Only Human

Only Human

Author’s Note: I am writing this piece to showcase my knowledge of Comparing and contrasting the two different main characters Nathaniel Dunn and Ponyboy Curtis from the books Give Me Liberty by L.M. Elliot and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I hope you enjoy this piece as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

            It truly astounding how two completely different people, can at the same time be so alike. On one hand you have Nathaniel Dunn, from the book Give Me Liberty by L.M. Elliot. A shy, scared and terribly misunderstood boy living in colonial Virginia in the times of The Revolutionary War. While on the other hand you have Ponyboy Curtis, from the book The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, a greaser living in the stereotypical world of the East side and West side feuds. But Nathaniel and Ponyboy are not as different as they may seem.

            When Nathaniel Dunn’s and Ponyboy Curtis’s mothers died they were forced to give up their innocence in the world and grow up at a very young age. For instance in the book Give Me Liberty Nathaniel’s father is forced to sell Nathaniel into indentured slavery, Nathaniel had to drastically mature and realize that his father was doing this to give Nathaniel a better life and not because he did not love him. In comparison in the book The Outsiders Ponyboy, after his mother’s death, is forced to watch after himself and get along with his brothers so he did not get put into a boy’s home and get taken away from his family. He had to stop with the childish charades and become a responsible adult. This takes a great toll on both of these boys and makes them very similar in character. But is not the only thing that Nathaniel and Ponyboy have in common.

            Ponyboy and Nathaniel also share the similarity of taking responsibility for their actions. For example when Nathaniel takes money from his master Basil, he learns of a horse gone missing and sets off to find the horse for the reward money that he can repay Basil with. When he finally does find the horse the takes him back to his rightful owner and gives the reward money to Basil. Ponyboy shows the same level of responsibility when Johnny Cade (Ponyboy’s friend) and he accidently fall asleep in a lot. When Ponyboy returns home it is very late and he does not want to tell his brother Darry where he has been in fear of Darry being mad at him. But Ponyboy takes responsibility for his actions, just like the way Nathaniel did and tells his brother the truth.

            Though Nathaniel and Ponyboy have many things in common they also have many differences. One of these differences is that they both live in two completely different time periods. Nathaniel lives in colonial Virginia in the time of The Revolutionary War and Ponyboy lives in the time period of the 1960’s. For example in Nathaniel’s time people could be sold into indentured slavery and be forced to work for someone for a set time period. Were as in Ponyboy’s time indentured slavery was illegal and they got to choose whether to work or not.

            Another disparity between Nathaniel and Ponyboy is that Ponyboy was fortunate enough to be able to get a good education. Were as Nathaniel only had an education that went as far as being taught to play an instrument by his master Basil, as far as that he had no further teachings he could not read nor could he comprehend cursive handwriting. This set these two characters very far apart intelligence wise, changing your complete view of the story as well.

            Nathaniel and Ponyboy may be very different but they are exceedingly similar as well. Both of these characters give an excellent perspective of the time periods they are living in and show astonishing levels of maturity. These books teach you may things about the times of life and life itself. It is true that Nathaniel and Ponyboy are alike ad different in numerous ways as show throughout these books. But even though two characters may be this way we must all remember we are only human.