Alex

Literature

Compare and Contrast Development Zebra

and Martha

At the beginning of both stories, both characters are innocent and only have a view of the world

of sunshine and rainbows before things changed. Zebra was confident with himself, in the story,

he was a proud boy that loved running, lines 13-14, ‘He would go running through the

neighborhood for the sheer joy of the wind on his face’. In the Scholarship Jacket, Martha starts

off and finishes the story intelligent. She is also self-conscious of herself but later said that ‘those

were the days of belief and innocence’.

Zebra and Martha were hurt in different ways. Zebra was physically hurt when he was hit by a

car, line 34. Although this was largely his fault because he had his head raised and wasn’t

looking where he was going. After that he saw the world a different way, with a broken leg and

hand. He became less confident with himself and thought that his two ‘dead’ fingers were

‘strange and ugly’ on line 480. Martha was emotionally hurt when she overheard a conversation

between her teachers that she might not get the scholarship jacket, lines 40-48, something that

she worked hard for for eight years. She heard that it might be because she is Mexican. She then

looked at the world a different way.

Both Zebra and Martha have a role model in their stories. Zebra’s role model is Mr. Wilson. Mr.

Wilson is a war veteran that flew a helicopter. Mr. Wilson convinced Zebra to join a summer art

class, which helped Zebra become more confident. Martha’s role model is her grandpa, she

knows that he is right, line 110, and he is important to her. Both of these role models helped

these characters, Mr. Wilson’s art class helped Zebra’s arm and leg to heal while Martha’s

Grandpa helped Martha see that a scholarship jacket should be free.

At the end of the story, Zebra’s fingers and leg are healing, his fingers had straightened out while

Zebra was making a sculpture for art class. This makes Zebra very happy and makes him

confident again. At the end of the Scholarship Jacket, Martha is cheerful because her grandpa’s

‘advice’ helped her get the jacket.