Lit Notes

In The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream and Emma, many similarities arise, though like most stories it has its differences also. In The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream and Emma, both stories are based on two children whom have developed a strong love for something/someone, ice cream for Benjyi and Emma for Dory. In Emma, there is Dory who knows so much yet so little about the adults around her much like Benjy in The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream; he has the information but yet still he is lacking the experience of actually seeing and tasting ice cream.

In the two stories, both of the children’s happiness was destroyed by the reckless, unconscious behavior of the two fathers. Reckless, their behavior because of the way they behaved regarding the situations. Benjy’s father has trust issues and it is well shown in the story. The mere thought of the child not being his caused Benjy’s father to become overly protective of his wife, especially when they went out to the fair. The rash decision to grab Benjy away when he was just about to take his first taste of ice cream was uncalled for, it was obvious that Benjy lost his ice cream, but the father was blind to the fact that he ruined what was Benjy’s first and closest chance to experiencing the taste of ice cream. In Emma, the father’s decision was more reckless than unconscious. He knew what he was doing but it never occurred to him how much his decisions could’ve hurt the people around him, especially Dory. He did not truly know how much she worshipped Emma.

The actions of the children’s fathers were not to blame alone; the unfaithfulness and the naivety off two mothers were held somewhat responsible for what took place. In The Boy Who Loved Ice Cream, had the mother stayed faithful, the over-protective husband that he is now would not have reacted the way he did at the fair to cause Benjy to lose his first chance at tasting something he thought about every day. Emma however, her role is less to blame, she cannot be blamed for her