Oliver Comparison Essay
    We’ve all felt held back from our successes because of our difficulties or setbacks in life. In Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s book, The War That Saved My Life, Ada is a  young girl during WW2 who was born with a club foot that her mother shames her for. In Jennifer A. Nielsen’s book, A Night Divided, Gerta and her family live on the east side of Berlin, being separated by the Berlin Wall from her father and brother. Both of these stories use dialogue and symbolism to show that you shouldn’t let difficulties in life hold you back from success.
    Symbolism is used in both of these stories to show their theme. The story, The War That Saved My Life, uses symbolism to compare Ada’s mother to a barrier in her life that she needs to cross. When Ada asks her mother if she was going to be evacuated out of London along with her little brother, she responds hatefully. The author states, “Mam still didn’t look at me….’Who’d want you? Nobody that’s who. Nice people don’t want to look at that foot.’” (15) Ada's mother shames her for her club foot. Her foot isn’t the problem, it’s her mother's selfishness and humiliation acting as a barrier and stopping Ada from succeeding in life. A Night Divided also uses symbolism to support the theme. In the story, Gerta describes the plainness of her apartment, “We lived on the fourth floor of a drab apartment building…That  wasn’t an accident, beautiful things were a sign of individuality.” (29) Gerta's apartment symbolizes the loss of individuality. Individuality is something any person needs to have a happy life.
     A dialogue in these stories also helps reflect the theme that you shouldn’t let difficulties in life hold you back from success. The story, A Night Divided states, “‘What were you thinking?’ He yelled. ‘I heard Herr Krause calling for help! Printing a paper isn’t such a bad crime is it?’” (74) This dialogue shows that Gerta's brother, Fritz, scolds her for going to try to help their neighbor being arrested by the Stasi. He was arrested because he was sharing his thoughts about communism, and he was punished for that. Dialogue is also used to show the theme in The War That Saved My Life,”’Not without crutches,’ Jamie said. ‘You’ve still got that ugly foot!’  ‘Jamie!’ Susan said. ‘You apologize!’” This dialogue reflects the theme by showing that Jamie, Ada's little brother, insults Ada's foot, mocking their mother. Not only is their mother holding Ada back from success, but Jamie, unknowingly, is as well. This is because Jamie has learned to be rude and like their mother.
     Both authors of these stories use similar writing techniques to reveal the theme that you shouldn’t let difficulties in life keep you from success. Still, they use their own unique techniques too. The War That Saved My Life uses tone to illustrate the theme. Bradley states, “A bomb exploded overhead. The streets rang with the sound of shattering glass. Far in front of us, toward the docks, the sky began to glow red. Fire The docks were on fire.” (309) The tone of this text evidence is intense. This shows a hard traumatic time in Ada's life that she needs to get through. A Night Divided uses a way to show the theme that differs from The War That Saved My Life. This book uses metaphors to illustrate the theme. The story states, “‘You've seen the sun, Anna. Now that you have, could you ever be content with just the stars for light?’” (83) Anna seems fine with living without the joys of freedom and individuality, but Gerta is not. She compares living without communism and then the wall getting built to living with the sun every day and then only living with the stars for light.
   Both of the stories, A Night Divided and The War That Saved My Life, use symbolism and dialogue to illustrate that you shouldn’t let setbacks in life stop you from getting what you want and having a good life. This helps us really understand that letting yourself really strive for something is better than doing nothing at all. These stories also show that trying really hard to do something can also inspire others to do what they desire.