I have chosen to write about A Delicate Balance by Jose Armas and The Boy and the Bank Officer by Phillip Ross. Why did I choose these stories, for one although one of them is fiction and the other non-fiction I can relate to them both on a personal level such as both writers did. In this paper I will discuss the difference between the way the characters were written about and portrayed and I will also compare some of the ways they acted alike.
             In my review of a Delicate Balance I found that in this story Jose Armas has two main characters, Romero Estrada the town sweeper and Seferino the eldest son of Barelas the town barber. Romero Estrada is the main character in this fiction story, whose part is featured throughout the story. The writer goes to great lengths to put great emphasis on how Romero takes care of the streets in the town of Golden Heights Centro were he lives, he pays great attention to detail and never ask for anything, but yet in return he has always been taken care of by the other shop owners of the town, making sure they have provided from him, by giving him things that he needs instead of money for his work. Although Romero volunteers his time and effort he loves and takes great pride in what he does. It isn't until Seferino comes along one day and tries to change how things are done that Romero changes a little. Seferino being an educated man thought it would be best to give Romero a small wage for keeping the street clean instead of paying him nothing as it had been before. Seferinos argument to his father who really rejected this idea was that he his father would not cut hair in his own shop and not be paid for it. Although Barelas disagrees with his son and he knew that if he distributed the delicate balance of the prior arrangements with Romero things would not turn out to be so great, but nevertheless he honored his son's wishes and let him proceed to pay Romero. Seferino did not understand where hi...