Comparing 'Good Enough And Freddie In The Shade'

In today’s society, people think that a change of hairstyle or an article of clothing will classify you into a group of people, like the popular kids or the kids that will never be seen. Two amazing authors, Vail and Ryan, have published articles in the Scholastic magazine called “Good Enough” and “Freddie in the Shade.” These two stories have a lot of diverse characteristics and likeness within them, including the articles’ conflict, and how the setting creates a specific mood.

“Freddie in the Shade” and “Good Enough” both display a feeling being insecure and having a mood of lonely, nervous, uncomfortable, intimidated, or embarrassed. “Freddie in the Shade” shows how an article of clothing can’t hide somebody, displaying multiple moods of

In “Freddie in the Shade,” it says, “It meant that on the first day of school, he’d be the new kid, the different kid. He had no interest in Minneapolis or anyone who lived there. The sunglasses went on and stayed on,” (Ryan, 22). This means that Freddie was going through a lot of changes, so he uses his sunglasses to cover up his feelings. He gives off this heeling of being insecure about moving and his new stepmother and how sad his life is changing. So, he uses his sunglasses to try to hide himself from the world and feel invisible. On the other hand, “Good Enough” shows how an article of clothing can’t change you or make you better, displaying multiple moods of nervous, uncomfortable, or intimidated. In “Good Enough,” it says, “It was a fake Orion, a cheap imitation, with hearts instead of stars… And it was worse than no Orion shirt at all. It was the fakeness that was so awful. I’d rather wear my brothers’ old T-shirts. At least they are what they are and don’t try to be anything else,” (Vail, 13). This shows that

“Good Enough” illustrates a conflict of Character vs. Society, meaning Dori vs. the A-Group (the popular kids at school. In the article it says, “Carleen taunted, “Is it an Orion?” I shook my head and kept on crying, ready for humiliation and punishment I know I deserved. “No,” I blubbered, ashamed, “it’s a fake.”” (Vail, 14). This verifies my conflict of Character vs. Society because one of the popular girls from the A-Group starts taunting Dori because her shirt is a fake. But Dori soon realizes that her fake Orion was the best present she had ever received, and that it doesn’t matter if it’s a fake or not. On the contrary, “Freddie in the Shade” shows a conflict of Character vs. Self. because Freddie is having to deal with multiple changes. In “Freddie in the Shade,” it says, “His mom had died before he could remember, so it had been Freddie and Dad for years, the two of them against the world… Then Dad met Maggie. She was nice enough, but things changed last year after Dad and Maggie got married. A few months later, Maggie announced she was going to have a baby, and Dad began to talk about moving away from San Diego.” (Ryan, 22). Freddie has had to go through a lot of changes, and the way he deals with that is by putting on sunglasses and wearing them all the time. He doesn’t want to recognize all of these changes just yet, so he uses his sunglasses to hide his