Compare and contrast two of the short stories, examine the theme of rights of passage.

positive.         The next paragraph shows that she worships superman (such as it being a religion), this fantasy extends to her friend who was pale and bookish. Its their escape from reality and into there childish fantasy, they are better off, as they are in the safety of the world and nothing bad can happen to them. They believe that superman saves everyone, and due to this they can get away from reality.                                         The next paragraph she resembles superman incognito to her Uncle Frank and thinks it’s extraordinary, but her friend David could not see the resemblance as much as she could. This is because he acts as a father figure to her, he tries to do magic but fools her as he performs illusions.        While in the next paragraph the whole tone changes as real life intrudes her fantasy, and also shows the first example of direct speech (mother is quoted). This shows at this point that the real world comes into her life; the significance of the direct speech shows her first intrusion into the real world, it invades her fantasy life. We are also told that her dad's name is Otto and at this moment Germans are being imprisoned and so the dad would have probably been arrested and so thus serious issues are brought into the child's life. In the eleventh paragraph the influence of war is invading the school, as they are sent to the dark cellar with bone ceiling lights, cold black stone. So darkness of colours is introduced into her life and the war is introduced into the school. Also in the following paragraph the threat of war is seeping in everywhere, but most importantly the war is seeping into her childhood. The thirteenth paragraph the words used are very dull/dreary with the melting snow, while the colours used are less vivid bright ginger, red pigtails as her excitement are going down. Her fantasies her now in her dream world, the significance of dreams are important as bright colours plus action only now pop up in her dreams, while dark and dingy colours describe the reality and war. The colours in this paragraph are not vibrant in colour then before, as she is seeping out of childhood and into adulthood. In the next paragraph we can see that she does not like Paula Brown as she feel she is very selfish and gets her desired products.                                 In the fourteenth paragraph she is in between the real world and fantasy world, such as powder blue, silver box, pink/white roses, blue bird. She uses pale colours now, not as vivid as before, they're not dull or bright it is fading away from childhood, the continuum of colours is decreasing to depressive colours In the following paragraph (line 126 to 132), she is interrogated which is confrontational, she wants to find someone to blame and so she blames her even though she did not do it. So evidently you can see at this part as being a microcosm of the real world (smaller version of experience in life). The way it is a microcosm is that it is similar to the unfairness in the world (insect torture is similar to the torture of people, a microcosm but in a child's world).                                                                         In the following paragraph (line 133 to 141) it shows that the children enjoy seeing someone cry as they have a strange joy. They enjoyment is of making someone suffer, it is human nature and it is a relief finding someone to pin the blame one. 'I' has been used a lot in this paragraph to show she is isolated her into her little world. She also walks away in a slow resigned motion and so stretches it out and it's slow. In the twenty ninth paragraph she sees hope in her house, outside is cold and raw, inside there is hope of light and superman to be at home, these are positive things to get back home too. While in the thirty- first paragraph (line 145 to 153), this is metaphorical as she is looking for security plus light. Which she sees in the window, a room where people are happy, this can be related to her fantasies and dreams. Also the literal meaning of the reflection as she imagines herself they're talking, but that is distant now outside a happy picture, in the other world that does not deal with what happened to Paula. In the lines from 160 to 169, her mother and Uncle Frank think she has done it and acts patronising, she has no reason to lie and there is a lot of empathy for her sound like she is lying but you know that is not the truth. In the following lines 170 to 178 when she goes upstairs in the darkness, Uncle Frank comes into the shadow not like the bright light superman comes in, it is all murky. While in the next paragraph you can see that this is not a happy ending which effects her childhood as she fantasised about superman saving her, but she is losing her dreams, he cannot make it a happy ending. In the final paragraph the darkness is filling in the light, the black shadow is pulling out the light from her dream world that is burned into her memory. This is a defiant moment in her life as she loses her childhood and enters adulthood the light and movements disappear. Her happiness and dreams are washed away.                         