Compare And Contrast Lives On The Boundary By Barbara Melix

There are many similarities and differences between the article titled From Outside, In written by Barbara Mellix and the book titled Lives on the Boundary written by Mike Rose. Both works focus on the writer’s personal growth and challenges within the English language and the American school system. In both cases, the authors lacked a sense of belonging to the school system. Their lack of belonging stemmed from their differing cultures, but both authors did not posses the same culture as one another. Rose felt that his poor upbringing and lack of study skills separated himself from the other students. Rose, being a white male, did not feel that his race was a separating factor. However, Mellix felt separation from the other students, because she was a different race than them and possessed a different way of speaking than them. Mellix expressed that she felt the need to prove herself, due to her being black.

Both Rose and Mellix use a writing style that integrates flashbacks of their experiences into their somewhat chronological writing style. Mellix …show more content…
Although Mellix’s work is a lot shorter than Rose’s work, both authors express their emotions loudly through their works. Their diction allows the reader’s to empathize with their experiences and relate emotionally. Since the audience now is comprised mainly of students in the American school system, the audience is able to empathize on a deeper level. As for myself, I have encountered struggles with the sense of belonging within the school system. Although my reasons for these struggles are different than these two authors, I was able to emotionally relate and put myself in their shoes. At different times throughout both of these two works, I became emotional and tears came to my eyes. The struggles that I was reading about were so real and hit so close to