Different, but Similar

Author's Note: This is a comparative essay about the novels The Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard and Sarah Bishop. I wrote this to show how these stories both had similar themes, though they were used differently.

In the two books “Sarah Bishop” and “The Stolen Life” both indicate the themes of loss of innocence and bravery and courage. Although they could betray them in different ways they are also betrayed in similar ways.

To begin with the theme loss of innocence Sarah bishop loses her innocence when her brother and father are killed and she’s getting hunted by the government. To top it off people are starting to think she is a witch. In The Stolen Life Jaycee losses her innocence when she is kidnapped by some 60 year old. During the 18 years of being kidnapped. Not only was she living in a tented backyard and wasting her life not knowing anything but the stuff she was taught when she was 11but being raped. Not just once several times and to add on to that she has two girls at the ages of 13 and 16.

Furthermore, the themes of bravery and courage also play a big role in these books. In Sarah Bishop she’s living alone in a cave with a bat and other animals around her. She has to get her own food and all her clothes. In The Stolen Life, Jaycee has to overcome all the struggles of not only living in tents, not knowing who you really are, losing your childhood, but having to go through the pain of probably never seeing your own family never the less having your own daughter at the age 13.

However, these books are very different in their own way. Some of the ways they could be different is the characters are placed in different times Jaycee from The Stolen Life is in the modern day society, and Sarah is back in the when the revolutionary war was taking place.

In conclusion, these books all have other ways they show these themes and many more. Sarah Bishop and The Stolen Life are two very different books although