Abuela Advents The Zero Summary

In contrast, the main difference of the two is the authors approach. “Abuela Invents the Zero” is realistic fiction, whereas “Gombei and the Wild ducks” has a literary genre of folktale. The first author, Judith Ortiz Cofer, chose to write “Abuela Invents the Zero” as a short story and is considered to have a genre of a realistic fiction. According to Cofer, “So we go to Kennedy to get la abuela and she is the last to come off the airplane…” (465). This piece of evidence shows that the story has airplanes and it is in modern times. This proves that the story has a literary genre of realistic fiction. However, the second author, Yoshiko Uchida, wrote “Gombei and the Wild ducks” as a short story that has a literary genre of folktale. According
to Uchida, “As Gombei tumbled toward the ground, however, a very strange thing began to take place. First he sprouted a bill, and then feathers and wings, and then a tail and a webbed feet. By the time he was almost down to Earth, he looked just like the creatures he was trapping” (310). These pieces of evidence show that Gombei turned into a duck and was able to fly like one. This proves that “Gombei and the Wild Ducks” is a folktale.
As was previously stated, the texts “Abuela Invents the Zero” and “Gombei and the Wild Ducks” share a common theme of treating others the way you want to be treated. However, the authors approach is different. Cofer writes in a genre of realistic fiction, whereas Uchida writes a genre of a folktale. Through these texts, the reader will learn to treat others the way you want to be treated.