'Obedient' By Shel Silverstein

The poem “Obedient” by Shel Silverstein occurs in a school where a student has to stand in a corner after being told his or her teacher and is forgotten for forty years. The story “Dragon, Dragon” by John Gardner occurs in a kingdom where a dragon is attacking; then the kingdom’s king orders and endorses the cobbler’s sons to slay it. In the story “Dragon, Dragon” and the poem “Obedient,” the characters respond to different conflicts yet reveal similar characteristics. In the poem “Obedient” by Shel Silverstein, the student is told to stand in a corner, but never gets permission to stop standing in the corner for over forty years. The student responds to this by continuing obeying his or her teacher and accepting what he is told to. As stated
When it is the cobbler’s youngest son turn to slay the dragon, he gets his father's advice and reads the poems advised even though it seemed foolish. The story states, “With everything in readiness, the youngest son went for his last conversation” the cobbler said “‘recite the following poem’ [...] the youngest son cried [the poem] [...] Of its own weight fell slicing the dragon’s head off” (Gardner 5). The youngest son is able to slay the dragon, but the only reason he is capable of doing that is because he has his father’s advice. The cobbler’s youngest son doesn’t think think of a tactic himself yet thought he was ready so he is a very careless person. After the youngest son gets the poem/advice from his father, he has a conversation with his father: “‘Are you certain? ,’ asked the youngest son uneasily. ‘As certain as one can be’” (Gardner 5). The cobbler’s youngest son obeys his father and does exactly what he was told to do even though he doubted it. Hence, the cobbler’s youngest son is mindless, obedient, and literal person based on how he responded to the conflict of the story. In the poem “Obedient” by Shel Silverstein and the story “Dragon, Dragon” by John Gardner, the characters, the student and the cobbler’s youngest son, both reveal that they don’t think about things thoroughly and are careless, compliant, and literal. When the teacher in “Obedient” said told the student to stay in the corner until he or she gets permission to stop, and is forgotten about, he continues following the teacher’s directions and acted very literal since he doesn’t stop standing in the corner and following the directions when the situation has