After reading both short stories, I was struck by the similarity between the two. In “The Lame Shall Enter First” there was a father figure who idealized a boy named Johnson and ignored his son Norton. He could only see the good in Johnson and the bad in Norton. In “A View of the Woods” the grandfather adored his granddaughter Mary and went above and beyond to make sure she only had the best. In both stories, the author talks about all the things the two adult figures would give to the favorite child. Sheppard bought a telescope and a new set of shoes for Johnson so that he could walk right, but he did not want anything to do with that. Johnson was very set in his ways and refused to take “hand-outs”. Similarly, in “A View of the Woods” Mr. Fortune tried to buy Mary’s forgiveness with a new boat, but she too refused. In the eyes of both Sheppard and Mr. Fortune, expensive things were an obvious solution and could make anyone happy. As we see, that is definitely not the case. All Mary wanted was a view of the woods and her front lawn. Both stories end with the child morphing into a devil-like creature and lashing out. While reading the works, I struggled to find a connection to the American Dream. However, after some thought, I think the author is trying to convey the sense that materialism is not the key to happiness. Happiness is something that stems from things that money cannot buy.