Compare and Contrast the Characteristics of Nicholas (the Lumber Room) and Ollie (happy Birthday).

Q: Compare and contrast the characteristics of Nicholas and Ollie.

Saki’ s classic, “The Lumber Room” is a short story about a boy who willing to do anything to get what he wants, while “Happy Birthday” written by Toni Cade Bambara is a short story about a little girl’s disappointment with a boring day that should have been a special occasion. Although the themes in this two short stories are differing but we can see that the main characters in the short story that are Nicholas and Ollie have similarities and differences in their characteristics.

There are a number of similarities between Nicholas and Ollie. Firstly, they were both orphans. Nicholas and Ollie did not have parents to take care of them. Therefore, they were living with their guardians. Nicholas was living with his aunt, while Ollie was living with her Granddaddy Larkins. Secondly, they were hard-headed children. We can see this when Nicholas had insisted that there was a frog in his bowl of wholesome bread-and-milk even though his aunt denied and ignored him. As for Ollie, her hard-headed characteristic was obviously seen when she was answering back once Reverend Hall told her to play somewhere else instead of in front of the church.

Besides they were both an orphan and hard-headed children, they were also similar in how they deal with their own life. They were both independent. Nicholas will always strive for what he wants by himself. We can see this when he was trying to get into the lumber room. He was planning it perfectly well until it was a success and he manage to explore the lumber room. While Ollie, was also an independent child because she was capable to take care of her own self since her Granddaddy Larkins always get drunk and cannot pay much attention to her. Moreover, they were both lonely children. Although Nicholas has a brother and cousins to play with, he still felt lonely because he got no one to talk to and to be pampered like any other normal child that has parents. Same as Ollie, she also felt lonely because there was no one to play with except adult like Chalky and big boys like James and Peter Proper. There were no children like her age to play with in her neighbourhood.

Nicholas and Ollie also have