Essay 3
Victoria Triana
Dr. Liana Andreasen
English 1301 P55
11/16/2014
Lessons learned from life After reading both “Willi” by E. L. Doctorow and “Redemption” by John Gardner I found that both stories have similar experiences. Both Willi and Jack from Redemption both are faced with difficult experience that changed their lives forever. In the story of “Willi” E. L. Doctorow Willi is a young thirteen year old who is torn by the actions of his parents. He loves both of his parents deeply, but after his mother having an affair with his tutor Ledig. In the story when Willi says “. I turned my back and slide down the wall to a sitting position under the window. My heart in my chest banged in sickened measure of her cries. I wanted to kill him, this killer of my mother who is killing her” (Doctorow 152). Before Willi found his mother having an affair Willi was an innocent and normal child. To illustrate, when Willi starts telling what his experience is he says “one spring day I walked in the meadow behind the barn and felt rising around me the exhalations of the field, the moist sweetness of the grasses, and I imagined the earth’s soul lifting to the warmth of the sun and mingling me in some divine embrace” (Doctorow 150-151). Willi at the age of thirteen is very isolated from the world. After Willi experienced seeing his mother and the tutor Willi hated his mother and at the same time had some attraction towards her like when he says “I wanted to be him” (Doctorow 152). Willi tells his father who beats his mother but in the end to protect his mother from his father he stops him from beating her to death. In the end Willi changed as an adult who now understands now that no matter what his parents lives took a toll on him and how he looks at life now as an adult.
In comparison, in the story of “Redemption” Jack is a twelve year old boy who witnessed his Brother David’s death by a tractor. Before Jack witnessed firsthand his brother’s death he was just like Willi a normal
Dr. Liana Andreasen
English 1301 P55
11/16/2014
Lessons learned from life After reading both “Willi” by E. L. Doctorow and “Redemption” by John Gardner I found that both stories have similar experiences. Both Willi and Jack from Redemption both are faced with difficult experience that changed their lives forever. In the story of “Willi” E. L. Doctorow Willi is a young thirteen year old who is torn by the actions of his parents. He loves both of his parents deeply, but after his mother having an affair with his tutor Ledig. In the story when Willi says “. I turned my back and slide down the wall to a sitting position under the window. My heart in my chest banged in sickened measure of her cries. I wanted to kill him, this killer of my mother who is killing her” (Doctorow 152). Before Willi found his mother having an affair Willi was an innocent and normal child. To illustrate, when Willi starts telling what his experience is he says “one spring day I walked in the meadow behind the barn and felt rising around me the exhalations of the field, the moist sweetness of the grasses, and I imagined the earth’s soul lifting to the warmth of the sun and mingling me in some divine embrace” (Doctorow 150-151). Willi at the age of thirteen is very isolated from the world. After Willi experienced seeing his mother and the tutor Willi hated his mother and at the same time had some attraction towards her like when he says “I wanted to be him” (Doctorow 152). Willi tells his father who beats his mother but in the end to protect his mother from his father he stops him from beating her to death. In the end Willi changed as an adult who now understands now that no matter what his parents lives took a toll on him and how he looks at life now as an adult.
In comparison, in the story of “Redemption” Jack is a twelve year old boy who witnessed his Brother David’s death by a tractor. Before Jack witnessed firsthand his brother’s death he was just like Willi a normal