Comparing 'Treasure Of Lemon Brown And The Pearl'

Tarek Elhossiny
Lemon Brown and The Pearl Comparison Essay

According to William Greider, “Everyone’s values are defined by what they will tolerate when it is done to others.” Values define individuals in life and in literature. Walter Dean Myer’s short story,” The Treasure of Lemon Brown,” explores the values of Greg Ridley, a fourteen-year-old boy who wants to play basketball but can’t because his math grade is low. While in John Steinbeck’s novel, The Pearl tells an old parable about Kino who finds a perfect pearl that soon corrupts him with greed. In both stories the main characters face …show more content…
According to the text,” Greg would fail math if he didn’t spend more time studying… And you want to play basketball? His father’s brows knitted over deep-brown eyes. That must be some kind of joke. Now you just get into your room and hit the books.” The quote above gives evidence that Greg wants to play basketball, but his dad won’t let him because how low his math grade is. The quote also shows the importance to Greg’s father about education for Greg. Therefore, this gives a conflict that Greg has to overcome to achieve his goal which is to play basketball. Greg’s conflict is resolved in a surprising way, when a homeless man named Lemon Brown shows Greg his treasure and tells him about the son he lost. The text quotes,” Greg pushed the button over the bell marked “Ridley”,thought of the lecture he knew his father would give him, and smiled.” Greg’s smile shows that he and his Dad’s conflict is resolved because he understands that his father cares about him. Lemon Brown’s story about his son made Greg have a new perspective of his father. Therefore, Greg understands that his father cares about him and his