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compare and contrast what conflicts the heroes have and how they face them


hollyn91 3 / 5  
Aug 20, 2009   #1
THE QUESTION: "Find the protagonist/heroes in each of the three pieces and compare and contrast them using specific instances from the text for support. The protagonist from each text faces a definite struggle against one or many opposing forces and or people. Be sure to explaine these instances and show how they are similar and/or different from one another in each text."

The protagonists from the three novels; A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton, and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte are respectively similar in many ways, yet there are many instances when they face various situations differently. Walter Younger, of A Raisin in the Sun, is a 35 year old limo driver with a family to support. Walter finds himself battling his Inner Conflicts; to succeed in life and Racial Prejudice. In Cry the Beloved Country, The Reverend Stephen Kumalo is a prominent Black Christian Pastor in a small town in South Africa. He too finds himself battling racial discord as he travels to a rapidly developing city, Johannesburg, to help his son and sister. The main protagonist of Wuthering Heights is Heathcliff, who was an orphan lost in the streets of Liverpool, where he was found and adopted by Mr. Earnshaw. When he was young, his primary quarrel was with the actual son of Mr. Earnshaw. As he grew, he became more sullen and morose, battling spirits of evil within himself, most importantly vengefulness.

A Raisin in the Sun takes place in the mid 20s in Chicago's Southside. The story is centered around the Youngers; Lena(Mama), Walter, Ruth, Beneatha, and Travis. Walter is a limo-driver, his wife Ruth works cleaning houses, and Beneatha is studying to be a Doctor. When Mama's husband dies, he leaves an insurance check of 10,000 dollars. Walter's first conflict is with his family's living conditions. The apartment is deplorable, only supposed to be a temporary place to stay, the unpleasant apartment became permanent when Walter could not afford to go elsewhere. Mainly, Walter's apposing force would be White Rule in America and his inner self-unhappy with his life he persistently complains to Ruth and his Mama what he could do with the money. Upon examining his life, Walter realizes that he wants to be like the wealthy men "he drives around". He does not want his to wife to work, and he wants a better future for his son. He finds that unfortunately, African Americans did not typically rise out of the slums of Chicago's Southside to affluence. Neither did they buy houses in prosperous white neighborhoods. Walter finds his answer when Mama takes her money and puts a down payment on a house in a white neighborhood "where [they] just aren't wanted", the Housing Association sends Mr. Lindner to persuade them to sell their house back to the association. Walter remains calm and tells Mr. Lindner that they will still move into the house no matter what their neighbors say. This occurrence is just one of the many racial quandaries that Walter and his family face. Later on Mama gives the rest of the money to Walter. A few days later his 'business partners' makes off with most of his investment money and his dream of a rich man's life. At first he turns to alcohol to combat his money and marital problems and then realizes that his family's happiness means more than his place in life.

Like Walter, Reverend Kumalo in "Cry the Beloved Country" fights racial tension in South Africa. The healthier grasslands upon the hills are set aside for white farmers to grow their crops, whilst the desiccate farm lands in the valleys are left for the African farmers. Kumalo receives a letter that his sister, just one of the family members that left for Johannesburg and never returned, has fallen ill. After scraping together his life savings with his wife, he sets off for the giant town alone, partly for his sister and mostly to find his son. He gets his first taste of the big city when a man offers to help him and ends up making off with his money. There he also unearths some disturbing news; his sister has become a prostitute. Kumalo attempts to fight for her soul and for her return with him. Throughout the novel Kumalo battles the internal conflict of an identity crisis and an external conflict with his son all the while being shocked by cultural dissimilarities and ethnic variations between Ndotsheni and Johannesburg. Kumalo often loses his sense of identity while he is anywhere but home at one time even stating he had been to Johannesburg "hundreds of times before" to the passengers on the train. As if his diminishing sense of self was not enough, the court in Johannesburg finds Absalom-his son-guilty of murder. Absalom, like his father, is searching for himself. He represents a trend of young Africans fleeing their small hometowns for the big city. He is easily persuaded by his peers and in this way veers of the path that he had started with his father. Kumalo, the moral center of the novel, confronts all of his conflicts with grace and dignity with the help from Tixo (God).

