Contrast Comparison Between Annie John and Charles
At the start of “A Walk to the Jetty” Annie John says “I did not want to be a nurse,” but she had to. This is the main struggle discussed through her journey to becoming one, but there were many previous obstacles she overcame. Along with Charles in “Next Term We’ll Mash You” that had small obstacles in his mind that he had overcome while seeing if a college was worth it. These obstacles had required sacrifices to get over them, through Annie and Charles’ short stories or lives these sacrifices they may have either helped or deterred in different and similar ways, here is how.
Everything that Annie John is leaving to become a nurse is for a reason, not to become a nurse, but to get away from her town. Annie is sure she wants to go due to it being in England it means much more than a, I am leaving town, it means I am moving on with my life. Annie John says multiple times she doesn’t want anything to do with the town, for example, she says, “I never wanted to lie in this bed again,” showing her forthright decision to go become a nurse even though she didn’t want to.
Both short stories have to do with school and how they are dealing with going to a college or across the world for school. Toward the end of Charles’ story, one of the boys 'helping’ Charles said “Next term, we’ll mash you,” after this he and his family left. His family loved the place while Charles hated it with a passion, he said nothing and let them comment on how good of a school it was soaked in. Along with Annie John, as I said previously, she did not want to become a nurse but she wanted to just get away from the life she used to live, showing neither of them really want to go but they will eventually have to.
For Charles, on the other hand, he is going to go to college, even though he doesn’t seem fond of the idea and how he disliked the college visit, he knows it will happen eventually. Knowing he won’t like it he accepts his parents compliments to the place they went in disgust and sadness.This shows that he isn’t ready for that college and he just wants to not go at all when in Annie John’s situation she needs to leave to get away from her old life.
Overall these two short story characters had similar obstacles but their sacrifices made to cope with their problems differed from wanting to go and disliking to go. They both will eventually have to go but Annie needs to leave her past life while Charles doesn’t want to leave due to the boys teasing him and pressuring him not to come to the school. These two characters overall have the same main hardship but the ways they dealt with it was in silence, like Charles, which seems to not be working out for him, or with leaving, like Annie, which was a sacrifice well worth and well thought out with the position she was in.
