Comparing and Contrasting
This essay is comparing and contrasting two books, The Breadwinner by
Deborah Ellis and Making it Home by Beverly Naidoo. I will compare and
contrast the books by analyzing the plot, characters, themes, issues and
problems. I will also look at how different organizations are used in the two
books and describe these in detail. Finally, I will use 6 Thinking Hats to
give my opinion about both of the books.
Analyzing the 2 books
<Comparing>
The two books are both about children experiencing wars and events that
we usually don’t experience. The characters in these two books are both
not really free to go out because there is gunfire sound at night so they can
get killed and in Afghanistan, girls aren’t even allowed to go outside. The
two books have a similar theme because Making it Home’s theme is
Countries have wars that makes people live as refugees and The
Breadwinner’s theme is When war happens People are not free in some
countries so it is mainly about people in wars and how it changes people’s
live. The plot is also a little bit similar too because the people in these
books are taking action when wars happen for example when Parvana
decides to disguise as a boy to earn money and when people in Making it
Home became a refugee and moved to another country. The problem is
extremely same because both of the books had a war on the character’s
country.
<Contrasting>
A big difference about the two books is that The Breadwinner is a fiction
book and that Making it Home is a nonfiction book. The characters in both
books are also different because Parvana actually dressed up as a boy but
the children didn’t, instead they became a refugee when a war started. The
styles of the two books are different too; The Breadwinner is a story but
Making it Home is a collection of facts instead of a story. Parvana and the
children did a different thing when there was a problem such as wars so
the plot can be different.
Organizations
In Making it Home there were many organization such as UN, UNICEF, Red
Cross, and MSF. The UN helped keep lot’s of peacekeeping missions that
helped wars to stop faster. They always try to help people by trying their
best to keep the peace. Red Cross and MSF both heal and cure sick people.
But MSF isn’t a hospital; the people in MSF actually go to the place that
there is war and heal people. UNISEF is an organization that provides food
and health care for children in need. It is very important because children
need somebody to take care of them. These organizations are a very
helpful organization because it fixes many problems. At the book The
Breadwinner there was an organization named Taliban. They were a group
of people and tried to take over Afghanistan by power. They made rules like
women are not supposed to go outside and arrested people with no
reasons. The Taliban also killed people in a cruel way. Taliban does a
negative impact on the world because they can make people miserable
unlike the organizations in Making it Home.
Opinions
Black hat: In The Breadwinner, I didn’t like about the Taliban because they
kept on making rules like woman can’t go outside and also arresting and
killing people that didn’t do anything wrong. The Taliban were the people
that started the war that gives problem for everyone. At the book Making it
Home, I also didn’t like how soldiers were killing lots of people and they
sometimes burnt down houses so the people will leave. I felt depressed
when I was reading about Joyce seeing her parents getting killed.
Yellow hat: I liked how Parvana was a risk-taker when she helped her family
by dressing up as a boy because if I was her, I will never be able to do that.
I also liked how Parvana tried to do something for her family like for
example even though she didn’t wanted to get water for her family, she got
it so it can help her family. But unlike The Breadwinner, the children in
Making it Home didn’t dressed up like Parvana. In Making it home I liked
how the children were never giving up and tried hard to get freedom and
peace back.
Red hat: I felt surprised when I discovered that Parvana’s dad was alive
because I thought he wasn’t going to be alive. I was also extremely
surprised too at Making it Home because a child named Joyce actually saw
her family getting killed in front of her during the war. I think she was very
brave because after, she had nobody to take care her.
Blue hat: In The Breadwinner, I first thought that Parvana’s family was
going to be a refugee and move to another place after her dad got arrested
because they can’t do anything but I found that they didn’t because
Parvana dressed as a boy. Also at Making it Home I thought that the all the
children were living as a refugee but some of them, they found a happy life
in another country.
Green hat: I think Parvana’s mother should have dressed up as a boy
instead of Parvana because she is a grown up so people will never notice. I
also think that Parvana is a little young to dress up as a boy so she might
get stressed. In Making it Home I think that there should be more
organization because not everyone got help because there are too many
people who needs help.
Connections (short story or poem)
REFUGEES
Are we to be refugees
enduring the struggle, and fight
then the headlong flight.
We leave our belongings
strewn throughout this violent land.
No homes or, warm hearth welcomes us.
songs do not honor us.
We are the victims. In our land
of sorrows only the warriors
have their songs.
Ah, but to think, when they are gone
we, the refugees remain.
always doing battle with our enemy
HUNGER...
Johnoe mc guckin
This poem reminds me of the book Making it Home because it is about
refugees. In Making it Home the children also said that they had left out
every single thing or belongings that they loved and cared about. A girl
named Neema also had said nothing can help her and that there is no place
anywhere, like the poem tells us. Most refugees also don’t have homes to
live in because they live in tents.
Reflection on using a book group to discuss literature
I think the Book Group went well. I sometimes had a question about one of
the chapters and my group would help me. I thought that the system of
writing summaries for each chapter was good idea because if only one
person writes it that person might not know everything and it is good to
see everyone’s idea. I learnt that people in my group thought differently
from me because everyone can have other ideas of doing something. I
enjoyed listening to my group’s notes because I liked looking at different
facts and ideas. I was a thinker because I tried to think while taking notes
so it would help me a lot on my essay. I was also communicative when I
was talking to my group because I wanted help my friends more in
understanding of the books. It was kind of difficult when we were deciding
what job we should do because many people might want the same job but
we had to get different job so we sometimes argued.