Compare and Contrast "Beyond the Snow Belt" and "The Shoemaker"

In Mary Oliver's pome "Beyond the Snow Belt" and in Poch Carrier's short story "The Shoemaker", both the speaker and the narrator, respectively, show a naive and an ignorant attitude toward death.

According to the pome the speaker shows a clam and ignorant attitude toward death. In the short story the speaker lives far away from "Two countries north" (line 11). "Tow counties north the storm has taken lives." (line 10) The speaker is powerless to help those people, "And what else might we do? Let us be truthful."(line 9) So the speaker uses a calm and ignorant toward the death in north, "How shall examples move us from our calm?" (line 19) People are weak, when they are in a predicament, they can only help themselves and the people they love, "I only say, except as we have loved,"(line 21)

In the short story, the narrator has a naive attitude toward those people who died in Hioshima. Actually, the narrator did not know what happened in Hioshima and what is atomic bomb prior to one big boy said "Listen to him! Did the atomic bomb land on your head?"(paragraph 18) to the narrator. "I searched through..."(paragraph 21), the narrator is totally oblivion about this news. So he just confused and his attitude is peaceful. After he grew up, he knew what happened over there. He hoped those died people can remember some good things in their next lives, "in the next life..."(last parapragh). His attitude is naive and optimistic, because death is nothing, no more next life.

The speaker and the narrator's attitudes have similarity and difference. Like the speaker's calm and ignorant attitude, the narrator has a alike attitude, the narrator's attitude is peaceful and confused. In the poem the speaker is a static character, his attitude never changed, however the narrator in short story is a dynamic character, at first he is peaceful toward death, then after he grew up his attiude is naive. The speaker is passive toward the death in north, he things he cannot help them. The narrator is optimistic and hopeful, he hopes people can remember good things in their next lives.

As a conclusion, the speaker's attitude is igonrant clam and passive toward death in the pome. the narrator's attitude at first is peaceful and confused, after his attitude is naive optimistic and hopeful.