DeAngelo’s narrative, Son of Italy, and Malamud’s short story, Behold the Key, have both similarities and differences, however the differences outweigh the similarities. Both stories illustrate the story of immigrant failures, but in the Son of Italy, Pascal is a very determined US immigrant worker, who is willing to work hard for his success as a literary poet. In Behold the Key, Carl is a very impatient Italian immigrant who is visiting Italy, with his family, to do some research. Pascal and Carl come from two very different backgrounds, which also plays a key role in their different outcomes, as immigrants. There is a big contrasting theme of family verses individualism in these two works, that ultimately decides the ending success for Pascal, and the failure for Carl. Pascal and Carl’s masculine duties are both different. Carl is a husband and father, and as the head of the household he has the responsibility of making sure that there is food on the table and the family is financially stable. All of this is going wrong for Carl, he took out all of the money from the family savings account, his children are sick, and his …show more content…
Pascal’s story was more compassionate because he is an individual man that did not come from a great background, but built himself a road to success. He described part of his journey through poetry and literary writing. This gave the reader a sense of his passion that he had for poetry as well as an inside look at Pascal’s way of thinking. He thinks in a very determined way, as to where he can find the self-motivation to become a well-known poet. Through his poetry, his childhood, and his memory of working as an immigrant the reader can understand Pascal more and see how he has involved into this man that is a strong and talented individual, despite of his negative