Challenge Theme in “The Seeker” by J. Patrick Lewis and “Dragon, Dragon” by John Gardner (Essay Sample)

Have you ever wanted to complete a task and thought, how am I ever going to do this on my own? You may need to ask for help to even get close to finishing. Both the poem “The Seeker,” by J. Patrick Lewis and the short story “Dragon, Dragon,” by John Gardner are about having help to overcome a challenge. A common theme that is shared in these texts is with help, what seems impossible becomes possible.

In “The Seeker” by J. Patrick Lewis, the main character Helen Keller has help to overcome a challenge. Helen Keller wants to learn how to communicate with other people, but she is blind and deaf. Her teacher helps her to learn, and with her teacher’s help, Helen Keller learns to communicate. In stanza 5-8, the poet wrote, “My fingers clutch/My teacher’s hand-/There is so much/To understand”(Lewis, 5-8). This shows that Helen Keller’s teacher helped her to learn with her hands. Without her teacher’s help, Helen Keller might have never known how to talk to others. Helen Keller perfects communication through sign language and touch in stanza 14-16, “I learn to see/And overcome/Adversity,”(Lewis, 14-16). This piece of evidence explains that she overcame the challenge of not being able to communicate through sight or hearing with guidance and assistance. “I learn to see” refers to Helen Keller learning to see through touch and feel. Alike to Helen Keller in “The Seeker,” the cobbler’s youngest son also had a helping hand in completing a task.

In “Dragon, Dragon” by John Gardner, the protagonist has guidance in conquering a challenge. The cobbler’s youngest son wants to slay the dragon who torments the kingdom, but he does not have the strength to do it. He then asks for advice from his father and follows the advice. He travels to the dragon’s lair and kills the dragon. On page 11, the cobbler said, “‘When and if you come to the dragon’s lair, recite the following poem’...‘Are you certain?’ asked the youngest son uneasily”(Gardner, 11). This shows that the cobbler gave the son advice and helped him by giving him directions. The son took this advice and even though it seems impossible that he could ever slay the dragon, he does it anyway. On page 14, the dragon cries, “‘He he ho huk,’ went the dragon-and then he lay dead”(Gardner, 14). This proves that the dragon was slain and the youngest child of the cobbler succeeded in killing the dragon. The son couldn’t have done this without his father’s help because he was not strong enough to do it and he wasn’t confident enough. However, with his father’s help he was able to overcome the challenge of murdering dragon. With assistance, difficulties can become achievable.

In both written works, the shared theme is that with aid, challenges can become obtainable. Similar to the cobbler’s son in “Dragon, Dragon,” we should ask for help from others when a challenge seems too hard for us alone. We can learn from trusted people like Helen Keller learned from her teacher. In closing, we can defeat any challenge that comes our way if we ask for help.