John Henry Comparison

I would have to say that there is little that is similar between the pieces Ballards and the other two songs by NAS. Ballards was more of a story with hope in the beginning that John would beat the white man in a race. The beginning gave a somewhat sense of happiness (or at least happier than the NAS songs). In the end however John beats him but still ends up dead. The tragic ending is the only connection I could really make between the two pieces of writing. Nas created songs about what a hard life it is and what surrounds them. There is some sense of hope in the songs because some of them discuss how things are really bad, but they could be a lot worse. Nas also made you feel like the “main character” in the songs was basically on their own. The character didn’t have anyone supporting them or cheering them on through the hardships that he or she faced. Ballards on the other hand made the reader feel as if they weren’t alone and that people were there to support them and do anything. It seems as if NAS is trying to show us how hard life is when you’re living on the streets with bums outside of where you sleep. I felt that Ballards was trying to tell the story of what happened to John, but didn’t try to show us what a hard life he had. The piece did however end on John beating the white man but still dying, sadly due to his own actions.