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Running Head: COMPARISON BETWEEN: THEY ALL JUST WENT AWAY & WESTBURY COURT

Comparison Between: They All Just Went Away And Westbury Court Ruben Zea DeVry University

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Running Head: COMPARISON BETWEEN: THEY ALL JUST WENT AWAY & WESTBURY COURT

Ruben Zea

Comparison Between: They All Just Went Away & Westbury Court

The childhood of each and every one of us have numerous of unforgettable memories that is sealed inside our minds, in which manifest a great impact on our lives when we get older. Life is completely different to all of us in the aspect of the environment we grow up, which could be from the country side to the city, to the slum. Oates recalls her experiences from her childhood, living in the Countryside to be one of the happiest moments of her life. Oates was a lonely girl, who just liked to wonder off around in the woods, desolated fields, and abandoned houses when her parents would go to work. On the other hand, Danticat needed to stay home because she needed to watch over her siblings and also do her homework. Oates, was the type of girl that lived in her own type of space, the abandoned houses in her area were most likely a calm peaceful place in which she could analyze and appreciate every single little detail of it. Danticat, describe the environment to be in the city in which is more noisy than in the countryside, and it is totally different from Oates town. Both Danticat and Oates, have connections with other peoples lives, because they both seek answers to their curiosity towards those that left their lives. Oates interest towards the abandoned house let to her declaration of the abandoned homes to look like a home, but theyre not a home without any sign of life in it.Oates has special appreciation to a specific house and remembers very well about an incident that happened in that particular house not very far from her home, which was burned by fire. She recalls the family to

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Running Head: COMPARISON BETWEEN: THEY ALL JUST WENT AWAY & WESTBURY COURT

be the Wiedels. She met the owners and even talked to the kids from that house and thats why she wants to know about them after the fire. Danticat has similar intentions with the kids and the mother that lived next door in the building she used to live in. She thinks more about them because of the fire that started next door of her apartment and still feels some sort of guilt for not being alert to help. In addition to that, Danticat remembers Westbury Court well because of the constant incidents in her neighborhood. Those incidents were filled with the violence that is live in her neighborhood. While in Oatesstory, the Wiedels are portrayed as a dysfunctional type of family that faced disputes most of the time. Mr. Wiedel, the crazy drunken man that loses control of his temper, Mrs.Wiedel, the apologetic type of wife, the daughters to be mentally slow, and the sons to be problematic. The sort of violence that surrounded that particular family with Mr. Wiedels actions, have most likely caught Oatess attention and to have valid reasons to why remember her old home in the countryside. It is reasonable for Oates to have questions about the Wiedels, and it is the fruit of her memories about her life in the countryside. Not only that, but later on she encounters one of the daughters of the Wiedels family Ruth who goes to the same high school as her. The new fresh set of questions she has now because of Ruths fortunate appearance in her school, also brings reasons why to remember the Wiedels and her home in Millersport. Danticat did not see the mother or the two kids that supposedly died in the fire, but it was what her mother told her that day of the fire. Dandicats mother told her that sometimes it is too late to say I shouldnt have. Those words were strong on her conscious; it made her think about the consequences that could have been if she didnt get rescued by the firemen.

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Running Head: COMPARISON BETWEEN: THEY ALL JUST WENT AWAY & WESTBURY COURT

Danticat and Oates might be different people with many different personalities and different homes, but they both are attached to their concerns about others in a way that it almost seems like they actually care. Danticat did not personally know all of the people she mentioned in her story very well, but she knew enough to actually care. The same goes to Oates with the Wiedels. Finally, the differences and similarities of both authors, drives into the conclusion that whether we all live in different locations, we can all relate to the fact that our most personal and vivid memories always come from emotional events that occurred in our lives

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Running Head: COMPARISON BETWEEN: THEY ALL JUST WENT AWAY & WESTBURY COURT

References

Danticat, E. (n.d.). Westbury Court. Retrieved November 7, 2013 from, http://plaza.ufl.edu/lacy.hodges/WestburyCourt.pdf

Oates, J. (1995, October). They all just went away. Retrieved, November 7, 2013 from, http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1995/10/16/1995_10_16_178_TNY_CARDS