Assignment/Activity Title— Thoreau vs. Crane Comparative EssayYear— Freshman skill— Writing Portfolio Competency— Critical Thinking In CAP English 9, we read Walden by Henry David Thoreau and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets by Stephen Crane, and compared their views on various aspects of society. Walden is Thoreau’s personal account of his time spent in Walden Pond, away from society. He writes of his experiences and his views on many topics regarding society. Maggie A Girl of the Streets is a story set in 1893 in New York City and follows the life ofa young, impoverished girl who runs away from her violent household. Throughout the story, Crane indirectly expresses his views on topics regarding society, especially the lower class. In my essay, I decided to compare the two authors’ views on fate vs. choice, self reliance, and philanthropy. It was interesting to read two incredibly different books with immensely dissimilar styles of writing but still be able to analyze the two authors’ views on the same aspects of society. Thoreau made his views clear by writing about them directly in Walden, but in Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, a fiction novel, Crane expressed his personal views through the setting, the characters, and the plot of his story. Through this assignment, I learned how to analyze a fiction author’s personal opinion by considering how he/she portrays the setting and the characters in the novel. As I continue to read fiction novels in the future, I will be able to better understand how an author may feel about different issues. During the Spring Break after completing this assignment, I visited Boston to tour a few colleges in which my brother was interested, During this trip, we drove out to Concord to visit a family friend and eat dinner. We chose a restaurant located in Walden Woods, Massachusetts, home of Walden Pond. It was an incredibly introspective experience to visit the spot Henry David Thoreau spent two years, two months, and two. days pondering the value of gewgaws and wigwams and philanthropists. This experience goes to show that completing ti ad has affected me in more ways than I ever could have expected. Gece li Mw Student Signature (Print here: =a A. Newmar, Date A] (1g : <, tyne Teacher Signature Date -