Introduction
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment”. In the book Just Listen written by Sarah Dessen and “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan, both main characters are in similar situations. In the first place, in Just Listen, Annabel is pretending to be the perfect girl who has everything when in reality her sister suffers from an eating disorder, her friends think she did something she didn’t do and now they hate her, and she finds a guy who is obsessed with music who likes her but she won’t open up to him. Something horrible happened to her and she won’t speak up about it. Why? Annabelle won’t speak up because she is afraid people will think …show more content…
Both characters are teenage girls with conflicts that are stopping them from showing who they really are. Although, they both don’t realize this is happening. They are covering up their real personality which is really a sweet, kind, honest personality.It’s not until they realize how fake they were being that they change.Annabelle realized,”This had been before that night, before everything that had happened with Sophie, before this long, lonely summer of secrets and silence. I was a mess, but this girl she was fine”(Just Listen pg.2).When Annabelle says “This had been before” she is referring to a commercial she had done before all of her problems occurred. In the commercial, she had been the perfect girl but in reality, it wasn’t like that. Another similarity is, that both of the characters have included music in their life. Jing Mei’s mom had Jing-Mei learn piano because she wanted Jing-Mei to become a star. Jing-Mei didn’t really enjoy playing and she didn’t pay much attention but at least she got an idea of what music was like. Jing-Mei wrote, “Mr.Chong was a retired piano teacher, and my mother had traded housecleaning services for weekly lessons and a piano for me to practice on every day, two hours a day, from four until six”(Two Kinds).Jing-Mei’s mom was really set on Jing-Mei learning piano. Her mom even sacrificed herself just so she could play.These are the similarities that they have in
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment”. In the book Just Listen written by Sarah Dessen and “Two Kinds” written by Amy Tan, both main characters are in similar situations. In the first place, in Just Listen, Annabel is pretending to be the perfect girl who has everything when in reality her sister suffers from an eating disorder, her friends think she did something she didn’t do and now they hate her, and she finds a guy who is obsessed with music who likes her but she won’t open up to him. Something horrible happened to her and she won’t speak up about it. Why? Annabelle won’t speak up because she is afraid people will think …show more content…
Both characters are teenage girls with conflicts that are stopping them from showing who they really are. Although, they both don’t realize this is happening. They are covering up their real personality which is really a sweet, kind, honest personality.It’s not until they realize how fake they were being that they change.Annabelle realized,”This had been before that night, before everything that had happened with Sophie, before this long, lonely summer of secrets and silence. I was a mess, but this girl she was fine”(Just Listen pg.2).When Annabelle says “This had been before” she is referring to a commercial she had done before all of her problems occurred. In the commercial, she had been the perfect girl but in reality, it wasn’t like that. Another similarity is, that both of the characters have included music in their life. Jing Mei’s mom had Jing-Mei learn piano because she wanted Jing-Mei to become a star. Jing-Mei didn’t really enjoy playing and she didn’t pay much attention but at least she got an idea of what music was like. Jing-Mei wrote, “Mr.Chong was a retired piano teacher, and my mother had traded housecleaning services for weekly lessons and a piano for me to practice on every day, two hours a day, from four until six”(Two Kinds).Jing-Mei’s mom was really set on Jing-Mei learning piano. Her mom even sacrificed herself just so she could play.These are the similarities that they have in