Compare/Contrast Essay

Words: 933
Pages: 4

We have probably all heard at least one person say “never judge a book by it's cover,” But, more often than not, appearances say a lot about something. In The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost, the narrator describes the different paths he could go on and makes his decision based on the appearances. On the other hand, in Thank You Ma’am the main character helps a little boy who tried to steal her purse. She decided to help him because of his dirty appearance. Both of these texts use descriptions, setting, characterization, and dialogue to show the idea that appearance says a lot.

In The Road Not Traveled, Robert Frost shows the theme by describing the setting, and helping the reader infer things based on appearances. The narrator arrives at
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In The Road Not Traveled, Robert Frost says’ “I took the one less traveled by,/ and that has made all the difference.” The author suggests that they took the less traveled path and that has made a big difference. This fits the idea that appearance is important because when the narrator describes the paths, the reader is able to infer things that they think might happen, or are parts of the scene. For example, the reader may infer that the narrator wants to be challenged because they took the path that was not flattened by all the travelers and is therefore probably harder to travel on. This prove the theme because the reader can find many important things and infer many important things just by looking at the appearance. Likewise, in Thank You Ma’am, Langston Hughes says, “He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and willow-wild in tennis shoes and blue jeans.” This suggests that Roger is not old and he is wearing normal clothes like blue jeans. The reader can use this to infer things about Roger. For example, they can assume that Roger is not eating a lot because he is frail. Another example is that the reader can infer that Roger doesn't have a lot of money because he is just wearing normal clothes, he isn’t wearing anything fancy. Mrs. Jones uses Rogers appearance to decide that she will clean him up, feed him, and give him