The contrast between sexes and people who are from different classes caused issues and wars throughout history. The story Boys and Girls talked about the discrimination of woman that was a big issue throughout history and still exists in some countries in the Middle East. The story Barn Burning explored hate between poor and wealthy families that changed a kid’s’ life into hell. Finally, the novel Animal Farm talked about the contrast between people who work in the government and have power and civilians who don’t have it. In other words, the reader in the three readings Boys and Girls, Barn Burning, and Animal Farm sympathises the people or the side that didn’t have a power, such as women, civilians in Animal Farm, and Snopes and Abner in Barn Burning.  

“All men were created equal” (Thomas Jefferson), however, life is unfair and does not regard women as men. The story Boys and Girls by Alice Munro talked about the discrimination against women by telling a story of a girl who her society did not consider men and women equal. For example, the narrator brother’s name was Laird which is synonym for lord. Laird’s name is mentioned lots of times in the story. However, Laird sister’s name is not mentioned at all which shows the contrast between men and woman. The narrator, who is Laird’s sister, helps her father with his work unlike Laird. Although Laird didn’t work as hard as his sister with his dad’s work, his mother always believed that he will still be better than her someday: “Wait until Laird gets a little bigger, then you will have a real help.”  Also, the story talked about how women couldn’t work outside just like men because they had other mandatory work, such as housework that doomed them until the end of their lives: “It was an odd thing to see my mother down at the barn. She did not often come out of the house unless it was to do something – hang out the wash or dig potatoes in the garden. She looked out of place, with her bare lumpy legs, not touched by the sun.” This quote shows how women spent most of their time working at their houses instead of enjoying their lives by going outside. Also, it gives the reason why Laird’s mother always wanted her daughter to stay home instead of working with her dad which is because she wanted the narrator to be like any other woman by staying home and doing housework. In the end of the story, the narrator allows the beautiful horse to escape that was locked for years, however, it dies when it escapes. The death of the horse represents women who were being forced to follow the rules or they will get punished. Clearly, Boys and Girls talked about the suffering of women before the feminist movement and showed how it was a big issue for women, who belong to the side that doesn’t have power, to be freed like men.

The story Barn Burning shows the contrast between poor and rich families and how that affects people’s lives, such as Sarty in the story. The story Barn Burning talked about Abner, the father of Sarty Snopes, who was kicked out of the city for burning his landlord barn. Sarty in the beginning believed his father and didn’t believe the rich people who hated his father: “He could not see the table where the Justice sat and before which his father and his father’s enemy our enemy he thought in that despair; ourn! mine and hisn both! He’s my father!” (Faulkner, Barn Burning). Abner always cared about his dignity and hated families who were from the high classes. The story talks about the contrast between the wealthy, powerful families and poor people. Although there was no proof that Abner was the culprit, the wealthy family was able to force Abner and his family to leave the city by using their power.  After Sarty and his family moved to a new farm, Sarty figured out that his father was actually guilty. Then, Abner tries to burn his new landowner’s barn as a revenge after he got in trouble for ruining their rug and Sarty tries to stop him but he fails. In the end, Sarty leaves his family, father, and barn behind without even saying goodbye, heading to an unknown place thinking of his father who fought his enemies until the end: He went on down the hill, toward the dark woods … He did not look back” (Faulkner, Barn Burning). The quote shows how Sarty didn’t want to accept his life that was full of hate and how he couldn’t look back and see the death of his father. Clearly, the reader would sympathise Abner and his father because they were the side that didn’t have power in the story.

The book Animal Farm by George Orwell, showed the contrast between people who had and didn’t have power after the Russian revolution by referring them to the discrimination of animals against other animals in the farm. The beginning of the book talked about animals living in a farm that was owned by a farmer who didn’t care about his animals. After years, the animals revolted and earned their freedom from the farmer. Pigs decided to control the new regime and the first rule they came up was “all animals are equal.” However, after years passed, pigs changed the law to “all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others,” which shows how the power that pigs earned after they controlled the new government changed them into different pigs, who didn’t care about the rest of the animals anymore. In other words, although this story talks about animals not human, the main point of this story is to reveal how power can make people blind and change their actions. To sum up, readers would feel bad for animals who used to work in the farm and who represented civilians in the real world because they didn’t have power.

In conclusion, Barn Burning, Boys and Girls, and Animal Farm talk about how the discrimination against women and people from low classes affect societies. The story “Animal Farm” and “Barn Burning” talked about how power can make people different than others. In addition, the story Boys and Girls talked about the contrast between man and woman that still exist in today’s world even in the United States. For example, the Quran has ideas that still make Muslims treat women differently than men because of their genders. Clearly, animals in Animal Farm, the narrator in Boys and Girls, and Sarty in Barn Burning, make readers feel bad for them because they were born in the side that didn’t have power and all together they reflect our history of slavery, and feminist movement.