Where The World Began Analysis

From rebellious stunts, melodramatic hijinks, and questionable fashion choices, the course through one’s adolescence is arguably the most transformative journey. Two narratives discover major keys integral to the upbringing of a child. The Charmer, a short story written by Budge Wilson, explores change within relationships while Where the World Began, a personal essay by Margaret Laurence shows how one’s identity derives from his/her environment. Together, these two coming-of-age pieces of work centralize around the theme of childhood and life in Canada that can be both compared and contrasted.

The works of Laurence and Wilson are both written as first person narratives containing protagonists who grow a tender fondness for their families and region. In

It boils down to the subject that each character focuses on. Winnifred merely witnesses the development of her brother and can directly relate to him. On the contrary, in the prospect of Lawrence, she is living in the prairies which serves as her home. The Charmer perfectly describes the proverb of ‘all that glitters is not gold’ meaning that an attractive appearance may just be a facade. In Where the World Began, Laurence describes the importance of coming to terms with one’s own homeland. The final dissimilarity is how each of the stories end. Winnifred ends a changed person after witnessing the outcome of her brother’s charming, but manipulative attitude. After sternly ordering her daughter to clean up after a tantrum (which Zachary consistently avoided doing), she says to herself quietly, “Thank you, Zachary” (108 Wilson). This affirms that he changed her considerably into adulthood and remains there. In the latter, the author self-admittedly cannot help but be attached and devoted to her country as she explains, “But one thing is inalterable, for better or worse, for life. This is where my world began” (322