In What Ways are Ishmael and Adam alike?

Ishmael and Adam are alike in several ways. They both fell in love with a girl that they couldn't stay with forever. Adam met Cathy and she stayed with him until she was healthy enough to get away, and Ishmael met Hatsue at a very young age and he was in love with her, yet Hatsue couldn't stay with him because she was Japanese and was destined to marry a young Japanese man. Both of the women that they loved did not return the love, Cathy had no feelings for Adam and Hatsue had feelings for Ishmael but she did not love him. They both never saw the person they were in love with. Ishmael and Adam never moved on and found another love, they continued to think about them everyday for the rest of their lives. The two of them, had people telling them that they need to move on and find another wife, yet it was impossible.

Both men were very kind-hearted and always meant well. For example, Ishmael was helping Hatsue and Kabuo in the trial with printing positive things about the trial in the newspaper and trying to make people see that Kabuo was innocent. He did this for Kabuo, even though he stole the love of his life away from him. Then Adam ended up giving half of his inheritance from Charles death to Cathy with no problem at all. He could have hidden the money from her, and she would have never known, but something in him made him go up to the disgusting whorehouse to see Cathy and show her the will.

Another similarity was that both Adam and Ishmael had father's who played a big part in their lives. Ishmael respected his father, yet he didn't want to take over his father's job as a reporter. But, his father really wanted him to take over his job, so he did. Adam also didn't want to become the soldier his dad wanted him to be, yet he became a soldier just like his dad. Both the men, were in a war and both died with a scar from a bullet wound.