Plainsong : Harold And Raymond Mcpheron

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Plainsong : Harold and Raymond Harold and Raymond McPheron, which are farmers in a novel called Plainsong, are thought by some people to be simple, interchangeable characters, but they are actually complex, inimitable characters. By looking at their words and actions in the novel it should be simple to draw contrasts between them. Even though they are brothers their personality traits are considerably different. Raymond is more optimistic and considerate while Harold is more attentive and secure. This evidently shows us that the writer did not add them to the novel to serve one small, simple purpose. By critically looking at the McPheron brothers it can be said that Raymond is more optimistic compared to Harold. For instance, on pg. 58 Harold and Raymond have a little quarrel about how it could and couldn’t snow tonight. Raymond looks at the possibility of how it could snow even though his brother is giving him all these facts of how it is too cold and too dry to snow. For this reason Raymond is more optimistic than Harold since he chose hope while his brother chose facts instead. In addition, Raymond is also more considerate. On pg. 70 Raymond offers to the Guthrie brothers, which are a couple of young boys who are part of the novel, some money for helping him and his brother on the farm. Raymond considers the fact that the Guthrie boys did something for him, so he gives them recompense for their troubles. While his brother was just talking with Tom Guthrie, who is the Guthrie brothers’ father, and not even thinking about how to pay back the boys. This is clear evidence that Raymond is kinder than Harold since he thought about the boys while Harold didn’t. On the other hand, Harold is more observant than Raymond. For example, on pages 173-174 Harold is the one who concludes that the reason Victoria, who is a girl which lives with them, is so doleful
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