THE LAMPLIGHTER

Anna and Gentry are both two young 8-year-old girls who share the same struggles and complications that they struggle with everyday. Even though the girls are from completely different time periods we can still find comparisons in them. Some comparisons are that they both face the same struggles, to find balance and to be useful.
In The Lamplighter we see that Gerty is constantly struggling with certain obstacles daily, which we can blame on the way she was brought up. Nan Grant never taught her anything or cared about her at all, which causes Gerty to be unaware of how she is suppose to handle life. Gerty finally starts to figure things out when she moves in with True Flint. She has a complete change in heart and we see her behavior change as well. Because of the way Nan Grant treated her it is hard for her to get over some of the habits she developed. Gerty still has occasional breakdowns and fits. "The child's language expressed unmitigated hatred, and even a hope of future revenge. True looked worried and troubled at hearing her talk so angrily. Since he brought her home he had never witnessed such a display of temper, and had fondly believed that she would always be as quiet and gentle as during her illness and the few weeks subsequent to it." True was shocked to see these emotions come out of her especially since this is the first time he has really been close to her. This was one of the ways Gerty would express her emotions. I think in a way this was one of the ways when living with Nan Grant she could actually get her attention and by being so dramatic it would catch Nan Grants attention.
In the clip of Anna, she explains that she copes with her emotions, stress, and hard times by doing yoga. We can draw a comparison in the way that Gerty uses burying her hands in her face and the different positions in yoga, such as child's pose, as a means they use to cope with their issues. Through this we see that even though these two girls live in completely different decades they share some similarities in how they deal with stress. Anna has obviously had a much different upbringing then Gerty. Unlike Gerty, Anna’s parents where probably around to teach her how to deal with her emotions. In the video Anna describes how she responds to those who say they try and can't do it by saying "try your best and try harder." This is seen in The Lamplighter when Willie brings up the discussion of religion. He asks her “Don’t you ever pray-pray to God?” “No I don’t-Who is God? Where is God?” He goes on to continue telling and teaching her about God. Anna could be compared to Willie in this particular instance because Willie is encouraging Gerty to know God, such as Anna encourages other people in her life.
I think little girls at this age have a somewhat of a similarity when it comes to their behaviors and mindset. We see Anna as more mature then Gerty because of the way she was brought up. The two although both seemed to share characteristics such as the way they dealt with their stress. Essentially all little girls act a certain way according to their age whether it be now or a 150 years ago.