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Compare And Contrast Life On The Continent Of Africa By David Sedaris

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Comparison of “Life on the Mississippi” and “My Childhood on the Continent of Africa” Imagine if one could choose between one life or another. Choosing a better life, or keeping the life that one has now, would be an amazing action. “Life on the Mississippi,” by Luis Alberto Urrea, and “My Childhood on the Continent of Africa,” by David Sedaris, both focus on the possibility of being able to choose between one life or another, while the reader will become emotional from the characters, in order to keep the reader engaged in the texts. The way this possibility is shown throughout “Life on the Mississippi” and “My Childhood on the Continent of Africa” is through the characterization of the characters and imagery, which gives the reader an emotional …show more content…

The reader can view the characterizations through different examples that are provided in each text. The reader can start to see the characterization of both characters, the little boy and Sedaris, by viewing what each character wants in life. The little boy in “Life on the Mississippi” is wanting to be like Tom Sawyer, describing that, “He defined my world- after all, I was as scruffy as Tom and just as adventure hungry” (Urrea 1). The quote is explaining that the little boy is wanting to have a life like Tom Sawyer, because the little boy has had a difficult life and wanted a better life to escape his reality. The way the reader knows that the little boy has a difficult life is through the detail in the text that explains the little boy’s living area. There are details explained, one being, “My parents fought this mute resignation by smuggling books into the sunny midnight of Shelltown, our rough little corner of southeast San Diego” (Urrea 1). This quote is explaining that the area that the little boy and his family are living in is a bad part of the town, explaining that the parents have to smuggle books for the little boy and that the town is in a rough part of San Diego, which probably means that the town they all live in is the ghetto part of San Diego. The little boy shows that he has a want, which is a better life. Sedaris, in “My Childhood on the Continent of Africa,” also has a want that he is seeking. Sedaris is wanting a more exciting life, rather than one that he thinks is boring. Sedaris talks about how he wants his life to be like Hugh’s life, the other character in “My Childhood on the Continent of Africa.” Sedaris quotes that, “ “When I’m

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