City Of Orphans Vs. Total Tragedy of a Girl named Hamlet: Comparative Essay

Everyone in this world is hoping of having a true friendship. However, what considers as a good friendship? Probably you are describing it as loyalty, helpful, and grateful. In the “ City of Orphans” by AVI, and in the “ Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet” by Erin Dionne, they both are talking about the theme of friendship, and they both start off their two representative characters taking benefits from each other, however both change their directions of their friendship into two different ways.

In the “ City of Orphans”, Willa and Maks are not willing to be friends with each other. For example, when he says thanks to Willa for her help and Willa responds back sure, the author shows Maks’s inner thinking, “ Relieved that Willa ain’t gonna hold on to him, Maks heads down the alley trying to act easy.” This illustrates that he feels happy to get out of that place and specifically, from her, he desire to escape from there as fast as he could, however, he tries to act as cool as possible not to show that he is scared of her. Realistically, Maks asks Willa to go with him the second time, because he wants her-and her stick to protect him again from Bruno. Same thing, Willa goes with him on a purpose of to the promise of Maks giving her food.

Similarly, in the “ Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet”, by Erin Dionne, Dezzie really values her friendship with Saber and Mauri like they are her only child. Why? The reason because they are her first two friends in her life, she sacrifices anything just to comfort them as much as she can. However, Sauri and Mauri are trying to be friend with Dezzie in another purpose, getting good grades. Dezzie doesn’t know anything, but it is Hamlet who knows that the questions they ask her are the homework questions. These two books are the same at the start of the book but not at the end.

“ In the City of Orphans”, throughout the book, we can see that they start to become loyal to each other, they help each other in bad conditions. Maks left very quickly after hearing that Willa is being kidnapped by the Plug Uglies Gang. In contrast, at the end of the book of “ The Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet”, the relationship doesn’t last long as expected, it turns out to a break-up one at last, because Mauri takes her relationship as a game and pretends to play it as a drama displaying only in front of her face.

With this, we can imagine the two relationship starts off at the same point, but each of them goes to a completely different directions. The relationship in the “ City of Orphans”, is like the river that stills flowing, however, the relationship in the “ Total Tragedy of a girl named Hamlet”, the relationship has already stopped in the middle of the way, no more chance to go.

While some people might ask that how do you know that Maks and Willa are a good relationship, they probably stay together until now, because they still have advantages from each other, while Dezzie breaks up with Saber and Mauri, because she has no more benefits from them. You have to remember that Willa and Maks take benefits from each other but they are happy together, loyal to each other, and at last, they stay under the same roof like brother and sister. When Saber and Mauri doesn’t truly wants Dezzie to be friend with her, their feeling, their mind are still not accepting that Dezzie is not their true friend, she is just their school homework assistant, which leads them to break-up line.

To sum up, we can make a overall theme of the two books that the friendship is depends on the friends themselves, whether their mind consider each other as friends or not, it doesn’t matter how the relationship starts.

By Khantey