Eunice Perez
Karen Hull
English 101 - 1:00
23 Oct. 2015
Comparison Contrast There are many places with different situations and problems. When a natural disaster comes everyone reacts differently. Lafcadio Hearn, in the story, "A Living God," tells us there was a tsunami, that could have killed many people but because of one person nobody died. "Up Until the Heppner Flood," by Joann Green Byrd, tells of a flood that came to Eastern Oregon, but many people died. These stories show of two instances where one similar disaster struck but two different outcomes came about. What is it that made these two similar disasters so different from one another? In "A Living God," Hearn tells us that in Japan there is a history of many tsunamis. One evening a man named Hamaguchi was looking from his balcony down at the town. His house stood "at the verge of a small plateau overlooking a bay" (Hearn 1). Suddenly a small earthquake happened which was not very rare, but as Hamaguchi looked in the distance the sea started "acting strangely" (Hearn 2). People ran out to the beach to see that the water was "running
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Hamaguchi wasn’t down at the festival with the rest of the village because he wasn’t feeling well that evening (Hearn 1). He had been at home to feel the earthquake and to then see the water roll back. He was fortunate to know what was about to happen, as well as know what to do about it. Those people were definitely lucky to have someone with that information in their town. Unfortunately there had not been anyone to warn the town of Heppner. It would be easy to say that all of the odds were stacked up against Heppner. They were in a place that provided what they needed but they didn’t realize that they were also in great danger. Like J.W. Morrow said, “nowhere could human beings have been gathered in a spot where they were more open to the danger of floods” (Byrd