Thank You Ma Am Essay

In this world, we often hastily generalize and mistreat people according to their appearances and their pasts. However, in “Thank You M’am” by Langston Hughes, and “Old Ben” by Jesse Stuart, the main characters treat others with kindness and affection no matter what their appearance is or what they have done in the past. It is this affection and kindness that changed Old Ben and Roger. It was also this affection that had impacted their lives forever. These stories inspired me to change my perspective and attitude towards others. Although these stories are very similar in many ways, there are many differences too, which we shall explore in this essay. The first of the three similarities, which shall be elaborated further, is the theme that both stories share –trust. In “Thank You M’am”, Mrs. Jones trusts that Roger will not make the same mistake again as “she did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse.” (Hughes, 391). She had brought him home and gained Roger’s trust through not

In “Thank you, M’am”, the author uses third person perspective. This can be seen throughout the entire story. An example would be at the beginning of the story. The story starts off with, “She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but a hammer and nails.” (Hughes, 388). This sentence, along with many others, supports my point that the author of “Thank You, M’am” uses third person perspective; this can also be determined through the constant use of “she” throughout the story. However, the author of “Old Ben” uses first person perspective. This can also be seen in the first sentence, too. Stuart quotes: “One morning in July when I was walking across a clover field to a sweet apple tree, I almost stepped on him.” (Stuart, 88). Through the constant use of the pronoun “I”, the readers are shown that this is written in a first-person