Comparing and Contrasting Pollyanna and Veruca Salt

Today while I was picking up the office I came across a little file of some papers I had written for school over the years. I thought you might get a kick out of this one. I remember I had just mentioned that I had finished both books when I was told I needed to have a paper about a character from each book in by lunch time. This just goes to show how spontaneous my mother is on writing assignments! ;)

Comparing and Contrasting Pollyanna and Veruca Salt

This is an essay comparing and contrasting Pollyanna, a character from Eleanor H. Porter's fiction novel Pollyana, and Veruca Salt, from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory written by Roald Dahl.

Pollyanna Whittier is a fun-loving, orphaned, ten-year-old girl who lives with her strict aunt Polly. Pollyanna always tries to make the best of every situation and encourages others to do the same. She loves making new friends and taking in all sorts of creatures who don't have any place to stay, much to her dismay, into Aunt Polly's mansion.

Veruca Salt is a rich, spoiled brat who "needs a good spanking". She was the second winner of Mr. Willy Wonka's precious five golden tickets. And, as you can guess, got it purely from whining and screaming her father's ear off (just like she gets everything else).

Here are some of the similarities of Pollyanna and Veruca Salt. Veruca and Pollyanna both live in wealthy households; Pollyanna was adopted into the money and Veruca was simply born raking in the bucks. Bother girls have lovely, blond hair and are somewhat curious.

Though there are very few comparisons between Veruca and Pollyanna, there are many contrasts. First of all, Pollyanna is much more well behaved. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Veruca's "Daddy" tells the newspaper that Veruca "would lie for hours on the floor, kicking and yelling in the most disturbing way" when he would come home from work with no Golden Ticket. But when Pollyanna doesn't get something she wants, or has to do something she doesn't want to do, she doesn't throw a fit screaming and kicking on the floor. For instance, when Pollyanna found she didn't have any "looking glass" in her bedroom, she tried to make the best of things and figured that she can look at her freckles. Also, Veruca always wants everything she sees. Pollyanna is much better behaved than that. Thirdly, Pollyanna and Veruca each live in different time periods. You can tell because in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mike Teavee, another Golden Ticket finder, watches television. In the early 1900's, the setting of the book Pollyanna, there were no TVs invented yet.

As of closing, my favorite book was probably Charlie and the Chocolate factory; I think it was more exciting. But my favorite character was NOT Veruca Salt, it was Pollyanna! I love all of her Innocent, hilarious ideas. :)

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Okay, so I realize I wasn't the greatest thirteen year old writer on the planet, but it was fun to look back on and remember my ideas on those two books... for the love of reading.