Question

Note: The characters in the two passages live in different historical eras.

Passages:
A: It was freezing cold out on the Prairie, but Daniel trudged on. He had to find firewood. His mother was ill. She needed the warmth of a fire. So many people on the wagon train had died. Daniel was scared. He wondered if they would ever reach Oregon by the end of 1861.

B: "Hello, Chicago Power Company?" Bob said into the phone. "I need you to come fix our furnace. The heat won't come on, and it's very cold. My mother's sick. It's a fairly new furnace, too. Mom said it was installed in 2005. Can you come right away?" He hung up and got blankets out of the closet to cover his mother until help came.

Compare and contrast the two characters in these passages. In your answer, be sure to identify the setting of each passage and the conflict faced by each boy. How does the historical era in which each boy lives affect his conflict? Use events and details from the passages to support your ideas.

Answer 1

The main difference between the two boys in this passage is the fact that they live in different time periods.

In the first passage, we can identify the setting as the 19th century, and we can also observe that the boy and his family are in the Prairies, traveling to Oregon. The location appears to be the same in the second passage (Chicago). However, the child is not travelling. Moreover, the time period is the 21st century. This means that Chicago is now a developed place, and that the child and his family are able to enjoy modern technology such as a furnace or the telephone.

Nevertheless, we also see that both children face a similar problem. In both examples, the mother of each child is sick and cold, and the children have to find a way to warm her up.

Answer 2

There are two different scenes in the passage.

The first one is set on the outside of a wagon train before or during the year 1861, while the second scene is set on a house after the year 2005.

The first boy is trying to get some wood to warm his mother who is ill and he has to walk to get it. The second boy has her mother ill too, but he has to face with the problem of electricity, so he just makes a phone call to the power company to fix it.

The main difference between the historical era in which they live, when trying to solve the conflict, is that one has to solve the problem himself while the other boy makes a phone call and another person solves the problem for him.