Zoey Redbird vs. Willy Freeman

Zoey Redbird vs. Willy Freeman

By Andrea Basile

What would you do if you lost your parents and had to grow up too fast?  Zoey Redbird, a vampire who is just 17, takes the responsibility to be a great leader in a harsh world, but inside she is shattered. Willy Freeman, a Native American girl who has found freedom, just lost everything in one terrible night. These two characters from War Comes to Willy Freeman and The House of Night are very similar, and have similar characteristics too.

            Zoey Redbird and Willy Freeman have many things in common. One of those things is they had both lost their parents. Zoey's dad never been apart of her life, and Zoey's mom got brutally murdered by darkness. Willy's mom got captured by the British and later died of sickness. The British also killed Willy’s father by stabbing him with a bayonet. Both these characters have suffered the loss of their parents. Losing their parents affected both of them greatly. Zoey wasn’t very close to her mother but losing her shattered her heart. When big decisions came, she faltered and didn’t know what to do. When it was time for her to be a leader, she couldn’t because she was too fragile. And what hurt her even more was that she didn’t know exactly HOW her mother was killed…all she knew was she got killed by darkness. Willy, on the other hand, was affected by her parent’s death because now she has no “freedom papers” so she has no proof that she’s free of being a slave. Since she has no parents, she needs to grow up and take care of herself from now on. She just doesn’t have anyone anymore. She’s all alone. Zoey has a group of friends to support her, but Willy has no one. She has nowhere to live. No one to hug and love. No one.

 Even though the parents of both these characters died, there’s a twist, a twist that ties these two characters together even more. Zoey doesn’t know exactly how her mother died. And Willy doesn’t know exactly IF her mother is alive somewhere. So they both need to find out the answers, even though what they are going to find might be horrible and terrifying. This shows that they are both brave and courageous. Since Zoey NEEDS to know how her mother died, she is brave because she knows what she’s going to find will be heartbreaking.  And since Willy MUST try to find her mother, she is brave because she knows it will be extremely hard to find her, and there is many dangers of being a girl so she must hide the fact that she’s a girl too. Willy knows she might be caught by the British also. They are both afraid of what's coming but still pushing forward.  They are very similar in characteristics.

            Besides both characters being brave and losing their parents, another reason why they are similar is they need to grow up way too fast. Willy needs to grow up right when she finds out her mother was taken and her father was killed. She needs to nurture herself and provide her own food. She needs to find a new home and she needs to do everything by herself. On page 35 of War Comes to Willy Freeman Willy right away needs to go into hiding from the British, needs to dress up as a boy, and needs to sail all the way to New York with not much food. Willy is only 13! That’s my age! All I need to think about is boys and not gaining weight by eating candy! That shows how much this girl needs to grow up so soon. On the other hand, Zoey needs to grow up in a whole different way. She’s not alone like Willy is. But she got a special and rare piece of magic from their goddess “Nyx”, therefore she is very important in the world of vampires. Zoey is now a Priestess and has to take full leadership and face things that vampires should never face. And even though her mother just died, she needs to remain in control and not break down like a normal person would. That shows how SHE needs to grow up too early.

            Besides all the similarities between these two characters, there are also some differences. The story War comes to Willy Freeman is actually very realistic! The setting is during the Revolutionary War, which is very real. Some of the characters really were people in real life, even though some of the details were made up. It COULD really have happened back in that time. The way the narrator talked was different than The House of Night. Since the setting took place in the early 1700’s, and the main character was Native American, she said a lot of “so’s” instead of “so”, or “because”. On the other hand, the main character in The House of Night talks exactly how this generation would talk today. For example she says “like” and “totally.” Different than War comes to Willy Freeman, The House of Night is fictional. The setting is in a Vampire School. In this world, everyone knows about vampires and there’s darkness everywhere…it has a VERY different setting.

            As you can see, both these characters have many things in common and some differences. They have both lost their parents; they both have a twist about how their moms die, and they are both very, very brave. The only two differences is that Zoey has her friends to help her and Willy has not many people. Also the place and time is very different too. Willy’s story is nonfictional and Zoey’s story is fictional. They have both accepted the fact that their life is hard, and it will continue to be hard. But they are strong and their willing to stick with what they get.