Project Research

Compare and contrast elements of two different texts. For example, explore the similarities and differences between two characters in the texts, or examine how one theme is handled in similar and dissimilar ways in two different texts. You may choose from any of the readings we have done this semester including poetry, short fiction, and drama. You may also choose two texts from two different genres to write about.

This is the prompt that I want to explore for my first literary project. Unfortunately, I failed to do the reading notes for week 3. I catch up with the reading even though I cannot declare it in Canvas. Right now, I would like to examine the following stories: About the House Girl and The Luck of Roaring Camp.

Both stories have a body of water in the story, more specifically: a river. In the About the House Girl, the river was used as a connecting bridge from Patapir's lonely existence to the party of life where he realizes his love for Ifapi. While in The Luck of Roaring Camp, the rising water from the river after a thunderstorm caused the tragic demise of The Luck and Kentuck.

In both stories, the theme is love. It's amusing how these stories showed two different kind of love: romantic love and parental love. In the About the House Girl, Patapir exhibits his resilience in pursuing Ifapi even when her aunt continues to pretend that Ifapi is sick, denying her of love. While in The Luck of Roaring Camp, Kentuck continues to show his paternal love for The Luck although he was not the one who adopted the baby. He changed his way of life for The Luck, and he said at his last breath, "he's a taking me with him, I've got the Luck with me now." Patapir and Kentuck are willing to change their way of life to express the love they feel for someone.

Work Cited:

Harte, Francis Bret. The Luck of Roaring Camp, The Outcasts of Poker Flatand The Idyl of Red Gulch. Vol. X, Part 4. Harvard Classics Shelf of Fiction. New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1917; Bartleby.com, 2000. www.bartleby.com/310/4/. 

Hicks, Jack et al.  “About the House Girl.” The Literature of California, vol. 1, University of California Press, 2000, pp. 40-50.