Compare And Contrast If We Should Die And Lilies Of The Field

If We Should Die and Lilies of the Field were both stories that involved racism. Both characters from the stories, Will Harris and Homer Smith, had very similar experiences. They both had experienced some sort of discrimination. They were both very similar but had very different experiences based on their skin color. They had similar backgrounds and were encountering it around the same time frame. While dealing with this, the two men had handled their situations in different ways. Their mental attitudes had also saved them from worse complications.

Will and Homer were both young, African Americans during a time where it was hard to be a person of color. Despite what people thought about them or called them, they were hard working, determined,

Their situations, how they were treated and location was different. If We Must Die was held in the deep south of the United states, whereas Lilies of the Field was held in the Valley West of the Rocky Mountain Range. Will was treated a little more harshly than Homer. Will’s was more directed and lasted a lot longer. The two men, Sam and Charlie, asked him a lot of questions and did whatever they could to keep him from voting. They kept this going for a long time. Will was getting really sick of this and being discriminated against just because of his color. He had earned the right to vote, and they wouldn’t give it to him. While dealing with this, he handled the situation like a mature person. He never gave them a temper, a poor attitude or smart remarks. Homer wasn’t called as many names nor discriminated as harshly, but he was in fact treated slightly unfairly. He was labeled as “boy,” and the nuns wouldn’t pay him for any of the work he did for them. When Homer found a job that paid him, he would use his own money to get things for the nuns that they needed. Even when they didn’t pay him, Homer remained very kind and determined to finish the chapel for

Even while dealing with all this they still continued to work hard and stick to what they wanted to accomplish. Both men were resilient, determined and smart. Homer used his positive mental attitude to complete the chapel for the nuns. His resilience pushed him farther than he thought he would have gone and he completed that chapel. His determination worked in his favor because everyone loved him and thought he was an angel sent from God. Will kept a very strong mental attitude despite being criticized and discriminated against for a long time. All he wanted was to go and accomplish what he had earned. He wanted to vote, even after all the waiting, patronizing, and discrimination. He used his determination to stay calm and not cause worse complications, but the poor guy still did not get what he wanted. Even though he did not get to vote, it has made him a stronger person and gave him such strong and high moral