Comparing and contrasting Essay

One of the best methods to help us finish up our thoughts ab go forth a personality, an even sot, a poem, a figmentnearly anythingis to analyse and contrast. (To comp are kindle mean to find similarities and differences. Coupled with contrast, however, to compare marrow to point out similarities, while to contrast means to point out differences.) Many of us, feeling weighted down by cares, shed happened to capture someone coping with a much greater burden or handicapand suddenly our problems give way insignificant in comparison. Seeing how our patch relates to an some differents, we have gained perspective. The only way to have that perspective is by viewing things in relation to one anotherby examine and contrasting. Considering 2 characters, for example, can help us think more in effect nigh each. (Authors frequently invite such comparison by including a character foil in a storya character who coiffures to emphasize the attributes of another character beca drill t he deuce are so antithetic.) permits consider, specifically, Rainsford, the protagonist of Richard Connells story The Most Dangerous Game, and the obscure protagonist in Jack Londons To Build A Fire. How are the two men comparable? severally confronts a heartrending situation. Rainsford is chased by the fanatical Zaroff, and Londons protagonist combats the intense c overaged of theYukon. Each fights down panic and acts swiftly and decisively. Rainsford sets traps for his pursuers and finally tricks Zaroff the earth in theYukon quickly advances a fire after his feet are soaked. Each denies the appriseion of an acquaintance Rainsford tells Whitney that hunted creatures have no feelings, and Londons protagonist ignores the old-timers advice. And each man learns, as a result of his or lease, that he has been wrong.On the other hand, the men are disparate in several ways. Londons protagonist does not have sufficient foresight to realize, in the first place, that he shouldnt be o ut alone in such cold, and second, that he shouldnt build his fire under a tree. He fails to overcome the crisis that he brings on himself, and as a result, he dies. Rainsford, however, fallsinto his ordeal quite by chance, by tumbling from the ship. He refuses to sacrifice his principles to extricate himself from the crisis he tells Zaroff that lookup men is murder pure and simple. Once he realizes the game he moldiness play, he plays it with great cunning, and he triumphs.As illustrated in the two preceding paragraphs, at that place are two ways to write a paragraph of comparison or contrast. As in the first of the paragraphs, we can shuttle back and forth A is similar to or different from B in one respect A is to B in a second respect A is to B in a third respect and so on. On the other hand, as in the second of the paragraphs, we can write in a block about one of the items under consideration (A) and then about the other (B). uncomplete way is better, though the shuttle meth od is a bit more demanding since it requires that we have matching tilts about the pair under consideration. Even if we use the block method, we should try to list corresponding details in the selfsame(prenominal) order in both parts of the paragraph we also request to be sure to provide a link between our treatment of A and B. In any case, a well-organized comparison, whether focusing on lit or something else, is a powerful way to illuminate both the items that we are considering.An Addendum to Jim Stovers Discussion about Comparisons (Bob Fulton)Sometimes it is helpful to insinuate to your reader what you feel is more significant, the similarities you have discovered between the two things you are comparing or their differences. Consider now two other apologueal characters, Goodman Brown from Hawthornes story Young Goodman Brown and the fabricator from Poes story The Tell-Tale spunk. After you have listed as many similarities and differences as you can in preparing to writ e a comparison paragraph between these two characters, you may decide that the differences you have found are outlying(prenominal) less significant or interesting than the similarities. Because you are developing a comparison, you are obliged to acknowledge that there are, indeed, differences between Goodman Brown and Poes narrator. (If you were to focus exclusively on the similarities these characters share, your reader might suppose that you had totally overlooked their differences and that, as a consequence, your essay or paragraph mustbe flawed and therefore without merit.) But you also want to build clear to the reader your sense that the similarities outweigh the differences. Whats the solution? present is a suggestion.Start your paragraph with a subject sentenceAlthough there are striking differences between Goodman Brown, the central character of Nathaniel Hawthornes story Young Goodman Brown, and the narrator of Edgar Allen Poes story The Tell-Tale Heart, the similarit ies between these two figures suggest a central point about protagonists in nineteenth-century American fiction they tend to isolate themselves from others through their obsessive appearances.Then go on to introduce differencesAt first inspection, Goodman Brown and Poes narrator fall out to be quite unlike each other. The narrative I of The Tell-Tale Heart is a crazed murderer with no apparent friends or acquaintances other than the old man he kills and butchers. Goodman Brown, by contrast, is a member of the community, married, with children, and, at his worst, a silent grouch. Murder never crosses his mind. The narrative I of Poes story seems eager to share the fact of his murderous crime with the police who come to his apartment, whereas Goodman Brown has no desire to tell anyone in his village what he thought he saw and did on the night he ventured into the woods.Now get to the central issue, how these two characters share very beta similaritiesNevertheless, these two charac ters are twin brothers at heart. Each is desperately pertain with sin and evil. Poes narrative I cannot resist the pull which draws him to the old mans bedroom. He cannot resist the urge to illuminate the predator eye. Likewise, Goodman Brown will not put off his journey into the woods, even though his wife of three months begs him to remain at home. He must press on to face wickedness itself. The behavior of each is perfectly determined by this concern to uncover themystery of evil and deal with it. And this obsession isolates Poes narrative I and Hawthornes Goodman Brown from their comrade creatures. In their obsessive behavior these characters are linked with other figures in nineteenth-century American fiction master key Ahab, for instance, in Herman Melvilles Moby-Dick, Bartelby in Melvilles Bartleby the Scrivener, Natty Bumppo in mob Fenimore Coopers Leatherstocking novels, and Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthornes novel The Scarlet Letter.If you were to write an essay comparin g these two stories, the topic sentence I have written for the paragraph above would serve as your thesis pedagogy for the comparison essay. Put your thesis statement at the top of your introductory paragraphthats right, the thesis statement is your first sentencethen go on to write a topic sentence for each of the paragraphs in the proboscis of your essay. These topic sentences become the second, third, fourth, etc., sentences of your introductory paragraph In the last sentence of the introduction, sow a root for the final paragraph of your essay, a so-what? paragraph. This paragraph IS NOT A CONCLUSION. Instead, it answers the head teacher So what? Imagine someone asking you to explain wherefore you wrote the comparison you did. Your response is to put your analysis in a context. utilize the above example, I might say In their obsessive behavior these characters are linked with other figures in nineteenth-century American fictionCaptain Ahab, for instance, in Herman Melville s Moby-Dick, Bartelby in Melvilles Bartleby the Scrivener, Natty Bumppo in James Fenimore Coopers Leatherstocking novels, and Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthornes novel The Scarlet Letter.To subdue repetition, when you write the body paragraphs, plagiarize the topic sentences which you have already displace in your introduction to avoid repeating them verbatim in the body of your essay. Each of these paraphrased topic sentences should govern what goes into their paragraphs in the body of the paper. Likewise, when you come to the so-what? paragraph, paraphrase the seed sentence you wrote at the end of your introductory paragraph. This paraphrase of the seed sentence is the focus of your essays final paragraph, the paragraph which answers the question So what? You should not be surprised if this final paragraph is long-lasting and moredetailed than any of the body paragraphs. After all, it is meant to open up for your reader a wider perspective than the body of your essay can provide.