Comparative Essay

The life of being different

            Imagine being different? Strange, weird in others eyes? Ignored, pushed away from the rest of the group. In the books, The Pearl, and, Stargirl, the main characters, Kino and Stargirl, are similar and different in the ways of being different.

          One way they are similar is that the people around them don’t like them. Stargirl is crazy and over the top and people at her school feel mad and jealous that she always is standing in the spotlight. People turn on her and soon the whole school is ignoring her. Kino has a similar problem. He finds the “Pearl of the World”, and people are jealous too. The people of the village where he lives get mad and a couple even try attacking him for the pearl.

          The books are similar, but they are different. In Stargirl, Stargirl just tries to get people’s attention, from the business where if “You talk to me, I’ll scratch your back”, to changing her whole look. But Kino takes it even farther. Throughout the book, he doesn’t really doesn’t care about getting people’s attention; he only wants to protect the pearl. When his wife, Juana, tried to throw the pearl back into ocean because of the bad luck it had brought their family, Kino practically beat her up to get the pearl back. When someone attacked him for the pearl, Kino killed him. Kino doesn’t really care that he is different.

          Stargirl and Kino are very similar and different in the way of being different. They both struggle in some way, Stargirl, getting people’s attention, Kino, trying to protect the pearl. But struggle is part of being different. Think about that the next time you see/think someone is different. Think about how they have to live in the life of being different.