Comparative Essay

Sam Queen
12/20/11
A Place Full of Likeness' and Differences
Authors Note: This is a comparative essay on how April Morning and Dead or Alive both have one of the same themes.

We can lose many things other than our live to war or fighting. Every one of the soldiers who fought in any war lost their innocence as soon as they pulled the trigger. A perfect example of this would be the two characters Jack Ryan Jr. from Dead or Alive and Adam from April Morning. The books Dead or Alive and April Morning are both based on the theme of Loss of Innocence though the show it in different ways.

One reason why both books are similar in theme is both the plots revolve around the loss of innocence. While one is taking place in the times of the Revolutionary War and one in modern day they both lose their innocence because they are a part of the war. Jack loses his innocence when he goes out into the field to hunt down the Emir. While Adam loses his innocence when he signs the muster book and goes to war for freedom against the British.

Another reason why these two characters are similar is they both lose their innocence in the same way. One way you can tell that this is when Adam loses his innocence is on page 70 when his father asks him without looking up from his chair “name?” and he replies back, “Adam Cooper.” Now the second Adam says that it his when he loses his innocence. Also Jack Ryan Jr. loses his innocence when he actually goes into the field to try and catch or kill the Emir who is like the Osama Bin Laden in the book.

While both these characters are similar in many qualities but they have some distinct differences as well. Jack Ryan Jr. is smart, intuitive and good with information and deciphering it. Adam is strong, smart, and stubborn. Jack Ryan is an analyst who works for a secret organization that is unknown to the government, which is why he is good at deciphering information. Adam is good at helping around the house because he can do hard labor.

While both these characters are very similar with the theme of loss of innocence and both characters losing their innocence in the same manner. But both characters are different because they have different characteristics.