Shower Songs And Xenia Essay

In both short stories, Shower Songs and Xenia, the authors are caregivers to a loved one and each use multiple forms of emotional language. In Shower Song the author Brian Trapp is giving his twin brother with cerebral palsy a bath for the last time. Trapp uses a silly song to help him get through the difficult task. Xenia is about Karen Babine mother going through chemo and receiving xenia or hospitality from strangers bringing meals to her home. Her mother extends hospitality to a stranger on her last day of chemo. Both short stories are written to a broader general audience. Both articles display exigence in the same way by trying to raise awareness of the diseases and the toll it takes of being a caregiver. In Shower Song Danny keeps asking for his mom and it makes Trapp feel like he is not good enough. Trapp goes through great detail of the showering task. In Xenia the author describes having nothing left to give and

Brian’s story is written in more simple sentences and is easy to follow. Babine’s story was way more complex than Trapp’s because she goes back and forth in time. In Shower Songs brain had not always been the care giver it used to be his mother this is identified through the very descriptive picture that Trapp gives of his brother Danny. “I washed his hairy chicken legs, the soft flesh of his hamstring, his warped feet with their yellow, layered toenails, the skin puckered from his tube socks.” (Trapp). In Xenia the author uses rather plain speech and is not very descriptive. “They brought food on Tuesdays because my mother’s chemotherapy happened on Mondays.” (Babine). Trapp’s story is the remembrance of one event in time and describes the event in such a way that the audience can visualize it. Babine’s relates her story to bells and the hope that she feels when she hears a bell ring. Bells have always been a part in her life and she recalls varies bells in her