Comparing and contrasting Essay

One of the best orders to cooperate us clarify our thoughts about a slip, an event, a poem, a reputationnearly anythingis to oppose and contrast. (To comp atomic number 18 butt joint mean to take in similarities and differences. Coupled with contrast, however, to comp atomic number 18 kernel to charge up out similarities, while to contrast means to luff out differences.) Many of us, hint weighted gloomy by cares, strike happened to see some iodine coping with a much expectanter burden or handicapand suddenly our problems become peanut in comparison. Seeing how our situation relates to some an some other(prenominal)s, we hurl gained perspective. The only way to waste that perspective is by viewing things in relation to one some otherby equivalence and contrasting. Considering twain reference works, for example, clear help us think more than effectively about each. (Authors frequently invite such(prenominal) comparison by including a character foil in a stor ya character who serves to emphasize the attributes of another character because the dickens are so distinct.)Lets consider, specifically, Rainsford, the adept of Richard Connells story The Most Dangerous Game, and the anonymous protagonist in Jack capital of the United Kingdoms To Build A Fire. How are the twain men comparable? each(prenominal) confronts a life-threatening situation. Rainsford is chased by the fanatical Zar glum, and Londons protagonist combats the extreme c mature of theYukon. to each one fights down panic and acts swiftly and decisively. Rainsford sets traps for his pursuers and finally tricks Zaroff the human being in theYukon quickly builds a ardor after his feet are soaked. Each denies the intimation of an acquaintance Rainsford tells Whitney that hunted creatures make no feelings, and Londons protagonist ignores the stage managers advice. And each man learns, as a result of his ordeal, that he has been wrong.On the other hand, the men are differen t in several ways. Londons protagonist does not have enough foresight to realize, in the starting line place, that he shouldnt be out wholly in such cold, and second, that he shouldnt build his fire chthonic a tree. He fails to overcome the crisis that he brings on himself, and as a result, he dies. Rainsford, however, waterfall into his ordeal sort of by chance, by tumbling from the ship. He refuses to sacrifice his principles to unwind himself from the crisis he tells Zaroff that hunting men is massacre pure and simple. Once he realizes the patch he must play, he plays it with great cunning, and he triumphs.As illustrated in the twain preceding carve ups, there are two ways to write a paragraph of comparison or contrast. As in the first of the paragraphs, we can shuttle vertebral column 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 deuce-ace respect and so on. On the other hand, as in the second of the par agraphs, we can write in a occlude about one of the items under stipulation (A) and then about the other (B). incomplete way is better, though the shuttle method is a bit more demanding since it requires that we have matching contestations about the pair under consideration. Even if we use the block method, we should examine to list corresponding details in the same order in both(prenominal) parts of the paragraph we also convey to be sure to provide a link between our discussion of A and B. In any case, a well-organized comparison, whether think on literature or something else, is a powerful way to illuminate both the items that we are considering.An Addendum to Jim Stovers countersign about Comparisons (Bob Fulton)Sometimes it is helpful to prognosticate to your ref what you feel is more monumental, the similarities you have discovered between the two things you are comparing or their differences. Consider right off two other fictional characters, Goodman brownish f rom Hawthornes story Young Goodman brownish and the narrator from Poes story The Tell-Tale Heart. after(prenominal) you have listed as many similarities and differences as you can in preparing to write a comparison paragraph between these two characters, you may decide that the differences you have prepare are far less significant or interesting than the similarities. Because you are developing a comparison, you are obliged to sleep with that there are, indeed, differences between Goodman embrown and Poes narrator. (If you were to focus exclusively on the similarities these characters theatrical role, your reader force suppose that you had entirely miss their differences and that, as a consequence, your rise or paragraph must be blemish and therefore without merit.) But you also necessity to make clear to the reader your maven that the similarities outweigh the differences. Whats the solution? here(predicate) is a suggestion.Start your paragraph with a payoff de clareAlthough 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 similarities between these two figures suggest a central point about protagonists in nineteenth-century American fiction they tend to isolate themselves from others through their compulsional ports.Then go on to predate differencesAt first inspection, Goodman Brown and Poes narrator appear to be quite unlike each other. The report I of The Tell-Tale Heart is a crazed receiver 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 archives I of Poes story seems eager to share the fact of his murderous wickedness with the police who come to his apartment, whereas Goodman Brown has no desire to tell anyone in his liquidation what he thought he saw and did on the night he ventured into the woods. at present get to the central issue, how these two characters share very important similaritiesNevertheless, these two characters are twin brothers at heart. Each is urgently concerned with sin and evil. Poes narrative I cannot change course the pull which draws him to the old mans bedroom. He cannot resist the urge to illuminate the vulture eye. Likewise, Goodman Brown will not put off his journey into the woods, even though his married woman of three months begs him to remain at home. He must press on to show wickedness itself. The behavior of each is short determined by this concern to divulge the mystery of evil and deal with it. And this obsession isolates Poes narrative I and Hawthornes Goodman Brown from their fellow creatures. In their obsessive behavior these characters are linked with other figures in nineteenth-century American fiction headwaiter Ahab, for instance, in Herman Melvilles Moby-Dick, Bartelby in Melvilles Bartleby the Scrivener, alert Bumppo in James Fenimore barrel makers Leatherstocking refresheds, and Arthur Dimmesdale in Hawthornes novel The violent Letter.If you were to write an essay comparing these two stories, the topic time I have written for the paragraph to a higher place would serve as your thesis argument 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 automobile trunk 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 seed for the final paragraph of your essay, a so-what? paragraph. This paragraph IS NOT A CONCLUSION. Instead, it answers the pass So what? Imagine someone communicate you to explain why you wrote the c omparison you did. Your reception is to put your analysis in a context. Using 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 Melvilles 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 avoid repetition, when you write the body paragraphs, repeat the topic sentences which you have already primed(p) in your introduction to avoid reiterate them verbatim in the body of your essay. Each of these rewordd 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 whic h answers the distrust So what? You should not be affect if this final paragraph is longer and more detailed than any of the body paragraphs. subsequently all, it is meant to open up for your reader a wider perspective than the body of your essay can provide.