Writing Class- Contrasts

In the book Rebel With A Cause, Franklin Graham comes across as a humorous, whimsical, and fun-loving guy. When we read A Place in the Sun, George Eastman came across as a hopeless and empty character. These two prodigals were very different. Franklin always seemed to have a feeling of hope within him and the stories he told made me smile and laugh. George never once seemed to have hope for anything. It appeared as though his goal for himself was to betray those who loved him most and to make his audience cringe while they suffered through his idiocy and overall tendency to be a moron. In Franklin's humorous and inspiring autobiography, he retold the stories of his youth and explained how his seemingly silly habits turned into a rebellion from God. As Franklin wrote these stories, you can tell he was smiling as he wrote them and constantly replaying the humorous scenes in his mind, and yet you can tell he was honestly remorseful that he had made such foolish mistakes. In the incredibly depressing movie A Place in the Sun, the movie ended with foolish George walking to his death with thoughts of one of his girlfriends in his mind. George died because he supposedly murdered his pregnant girlfriend in order to clear his conscience of her and to focus on his other girlfriend. Both of these youthful rebels enjoyed to bend the rules. They both found happiness in the thrill of disobedience instead of in the thrill of success. Even though both young men were prodigals, there is still a clear difference between George and Franklin. While Franklin smoked, drank beer, and lied to cover his tracks for years, he never once committed himself to lust, impurity, greed, or a foul mouth. He still had standards for himself even though he considered himself a rebel. George, however, committed every sin in the book numerous times. He drank, smoked, lusted, envied, hated, lied, and murdered. Franklin came to repentance and became one of the world's most successful spiritual leaders and revivalists in the upcoming years. George... Well, George never repented and died for his mistakes.

Both rebels have one more thing in common: they were both sons of preachers. They were both brought up in religious families and both, for a time, thought they could somehow inherit their parents' faith. Once again however, both rebels interpreted things differently. Franklin realized that he could not live off of his parents' faith and that he needed to build his own. George is a good example of what happens to a person who believes that Jesus' Salvation is just a get-out-of- Hell-free card. Franklin is a good example of a prodigal running home to his Father. George's life undoubtedly ended in a trip to the eternal Lake of Fire. When Franklin Graham dies, he will spend eternity worshipping and praising the One True God. In your opinion, which rebel has it better now, after all their years of rebellion?