Compare and Contrast Essay
The novel “Catherine called Birdy” by Karen Cushman, is about a 14 year old girl named Catherine who records all her incidents in her journal. Catherine’s father arranges her to meet rich noble suitors, not wanting to be wed to someone she does not love she causes mischief with the suitors she meets. As in the romance story of Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare is about a young couple from different households whose love is forbidden due to their a deep ongoing family feud. The young couple is faced with many obstacles in order to be able to be together. Both novels share many similarities and differences in maturation/ coming of age, symbolism, and theme of fate.
An idea that is both shared in Romeo and Juliet and Catherine called Birdy is maturation/ coming of age. In Catherine called Birdy, Catherine knows that soon she has to be married off, so Catherine “grows less childish and more learned” (Cushman page 22). Like Catherine, Juliet is also mature for her age. She shows this through her love for Romeo and her independance. “My dismal scene I needs must act alone.” (Shakespeare act IV scene iii). Catherine and Juliet also share the common idea of coming age, since marriage at a young age was common during their time period. They are both about 13 years old moving on to 14, and are both introduced with the idea of marriage.
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Unlike Catherine called Birdy and Romeo and Juliet, Juliet’s way of maturity is different than Catherine’s. In Juliet’s case maturity is her showing independence, but in Catherine’s case maturity is being less childish and is able to take