In the opening two paragraphs of Flight he is holding a young bird that is beautiful, he looks after this bird and the old man controls it like a possession that is symbolic. While in the next paragraph there is an attractive description of his Granddaughter, we can see a similarity between the young girl and the birds, it is attractive and he controls it like his granddaughter The next paragraph is very short as it can either tell us she is waiting for someone, or at a metaphoric level she is looking in the future to get away from her Grandfather. The fifth paragraph shows that he won't let the bird go free, but is scared that the granddaughter will go free and she is waiting for someone. Such as he is frightened he will lose the bird he shuts it up so is possessive and wants to shut the granddaughter up. In the next few lines (line 26 to 30); she has a 'lingering' glance to the road waiting for Steven (18 year old man). The grandfather is fearful of her casting off, while she is angry though because he does not approve with her leaving with Steven or anyone else.                                         In the following paragraph (line 31 to 45), the grandfather confronts her in an angry way and is angry that she is going out, and you see how the granddaughter is sulky and tries getting sympathy from her grandfather. He also describes Steven in a disgraceful way and is scared he will lose her, and is very frustrated. The granddaughter is taunting him by telling him it is natural but he does not agree due to the fear of losing her, he makes a fuss about this, he is unpleasant but he is still pathetic and sad and would be lonely. In the next paragraph the grandfather is stubborn and in a mood, he is slightly pathetic like a child he will be left with nothing and is lonely so is desperately trying to hold on to her.                                         While in the tenth paragraph abrupt sentence structure are used, she is not just going somewhere but may leave forever so he uses small sentences and then talks about how he sees her freeing herself and tightening herself to Steven, the language is different. In the following paragraph he has bitterness, as he lost his wife and so does not want anyone to be happy, and is frightened she will leave because her older brother and sister have left and got married, the girl is metaphorically his prized bird. In the following lines (line 70 to 89), the granddad is thinking marriage is a bad thing or is bitter that other people are happy, a different description of an old man. Also his daughter patronises him and treats him like a child, in old age people are treated as senile. In lines 90 to 104, he uses abrupt sentence structure as he is angry/desperate and muddled. He has disrupted syntax that shows he is frustrated and can't speak coherently. Also the grandfather is unpleasant, possessive and weak/pathetic and is presented as someone old. The grandfather says "can't we keep her a bit longer" which shows he wants to keep a bird a bit longer like a possessive child. It shows the worst qualities of old age has the same qualities of children.                                 There is a comparison between a child, the old man speaks like a spoilt child but is an old man. While on lines 105 to 107 the grandfather feels slightly sympathetic as he is crying for himself, he is pitiful. However, on lines 111 to 118, his daughter treats him as an unruly kid, even though he is an adult it is like he's a child in the way direct speech is used. On line 122 the daughter patronises him, he knows everything about birds but she gives advice. While on line 125 to 128 the old man is in a child like world, he cannot appreciate things will change and is terrified because he thinks he will be forgotten. On the following paragraph he is letting his prized bird fly away and sees the girl and boy and gets angrier and lets it soar, whirr and spatter which gives the idea of freedom. While on the lines 138 to 141 he releases his bird as he realises he has to be less possessive. On lines 140 to 144, the grandfather learns how to let things go, the bird and granddaughter; he also lets his prize bird go, as he is big enough to say I can release you. It is his decision to let them go which make him feel proud. While on lines 145 to 148 there proud that he is pleased with himself, he let his prized bird fly off like saying that they all will return because he sets of his prized bird that returns to the grandfather. So this is symbolic as he thinks this will be his prized granddaughter coming back, so he is pleased that his bird can't live without him. So he is happy because he has proven a point and the granddaughter is crying because he has not realised that she will not return like the bird. She cries as the grandfather thinks he has proven a point to there but she cries, as she knows he is wrong and will be unhappy. The grandfather though does not accept this and thinks she will return like the prized bird. She may even be crying because she may realise she will never leave him she will get married but be living down the road so the attachment will never end.                                                                         In Flight we can see old age is portrayed have having a child like naivety, and are very possessive and moan when they find they cannot keep these possessions. The old man has his possessions his granddaughter (youth) and prized bird's, but have the worst qualities such as pathetic, selfish and nasty. While we can see the childhood innocence of caring about her grandfather but also following her fantasies of going off with this boy and we can see that acts as a stronger figure then her grandfather, reassuring him. We mainly can see how old age is portrayed as possessive and a nuisance and we can see all their worst qualities and their naivety.                                In conclusion: I think that both of these poems have a key theme of growing up. They both have many similarities and many differences. I think that the impact of change is present in both of the poems in quite a significant way.