his father to be killed by the British. In these ways both stories, characters, and themes of these two books are the same.

The one way that the theme is different is that when they lost their innocence, for one it was through his own actions and for the other it was not. For Johnny in The Outsiders, it is his own fault that he lost his innocence. Johnny admits killing him to Ponyboy when he says “I killed him Ponyboy”. He killed that boy and so it was him and him only to blame. For Adam though, it was the fault of a British soldier that his father died, not his. This is the one way that the themes of these books could be considered different. In April Morning, it says “A redcoat soldier raised his musket, leveled it at Father, and fired.” meaning that it was purely the fault of the British soldier.

With all of those main points in mind, they prove what was said previously; in both of those books the main characters lose their innocence. Although, in both The Outsiders and April Morning, there are differences in theme, they are both similar in some ways. In the two books, the main characters lose their innocence before they should.

War is Hell

War is Hell

Author’s note: This is a piece that describes the main conflicts in the book April Morning and how they are resolved.

Have you ever been to war? Many people would answer no. The majority of the public has seen war movies though. In these movies, they illustrate gruesome bloody battle scenes. Soldiers climbing over bodies of the enemy and their own comrades, limbs being blown of people and, pools of blood cover the ground. These are just a few examples portrayed in war movies. In the book April Morning by Howard Fast a scene like this occurs and becomes the main conflict in the story. In the story, the Brits start to invade the colonies, and the militia is born. When Adam and his father join they are put up against the British army, asking for peace. The result was a blood bath. Many people that Adam knows such as his friends and people that lived in his town, are killed in what I can’t even call a battle. The one death that Adam is most impacted by is that of his fathers. He was one of the first people to be killed on the common. To sum this all up; the main conflict is when Adam loses his father. Unfortunately for anyone that has lost someone they love, there is no way to bring the dead back therefore, the main conflict of the story does not get resolved. In April Morning there are a few minor conflicts. One conflict for example is when Adam is fighting the British army. Most of the time that he was fighting he was thinking about what would happen to the rest of his family if he had gotten wounded or worse. He thought that because his father already died that if he died that there would be no one to take care of his mother, Granny and, Levi. Obviously this was resolved because he came home without a scratch.

Adam's Mother's Point of View

Adams Mother’s Point of View

Author's note: This is a short response of how Adam’s point of view is different than that of his mothers.

What would you do if your son, who you have raised his whole life, had gone and signed up to joined the army? Would you think that it is the right thing to do or be scared, thinking that something bad will happen? Although, you may not think that he is mature enough, your son however does. Although instead of the army it is the local militia, the same situation occurs in the book April Morning.

The story is set in 1775, the year of the battle of Lexington. One day the British begin to invade New England, and the villages’ militia is born. Many men sign the muster books which means that they are signing up to defend their town. Among those men is Adam. He thinks that it is the right thing to do and, that he is mature enough. Because Adam is the main character, it makes the readers opinion on the subject the same as Adam’s. As Adam’s father says: “Yesterday, he was a boy, tonight he’s not.” Which is exactly how Adam feels.

Although Adam’s opinion is similar to other people’s( including his father’s) his mother’s is very different. Adams mother thinks that he is still a boy, him being only 16, and is not mature enough. she didn’t even want him to go out in all the commotion in the middle of the night when the church bells were rung and the whole town was awake and discussing the British invasion, but it was Adams father and grandmother that had to convince her to let him. Even after he signs the muster books, his mother says: “A boy doesn’t turn into a man overnight.” which sums up most of her opinion about it. If the novel had been in her eyes then he story would have reflected her feelings and worries for her son, and how she really didn’t want him to go and fight the British. That is why the point of view in stories differs from which character that tells it.

Dynamic Character

Dynamic Character

This is a piece about Randy and how he is a dynamic character in The Outsiders

In a story, there are always some people that will not change at all. They are called static. From the beginning to the end of the story they won’t change at all. However, when someone changes, they are described as dynamic. This change could be very little such as a change in a feeling towards someone, or as extreme as them changing into almost a whole new person. In The Outsiders, one of the characters who changes the most is Randy.

In the beginning of the story, Randy is a soc, meaning that he is a rich kid that lives on the west side of town. He drives around with his friend Bob in a mustang and goes around jumping greasers. He gets drunk and into fights with people and is even part of the cause of Bobs death.

Bobs death was probably the main reason why Randy changed so much. The reason that I think that is because it was after that, that he talked with Ponyboy and realized that his own problems weren’t as bad as Ponyboy’s. When he talks with Ponyboy, he realizes that the rumble won’t change anything between the Greasers and the Socs. “Greasers will still be Greasers and Socs will still be Socs” is one of the main quotes of the story. This is why I consider him to be a very dynamic.

Randy is not the only character in The Outsiders that change. I would have to say that Johnny Cade is the 2^nd most dynamic. He changes to a tough guy while at first he was the “kid” of the gang. That is two different things but they both change. Also Ponyboy changes throughout the story but again it is in a very different way. Cherry is the only person who is dynamic in the same way as Randy because they both almost change from a Soc to a Greaser and they also understand that the greasers and socs are both people and don’t discriminate against the other.

Randy himself doesn’t only change but, he changes the views of other people as well. Take Ponyboy for example. When he talks with randy he realizes that socs aren’t all bad and that carries to the rest of the gang like Johnny. These are the reasons that Randy is a dynamic character.

Response to the themes of The Outsiders

The definition of Family

This is a paper about the definition of family theme and how it relates to Johnny’s life.

What is a family? Is it your mom and dad? Or your sisters and brothers? In some cases it is the people who take care of your or are around you. They may not be blood related, but that is why family is a very unique thing.

When you think of family, you probably think of your immediate family but for Johnny, his mother and father could care less about him. He is neglected my both of them but the time he is with his dad is when his dad is beating him. The only form of family is the greasers. Ponyboy says that “He would have run away a million times if we hadn’t been there”.

The one in the gang that is the most like his family would have to be Dally. Dallas Winston is the one in the gang who cares for Johnny the most as if he was actually his blood family. Sure, everyone else is likes Johnny and is friends with him, but Dally is the one who saved him from the fire and, when Johnny dies, Dally kill himself. I believe he did that because he thought that Johnny was the one (good) thing that he lived for. This is why the greasers are his only family. This situation proves that your real family isn’t always blood related.