Unlike the boy from ‘The Average’, Richard Cory didn’t have love in his life or friends that liked him for him and not for what he was on the outside. In the poem the writer only describes his outer qualities, such things as “clean favored, and imperially slim…quietly arrayed…” The boy from ‘The Average’, on the other hand was deeply loved by his parents. We see this when it says; “Only a hero could deserve such love.”
Richard Cory was also a well-educated man, “And admirable schooled in every way…” The boy from ‘The Average’, on the other hand, was just a country child whose parents dreamed of him receiving a proper education and well paying job, “…smart professions which encourage shallow breathing and grow rich.” Unfortunately, his parents were living in a fantasy world, and he was still in reality. Although they did bring up their child with a lot of love, he was not equipped for the life his parents wanted for him, “So here he was without maps or supplies…the dessert glared into his blood-shot eyes.”
The two are similar because people had high expectations for them both. In Richard Cory’s case all the people around thought he was the greatest person. He dressed well, had good manners, and appeared perfect. Everyone around wished they could be just like him. We see this when it says, “In fine we though that he was everything to make us wish that we were in his place.” The people around him expected him to always be this way. This put a lot of pressure on Cory to continue being this ideal man that he was on the outside. People didn’t realize that his outside and inside were not at all similar. They thought that he was also perfect inside, well, he definitely wasn’t. Because they thought this way they treated him like that as well. They turned him into someone that he hated to be. This caused him to go into a depressed state that later caused him to commit suicide. Just like it says, “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head.”
The boy from ‘The Average’ was also pressured by his parents to be someone that only fantasies would allow him to be. They pressured him to be someone that he did not even want to be. He was happy with his country life and did not wish to go on and get a job that “encouraged shallow breathing and grow rich” like his parents wanted him to do. He was not interested is what his parents wanted for him. He knew he would never be able to achieve what they wanted anyway. He knew that nothing he did would be good enough for them. He would never become what his parents wanted him to become. This caused the boy to also go into a state of depression. We see this when it says, “The pressure of their fond ambition made their shy and country-loving child afraid no sensible career was good enough.”
In the end, both characters become hopeless and give up. Richard Cory gives up by committing suicide, “And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, went home and put a bullet through his head.” ‘The Average’ ends with the boy running away from everything. He feels that it is impossible for him to accomplish his parents dream, “He saw the shadow of an Average Man attempting the exceptional, and ran.”
