Comparison

How ever reasons that their parents got divorced are different. Alex parents got divorced because Alex's mother wanted to live on her own while Brian's parents got divorced because his mom was seeing another man " Brian looking over his head to see the station wagon and his mother sitting with the man... the short blond hair of the man, the white shirt of the man... the memory were exact.The secret ."( Hatchet, Pg.30) Both of the boys felt bad about their parents divorce. Brian was angry and upset while Alex felt "... my whole world fell apart" ( Forbidden city, Pg.15).

The different of the main characters personal struggles are very different. Alex fought to political conflicts in Beijing. First, Alex wanted to learn about the military history but afterwards he realized that everything is not that simple " I thought about Beijing... The night filled with machine-gun fire and screams, crackling flames and Lao Xu's shout of outrage before he died... "Nothing will be the same now, will it, dad? everything will be different, and we will too" ( Forbidden city, Pg. 274). On the other side Brian tried to be more positive while dealing with the trials he was facing." Sit in the dark alone and think of them and it was not bad and would never be bad for him."(Hatchet, Pg.188). In the end both Alex and Brian learned how to survive for their own trials in life.

Finally, the contrast between the main characters and their society are very complicated. Alex had difficulties specially Chinese language while Brian was facing the survival problem in the wilderness. Alex took pains to speak some chinese " Ni hao? Shen ti zen me yang?... but doesn't sound like much..." ( Forbidden city, Pg.50). Unlike Alex, Brian needed to survive in the wilderness.He was weak from hunger " he would have to find something to eat."( Hatchet, Pg.57). However, with his effort, he found berries and turtle eggs. He even made the spear to catch the fish and made the fire to look the meat.

In conclusion, the two novels Hatchet and Forbidden city share some differences and similarities about the struggles of teenagers to face challenges and mature. The novels show us how to survive in any trials. The two novels teach us how to accept any struggles in life. The two main Characters tells us how to ignore the trials in life in order to survive the trials they faces.