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In the short story "First Confession," writer Frank O'Connor uses two characters to illustrate different approaches to instilling a belief in a person. While each approach, as used by Mrs. Ryan first, then by the priest, has its merits and can be effective to a certain extent, it can be shown that one way can produce the same result with less grievance to the pupil. This essay will highlight the differences in the blueprint that Mrs. Ryan used to teach the children lessons, as opposed to how the priest would go about enlightening Jackie to the same concepts.
To begin with, Mrs. Ryan would teach the children about Hell. She related stories that scare the children to death which played on Jackie's still immature view of the world. However, it is often the case that this approach will only work for so long before he will find out it is not how she said it was, and he may be discouraged from religion forever. The priest's method would be different, as is shown by how he comes......

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Approximate Word Count: 609
Approximate Pages: 3 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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