Heathcliff was adopted into the Earnshaw family early on, his conflict with Mr. Earnshaw's biological son, Hindley, is apparent from the beginning. Before his death Mr. Earnshaw was appalled at the conflict between the two and sends Hindley away to college. Many years later when Heathcliff is the head of the estate, he meets a man named Lockwood. Upon his stay, he recalls a ghostly encounter with Catherine Linton. While reading an entry in her diary, just shortly after her father's death, Lockwood reads of the way Hindley treated Catherine and Heathcliff, even at one point telling his wife to "pull the boys hair". Heathcliffs approach to this conflict is unlike the other two protagonists. He is a dark, sullen boy and uses tactics such as blackmail to insure Hindley does not get his way. He knows that Mr. Earnshaw favors him and uses this to his advantage. He plots his revenge and often tells of his plots to the family's servant, Nelly, who sees him in a pathetic light and tries to encourage him to be a better person. After losing the love of his life to first marriage to another man and then death, the demons he battled as a child become worse. When Catherine Linton and her husband both die, they leave behind Cathy, who Heathcliff offers to take in, the one kind gesture he makes in the book. However he is a stern man and does not treat her or others with any respect. Just like the other protagonists, Heathcliff was once subjected to vicious racism due to his dark skin color, often being called a gypsy. His way of dealing with these conflicts are different to those of the other two protagonists. He does not confront them head on with understanding and determination; rather, he suppresses his feelings and does not try to resolve the issues.
EF_Sean 6 / 3,491  
Aug 20, 2009   #2
Hmmm . . . you don't mention the racial aspect of Healthcliff's struggle until the end of your essay. However, given the selection of novels you are dealing with, it would seem as if you have been given three protagonists who all struggle in some way against racial prejudice. This might even be taken as an obvious place to start your comparison and contrast -- how does each character deal with what is essentially the same problem? Just a thought.
OP hollyn91 3 / 5  
Aug 20, 2009   #3
Yea i thought that at first but it's only cry the beloved country and a raisin in the sun, there is only mention of racial prejudice in the beginning of the book and it was just a little snipet of it- it was definetly not enough to base Heathcliff's paragraph on because that wasn't his major conflict... these books really are so random and have nothing to do with each other.. I just have a question.. does it read okay? it's my first draft for AP english and I want to know if I answered the question adequately. and I will try and elaborate more on Heathcliff's struggle..thanks :)
EF_Sean 6 / 3,491  
Aug 20, 2009   #4
You deal with each text okay, I guess, though there's a bit more plot summary that is strictly good for the essay. The real problem is that you don't do much comparing or contrasting, which is sort of an issue, given the assignment. Hence my suggestion to look at how each protagonist deals with being an outsider. The racial elements aren't that explicit in Heathcliff's case, but he is clearly an outsider, and that is directly a result of his race, so you can treat the entire novel as dealing with his response to the racism that makes him an outcast. He goes from being the outsider to being the one with all the power, as he brings all those who oppressed him (and their descendants) under his own oppressive control. This has to either compare or contrast with how the protagonists in the other two novels deal with the prejudice that forces them to the margins of society.
OP hollyn91 3 / 5  
Aug 20, 2009   #5
wow that makes A LOT OF SENSE!! he was treated as an outsider like the other two characters were for their race! great thanks that helped me a lot!
EF_Simone 2 / 1,986  
Aug 20, 2009   #6
Hmmm . . . you don't mention the racial aspect of Healthcliff's struggle until the end of your essay. However, given the selection of novels you are dealing with, it would seem as if you have been given three protagonists who all struggle in some way against racial prejudice.

these books really are so random and have nothing to do with each other

Your task is to discover what they have to do with one another. Sean has offered a very good idea but, for some reason, you seem to balk at the key element: Healthcliff was also an outsider because of his race.


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