Brittni+B.~Ko+vs.+Mary

Brittni Balik Period: 2 -24-20 **__M__**__ary__ **__an__**__d K__ **__o__ **In the** books __Secret Garden__ by Francis H. Burnett and __So Far from the bamboo Grove__ by Yoko Kawashima Watkins, the two characters Mary and Ko are very similar girls, however they have many differences. Even though they were set in different time periods they had similar experiences when both of them traveled to new places, Mary moved to England from India, and Ko fled to Japan from Korea in World War II. **     ====Mary is an irresponsible girl because in the book Secret Garden she would always make people do things for her. No matter what she wouldn’t do anything for anyone except for herself. Even though she took care of the garden she had people give her seeds and tools. Unlike Mary, Ko is more of the responsible type person. She always made sure there was food on their plates and that everything was washed and ready to go. If there wasn’t enough food for herself and Yoko she would work harder to earn more money by shoe shining and working more hours at the college, to buy more food. ==== ====However Mary is also very secretive. She would not tell anyone that she found the garden or even that the key had even been found. Everyday she would make sure no one saw her creep into the hidden door. She wouldn’t ever tell her most trusted maid find out about the garden. Ko is exactly like Mary. While running away from the Korean soldiers Ko needed to keep her identity a secret. She went so far that she had to cut all of her hair off and even acted like a boy. Even though she didn’t want to cut her hair off she knew that it was the only way to stay alive. ==== ====It might seem weird, but Mary is very independent in the book, even though she had people serving her. While she would roam through garden after garden not once would you see a person with her, only a small robin following her. She enjoyed only the robins company, while exploring the manor. Ko is more of the social and interactive than Mary. Ko would rather spend all her time with her family than anywhere else. In her book she liked to spend time with Yoko making things to sell for money and cooking dinner. Since Ko didn’t have all of her family she wanted to spend lots of time with them and still loved the little bit she had. ==== ====As you can see Mary and Ko are two very different people, but have some of the same traits squeezed into both of their lives. Ko works hard and really tries to keep her and her family alive. While Mary has everybody doing things for her while she enjoys life. Although their situations are a tiny bit similar with traveling to new places, they will never be one in the same. ====