Literature often presents itself with different themes and messages to audience members. These themes can recur or even be opposed at times between different texts. Bertolt Brecht's play The Good Person of Szchecwan and James Weldon Johnson's Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man are two texts that have both differences and similarities. One difference between the texts is that while a theme in Brecht's work may be the lack of trust and good character between people, Johnson's book shows the narrator building strong bonds and relationships with the people in his life. One similarity between the two writings is that they both show the struggles people face with their identity. As a result, both writings offer readers characters torn apart by their environments, demonstrating that people often face problems with the world they live in. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In The Good Person of Szechwan, Brecht shows the audience a city of people who lack confidence and good character. The show shows three gods who come to Szechwan in need of shelter. No one in the city is willing to shelter the Gods due to their non-religious outlook and selfish intentions, with one man even stating “how do I know what kind of Gods you have there? He who lets people into his house likes to know what he's getting... You're trying to find a place for a good bunch of crooks” (Brecht 7). Here the audience sees the skepticism of the people living in Szechwan, even towards the gods. Furthermore, the people of the city did not give food or donations to the beggars because they suspected that the “beggar probably had money” and was not really a beggar (Brecht 14). Furthermore, the relatives and neighbors in the play take care of themselves before others and do not provide assistance if it puts them in any kind of deficit, for example the unemployed who saw Wang's hand break but were not willing to witness for Wang's compensation. The characters in the play maintain personal distance unless the relationship is necessary to achieve their goals. Sun is a character in the play who tells Shen Te, the only person who is truly good, that he loves her and then proceeds to take her money. Sun advises Shen Te to sell his tobacco shop at his own expense to become a pilot, all with the intent of leaving after receiving the money, leaving her with nothing. In comparison, the book Autobiography of a Former Black Man shows the narrator in several intimate relationships based on love and trust. For example, one character is a boy named Red who was a failing student at the same school as the narrator. The two quickly formed a friendship of "loyalty" after the narrator helped Red with a word in a spelling bee (Johnson 7). The two remained close as the narrator continued to help Red do well so that they remained at the same grade level. The audience can immediately see this pure and selfless relationship that the narrator has at such a young age. The relationship solidifies the good intentions the narrator has throughout the book and is the beginning of a list of significant relationships the narrator builds later in his life. In The Good Person of Szechwan, readers often notice a display of selfishness and hatred among the characters, even those who are supposed to be good like the citizens and the gods or Shen Te and his lover Sun. However, in Autobiography of a Former Man of color, readers witness relationships that, against all common sense, are good and loving. For example, the narratorshe notices that her mother speaks of her father, the man who left her and her son, only with compassion and kind words. She defended his actions and remained true to his memory even as he kept his distance and rarely made the effort to see the two. Another rarity that readers see in Brecht's play that can be seen in Johnson's book is the assistance and support between the characters. A character the narrator refers to as “the millionaire” is one of many people with whom the narrator forms a close bond (Johnson 118). The millionaire often paid the narrator large tips for his musical talent before giving him an even higher-paying private job. Soon the two become extremely friendly with the millionaire, offering the narrator the opportunity to leave with him to live in Europe. The millionaire does this after seeing the narrator in a state of disturbance over seeing a beautiful woman hit in the throat by her African-American companion. Here we see a character looking out for the narrator's best interest and helping him escape what can be considered a life-changing and scarring experience. Helping people in their time of need is a kind act that is seen nowhere in Brecht's work aside from Shen Te's good deeds. In Brecht's play, the audience sees the character Shen Te having issues with his identity and who he needs to be to be good versus who he needs to be to prosper economically. To stay well-fed or financially stable, the characters in the play are ruthless. Their morals are clouded by the mentality that survival is their purpose in life and religion or being good is just an obstacle. Shen Te is a kind and understanding woman in the play. The people of Szechwan know this and therefore take advantage of his goodness and exploit his decency. Shen Te soon creates an alter ego, known to people as his cousin Shui Ta, who is bold and brash in his ways. At first Shen Te keeps his appearance as minimal as possible using it only for emergency situations. However, she ultimately keeps Shui Ta around for six months, and by doing so, her business prospers as she becomes highly respected and feared among the people. Shui Ta has heavy control over his workers and business partners and prefers logic over right or wrong. Shen Te could never put others through hardship for his own comfort and knows that doing so is what makes a person bad. She wants to be good but, in doing so, she also wants to be financially successful. The struggle to be good and suffer or be bad and live well comes from the fact that Shen Te remains uncertain about which identity is the best choice. Similar to Brecht's work, Johnson's book shows that the narrator has issues with his identity and who he wants to be in terms of black and white. Being of mixed race, with his black mother and white father, the narrator often struggled to figure out what race he should be. Over the course of the book, she meets kind, soulful African Americans and sees the beautiful side of her mother's heritage. However, he also comes into contact with violent and embittered African Americans whose actions he cannot justify. He also sees the mistreatment of African Americans which horrifies him. Similar to Shen Te's identity crisis, the narrator seeks to become the identity that will provide him with the best possible outcome. His identity gets lost somewhere along the lines of being black or white with a thick line separating the two. In the end he chooses to be white and is happy to do so for the sake of his children. However, the narrator states that although he thinks he has made the right choice for his children and a beneficial life, he feels that he has abandoned his African American roots and identity. The conclusion of The Good Person of.