Figuring out who you are paves the path of the life. As a teenager, it is a very important journey to complete. Wanting people to like you for who you are, not what they see, is a problem that many like the character Jerry, in the story “A Mother in Mannville” by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings face. On the other hand, figuring out who you are can be becoming more independent, less fearful, and a new person, like Ted, in the story “Golden Glass” by Alma Luz Villanueva.
These boys each encounter the journey of figuring out who you are, one another deals with knowing what they don’t want in life, and each become who they are from this step in their lives. Despite all these similarities, they figure out who they want to be in very different approaches. Although Ted and Jerry do not seem to have much in common, they do have several similarities. First of all, both are very independent. Ted, from “Golden Glass”, decides to build and live in a fort all summer long, while Jerry, from “A Mother in Mannville”, shows he is independent by being dependable by coming every day to chop the narrator’s wood.
In addition, Ted and Jerry are about the same age and usually are both quiet. Ted is 14 years old, while Jerry is 12, which shows they might have similar interests. Ted does not have much to say throughout the short story, yet Jerry feels like if there is nothing to say, why bother to talk? In the same way, both young men don’t have a paternal figure in their lives. There is no father that can help guide them and teach them that is mentioned in both stories. Finally, both boys are trying to become who they are today.
Ted and Jerry are about the same age, and when you’re a teenager, you’re trying to put the pieces of who you are, and who you want to be together. Even though Ted and Jerry may have some things in common, they have numerous differences. For example, their personalities are very different. Ted is fearful, dependent, and lonely at first, he becomes less afraid, a little more independent, and less lonely by the end. Jerry, according to the narrator of “A Mother in Mannville”, has integrity, that same pure integrity that her father and a few other men had.
She said Jerry was responsible, hardworking, honest, brave, and had no self-pity for himself. Another difference between the two is their upbringing. Ted has a younger brother and sister, a worried mother, and an abusive father who left a few years ago, which resulted in his family still living in fear if he ever came back. Jerry lived in the Carolina orphanage since he was four, and says his mother sends him gifts every Christmas, like roller skates or nice clothing, and tries to visit him every year in the summer.
Another character’s thoughts of each show the differences between the two too. Ted’s mother is worried for Ted because while he was living outside in his fort, his mother felt like Ted and was becoming more like a stranger to his family, and if she tried to talk to him, he would just push her away even farther. The narrator of “A Mother in Mannville”, felt like Jerry was becoming closer to herself, and that he may actually want someone there for him. The final difference between the two is why and how they were trying to figure out who they are.
Ted was discovering himself because he wanted to leave his troubled past behind, and figure out whom he really is. He did this by becoming more independent, leaving all his fear, and now knowing who he really wanted to be and whom he really is now. At the same time, Jerry is trying to find out who he really is, because he wants people to like him for who he is and his personality, not because they have pity for him since he is an orphan. He did this by creating a happier life for himself, was a mother who visits him and sends them gifts.
By the end of each short story, Ted and Jerry figure out who they are. Both are independent, quiet, and are about the same age. However, they have different personalities, upbringings, and ways of self-discovery. In the end, the differences certainly dominate over the similarities between Ted and Jerry. Figuring out who you are, is a crucial step in your life, and that is what might set you apart from another person, like Ted from “Golden Glass”, and Jerry from “A Mother in Mannville”.
