Each of these seven short stories all exemplify important lessons and moral values that play into each of the character’s setting and conflict.
Old Tom Crowley and James Turner from the story What You Need, were two opposites from each other. Old Tom Crowley was a very rich man, who did not think twice about what he wanted to spend his money on, while James Turner was a very poor man, who did not want anything to do with people like Old Tom Crowley. The story took place in New York City around the 1800’s. Their conflict starts out calmly and ends in a rather rough path. Much like the Scarlet Ibis, which starts out with an older loving brother caring for his very sick younger brother Doodle. He does this by teaching Doodle how to walk, run and swim in their little pond near their cotton farm they live on. Then the story ends rather abruptly with Doodle ending up dead. Old Tom Crowley offers James Turner for a chance to go to college and get an education for free. James Turner is very appalled by the strange request, and declines. The reason being for Old Tom’s offer, is because he wanted to start using his money for something useful. So in a sense you could say that all he’s simply doing for James is caring about him. Much like Doodle’s older brother did for him. Even when Doodle asked for his older brother to stop helping him he still Stood there and helped him until he got it right. “Finally one day, after many weeks of practicing, he stood alone for a few seconds. When he fell, I grabbed him in my arms and hugged him in my arms and hugged him out of laughter pealing through the swamp like a ringing bell.” (pg. 558, Hurst, James). The part that differentiates the two stories conflicts are that James Turner ignored Old Tom’s cry for suspense. No matter how hard Old Tom would try to persuade James into agreeing with him, he would always decline. Which is something Doodle never did.
The characters from the Ransom Of The Red Chief, were very active characters, Sam, Bill and Johnny Dorset. Sam and Bill are horribly minded kidnappers, who do not think through their actions really well. Johnny Dorset is a smart young boy who clearly knows how to get his way out of things. This story is a very unexpected story. In my opinion this story does not relate to neither The Gift of the Magi or Scarlet Ibis. Sam and Bill are kidnappers who kidnap a very intelligent boy named Johnny Dorset. They bring him to a cave, which is where most of the story is spent, and they basically hold him hostage, but not for long. Johnny started to make his capturers go crazy with his agonizing question after question and threats saying he would scalp and burn them, so Sam and Bill have one question…. How will they get Johnny home without anyone noticing? So you see, there is simply no relation from this story to the Gift Of the Magi or Scarlet Ibis other than they each teach a lesson most need to learn.
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Good old pals Jimmy and Bob, who are from the story After 20 Years, do not have much in common as they did 20 years ago. Bob is a cold hearted criminal, which is not the same person Jimmy knew. Very ironically, Jimmy is a police officer, who has too much of a friendly heart to arrest an old friend. To sum the story, basically Jimmy and Bob made a pact with each other to meet with each other 20 years after Bob had to go away for business of his own. The plot does not end very well, Bob goes to jail. Therefore this story is the complete opposite of the Gift of the Magi, the Gift of the Magi was a very good hearted story about love and caring romance. “But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”(pg. 530, Henry, O.) This quote gives a good example how different these two stories are. While Della and Jim from the gift of the Magi come together at the end of the story, Jimmy and Bob pull apart.
Johnsy and Sue who are close friends who live together. Johnsy is somewhat of a close minded person who, when she gets deathly ill, thinks about only herself and not how it would affect others or her loved ones. Sue is a very kind hearted character who seems as if she would look out for anyone especially those whom she loves. The story of the Last Leaf and the scarlet Ibis have very similar characters. As I mentioned earlier, the Scarlet Ibis is about a older brother who takes car of his sickly younger brother. What both of these two stories have in common is that two of the main characters are selfless and care for others. The older brother and Sue relate to each other because, they are looking out for their loved ones. When Doodle and Johnsy doubt themselves, Sue and the older brother bring their spirits back up again. Another thing that stood out to me in terms of relating these two stories to each other, was the similarity of the plot. Both Doodle and Johnsy were very ill. They started to doubt themselves to life their life. They practically counted down the days until they die, “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death”(pg. 558, Hurst James) Which if you can imagine is very hard for Sue and Doodles older brother to just stand around and do nothing, so they try to cheer them up by distracting them with ore positive factors to focus on, like spending time with people who they love.
Overall these characters all exemplified the differences between every story but yet brought them together with each of their actions and brought an understanding to all the meanings of the stories.
