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Compare A Christmas Memory And The Gettysburg Address

Decent Essays

The Great Depression was set off by the stock market crash of October 29, 1929. During the next ten years, one in four people were unemployed, and begging for food, shelter, and other necessities was widespread. “A Christmas Memory,” by Truman Capote, takes place during the height of that period. Buddy and his friend, a mentally disabled older cousin of his, have to learn how to survive and be joyful during that period. The story takes place during the holiday season, where Buddy and his friend have to scrape together enough to have a good holiday. One lesson the story suggests is that when people persevere, they may be able to find bliss even in the worst and most trying times. Similarly, “The Gettysburg Address” also expresses the same theme of perseverance through the fiery words of Abraham Lincoln.
The theme of perseverance is shown from the beginning of both “A Christmas Memory” and “The Gettysburg Address”. In “A Christmas Memory, Buddy and his friend scramble to make fruitcakes for their friends, even though there is no money for them to use, and alcohol, a key ingredient, is prohibited. An example of their perseverance is when they go to Haha Jones, an illegal alcohol dealer, to buy the final ingredient, whiskey. This shows perseverance because they needed to make fruitcakes, so they went to extreme lengths to be able to produce them. In “The Gettysburg Address,” Lincoln states, “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so

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