“Essay: “We’re not so Different, you and I”

All human beings are same as God has created them similar because of which no one becomes superior or inferior rather the deeds of a person defines, who one really wants to be: what kind of person one wants to become: a hero or a villain. Generally, people are alike, but there lie some points, where they have differences, or sometimes it is the society that turns a good person into a bad person and does injustices. The phrase “We’re Not So Different, You and I “explains that whether it is female gender or male gender, it does not matter rather what truly matters is the mindset of the author that how he is portraying both the genders and how the authors creates difference within the same gender as these authors did in their writings.

Hence, one can say that it is about the mindset that how one perceives a character whether one thinks that the character is a hero or a villain and the author plays a vital role in making up the mind of the reader. The way the authors have portrayed the female gender is quite different yet surprising as the mindset of one author does not match the other at all. Both have their own perspectives and ideas about women, and that is visible in their work.

In the book Mega-City, one can witness how the author has portrayed women and their anxieties through the characters of Dana Scully, Buffy, Xena and the main character I, all these women are said to be equally damaged and lost. Although they all look charming and attractive yet, they have hopelessness and helplessness in their characters. They are unable to do anything for themselves; rather they focus more on how society thinks of them instead of how they should treat themselves in a better way. The author has shown that all these women in the book are lost, dumb and hopeless lovers.

On the other side, the author of the poem ""Odyssey"" shows female characters as strong and powerful, therefore, most of the women in the poem are represented as strong and self-depended, they do not prefer to lean over male gender in order to get sympathy rather the author has shown in his poem how they help the king without any interest. These women are goddesses and possess supernatural qualities in their personalities.

Furthermore, the women mentioned in both the poem and the book have a very different mindset, and their roles are totally different from each other but what makes them similar is that they are females and the attributes that female gender possesses are present in each one of them. The example of the main female characters-taken from both the poem and the book mentioned below will make it further clear, how “We’re Not So Different, You and I.”

The main character in the book “Mega-City Redux,” “I” is a woman who seems desperate for the guy she is in love with. All she does is stalk him, talks about him and his lover that seem like a couple, who does not know that “I” even exist (Knorr). The qualities that make her a strong character in this book is her dedication and love for that guy, who does not even love her back, but rather than taking any wrong step she accepts the fact that she is unable to get the love of that guy. She laments her failure but does not let it indulge her into any wrong activity. She does take care of her dignity no matter, how hopeless she is about her love life. Furthermore, the other female characters that are shown in this book by the author are hopeless, dumb and have nothing important to do (Knorr).

On the other hand, the character of “Athena” who is a woman and a goddess. She helps Odysseus in his journey rather than leaving him alone. She does all she could in order to make him secure and to send him back to his family as soon as possible. She tells his son about his father, who had been thinking that maybe, his father had died in the war, which means that she had no pessimism inside her and she did all of this for a good reason (Cartwright).

The similarity between the characters “Athena” and “I” is that both are chasing married men who do not have any feelings for them. The one whom “I” used to stalk does not even know that she exists, which makes her a helpless romantic who would never be able to get that man no matter how hard she tries, one can simply say that she is obsessed with that man, on the other hand, Athena is a woman who is helping Odysseus to achieve his destiny while secretly fighting with her father who is not in favor of helping Odysseus as Athena is a goddess because of which they should not get involved in human issue. In short, Athena is making an impact over Odysseus life by helping him and guiding him, whereas, “I” is just wasting her time for someone who does not worth it.

The point of mentioning these female characters was to tell the audience about the different mindset of both the authors, how they portray women in their work. If one talks about the women in the poem, Odyssey, women are portrayed as protagonist whereas, in the other book, Mega-City Redux, the women cannot be considered as the protagonist in the society as they are desperate and good for nothing.

It is all because of the fact that the authors wanted to create a difference rather than making them alike. So, in each piece of literature that we have critically evaluated, it is important to keep in mind that what the author wants us to feel and observe because even if our interpretation is different, yet it is similar in some ways as these women are similar, one way or the other, struggling for themselves to live a better life."

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