A Comparison of the Short Stories, "Windows" and "A Devoted Son"

MCU
游涵鈞 Cherie 93659425 #25
Time: 65265-Thu.20:20-22:05
Comparison Presentation 27th-Oct-2005

Source of material: http://essayinfo.com/sample/essay/15/
Two items to be compared: two short stories 1. "Windows" 2."A Devoted Son"
Relationship or class the items share: character's growing background, emotion, family
Controlling idea: three universal similarities
Order of three points of similarity: general to particular
Point of view: Third person
Verb tense: Past
Tone: Straight-forward
Diction: Concise, Concrete

OUTLINE
Title: A Comparison of the Short Stories, "Windows" and "A Devoted Son"
Introduction: ¶1
Thesis statement: The two stories "Windows" and "Devoted Son" both have the same universal theme.
Subtopic: Happiness is not based on wealth or material objects.
Subtopics sentences: When Leah was growing up she lived in poverty but was still happy where as the old man was wealthy yet still unhappy. Leah and the old man became happy emotionally not materialistically, and both Leah's and the old man's families were materialistic and unhappy.

Body: ¶2, 3, 4
Paragraph 2:
Topic sentence: no specific topic sentence; refer to paragraph1-When Leah was growing up she lived in poverty but was still happy where as the old man was wealthy yet still unhappy.
Item1: Leah grew up on a small farm in Estonia, and not very wealthy.
Item2: The old man lived with his wealthy son.
Concluding sentences: None of these things require money. The old man had everything one can acquire with wealth, but none of these things could make him happy.

Paragraph3:
Topic sentence: Leah and the old man found happiness emotionally, not materialistically.
Item1: The window itself did not make Leah happy, but what the window represented did.
Item2: The old man had everything from great wealth to great healthcare to prolong his life, but he could not find happiness through these things.
Concluding sentence: He did not need money or nice things to reach happiness.

Paragraph4:
Topic sentence: Leah's family was very materialistic. The old man's family was also very materialistic.
Item1: They lived in poverty and believed that if they had nice things and a nice house they would be happy.
Item2: The son had lived in poverty, and had the idea that if he got a nice job that paid a lot of money, he could buy nice things which would make him happy in life.
Concluding sentence: This is true because not once in the story when he was rich didn't say he was happy, the only happiness he experienced was when he was poor.

Conclusion: ¶5
Having nice things and a lot of money does not provide true happiness.

Summary:
This article compared the similarities of two short stories. The stories were about the general idea that what do people think about happiness. In "Windows", Leah grew up in a poor, materialistic and unhappy family, but she was satisfied and enjoyed her life. She found happiness from her positive attitude. In "A Devoted Son", the old man lived with his wealthy and materialistic son. He could get everything he wanted, but he was unhappy. They became happy by emotion not material things. Poor doesn't bring unhappiness, but rich doesn't bring happiness either.


A Comparison of the Short Stories, "Windows" and "A Devoted Son"

The two stories "Windows" and "Devoted Son" both have the same universal theme. Happiness is not based on wealth or material objects. When Leah was growing up she lived in poverty but was still happy where as the old man was wealthy yet still unhappy. Leah and the old man became happy emotionally not materialistically, and both Leah's and the old man's families were materialistic and unhappy.

Leah grew up on a small farm in Estonia, and was not very wealthy. She had to share a bed with her sisters. Even though she did not have a lot of money, she was still happy and enjoyed life. She found happiness through playing with her sisters and friends, and from the beauty of nature. None of these things require money. The old man lived with his wealthy son. He had everything money could buy; a nice house, nice car, nice things. One thing that made him very happy was food. He could have any dish he wanted where he lived, but he was not allowed to eat anything he liked. The old man had everything one can acquire with wealth, but none of these things could make him happy.

Leah and the old man found happiness emotionally, not materialistically. The window itself did not make Leah happy, but what the window represented did. The window represented her youth, which made her remember her happiness as a child. The window reminded her of happy she was, and reminiscing about her past made her feel that happiness again. The old man had everything from great wealth to great healthcare to prolong his life, but he could not find happiness through these things. His idea of happiness was living life to the fullest until the end, but he did not get to. It reached a point where he could not do anything that made him happy because it was all bad for his health. He was so miserable that the only thing that could make him happy was death, and it did. He did not need money or nice things to reach happiness.

Leah's family was very materialistic. They lived in poverty and believed that if they had nice things and a nice house they would be happy. That's why Leah's daughter in law constantly went shopping and is also why she kept listening to the stories on the radio. The stories on the radio would obviously be about rich, or anyone who is not poor, and the stories would most likely be the classic Hollywood style, where everyone is happy and everything ends up nicely. She believes that anyone who isn't poor lives like that, so she believes she would also be happy in the same way. The old man's family was also very materialistic. The son had lived in poverty, and had the idea that if he got a nice job that paid a lot of money, he could buy nice things which would make him happy in life. To achieve this goal he had to fight very hard. So hard that once he got what he wanted, he realized that the reward was not worth the fight. This is true because not once in the story when he was rich didn't say he was happy, the only happiness he experienced was when he was poor.

Having nice things and a lot of money does not provide true happiness. Leah was happy when she was poor and the old man was unhappy when he was rich. Leah and the old man became happy emotionally not materialistically, and both of their families were very materialistic but the old man's rich family was just as unhappy as Leah's poor family.

Reference:
1. http://essayinfo.com/sample/essay/15/
2. http://essayinfo.com/sample/essay/16/
3. http://www.essaysample.com/essay/000077.html