Comparing Clay Dilham in Up the Slide with Gary Paulsen in A Glow in the Dark Essay

The main character of Up the slide is ashes Dilham who is a young prospector. He decided to get a sled-load of firewood in fractional an hour. After a hard struggle, he succeeded. The main character of a glow in the dark is Gary Paulsen who ran an eight-dog team in an unknown and dark forest. A strange light frightened him exclusively he finally found what the light was. Both of the Great Compromiser and Gary have great courage but Clay is braver than Gary. Clay go about a more chancy situation and more difficulties.First, Clay was very young who was only 17 years old and became a young prospector who traveled to a hostile environment. The Yukon Territory is located in the northwestern corner of Canada. It is part the subarctic zone, where temperatures have been known to plunge to -80F (p315). It is real hard for people to survive in such terrible environment, especially for a 17-year-old teenager. Most of teenager at that age are sitting in a warm classroom and receiving goo d education. But Clay as a young prospector worked in such terrible place.So he must have great courage and is really very brave. Second, during his trip, he could die every second if he lost his caution. A slip at that loony toons meant a plunge over the edge and a twenty-foot fall to the ice. A hundred feet farther along, and a slip would mean a fifty-foot fall. (p316). It was really riskous and difficult for people who wanted to survive. For Clay, a young prospector didnt have so much experience. So he would not expect such a difficult but he keeps being calm it must be his bravery and great courage to support him sort out all these difficult problems.Gary nerved a less dangerous situation than Clay. First, the ghost and other terrifying things were all created by his imagination. It means that they couldnt create any physical danger for him. Ghosts and goblins and dark nights and snakes under the bed and sounds I didnt know and bodies I had found and graveyards under covere d pale moons and death, death, death (p323) These imaginary things will not make him die at once but in Up the slide if Gary has a momentary oversight, he will die at once.So the situation that Gary faced is less dangerous than the situation that Clay faced. But he still felt very terrified and didnt know what to do at that moment. So Clay is braver than Gary. Second, the motivation that pushed Gary to go forward is his curiosity, not his courage or bravery. But curiosity was stronger. My legs moved without my wanting them to move and my clay followed them. (p323) Although Gary still went forward with great fear, he didnt have strong belief like Clay that had great courage to go forward.So Clay is braver than Gary. In conclusion, first Clay faced a more dangerous situation than Gary. Second, Clay had to overcome both physical and metal fear but Gary only needed to overcome his imagination. Third, Clay was always calm but Gary didnt know what to do when they faced frightening thing s. So Clay is braver than Gary. When students face some difficulties like problems they cant solve, keeping calm is always the best solution. So they will come up some good ideas and solve the problem successfully.