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CONTRAST ESSAY
Analyzing the point-by-point organizational structure of professional essays: Langley’s “Watch the Cart” & Catton’s “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts”
REVIEW: POINT-BY-POINT STYLE
– Contrasts are ordered the same throughout the essay.
– Use the words difference, different from, dissimilar, not alike.
– Don’t use “on the contrary,” “on the other hand,” or “where” to mark contrasts.
– Differences are important & meaningful.
– Like parts or qualities are contrasted.
– Say about one the opposite of what you have said about the other.
– The same information is included about each thing that is contrasted.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF SAMPLE ESSAYS
Watch the Cart!
• Alternating points pattern – (more like
point- by-point)
Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts
• First: Block pattern
• Second: Alternating points – (somewhat like
point-by-point)
• What is the thesis statement?
– “There is nothing similar in the way men and women shop for groceries.”
– “…nothing stands out more clearly than the differences between men and women when they shop.”
– “Overall, then, women are far more proficient shoppers than men.” (Langley 306-07)
WATCH THE CART
• 3 differences between men and women shoppers:
–Knowledge of items’ locations
–Shopping speed
–Manipulation of carts (guiding and control)
WATCH THE CART
TOPIC SENTENCE/CONTRAST #1
• Men never know
where anything is
• Nine times out of ten, it is a man who asks where to find a product
• Have no sense of direction in a supermarket
• Even with help, they often cannot ultimately find the product
• Women always
know where products are
• Only ask where to find unusual or obscure products
• (implied) Have a sense of direction in a supermarket
• When given help, women always ultimately find the product
“I think women control supermarkets in a way that men are unaware of.”
TOPIC SENTENCE/CONTRAST #2
• Men shop with the speed of a dead snail
• Get worse and worse each time (takes more time)
• Women shop at speeds that would get them tickets on freeways
• Take the same amount of time every shopping trip
Women shop fast while men shop slowly (paraphrased).
TOPIC SENTENCE/CONTRAST 3
• Men are described as a menace to other shoppers
• Bounce their carts of display cases, sideswipe other patrons, and create havoc
• Can’t control the direction of carts
• A woman “guides a cart…fluidly and effortlessly” (307)
• “her movements are almost poetic” (307)
“The biggest difference…involves the manipulation of carts” (307).
• Point-by-point style, but not all points match/are parallel)
• Thesis is not in the introduction• No clear topic sentences• 6 Steps are not used• Ideas are included that are not
mentioned for both men and women
WHAT ARE SOME PROBLEMS
WITH THIS ESSAY?
LEE & GRANT: VOCABULARY
• Sanctified – made holy
• Sinewy – having strong
sinews (tissue/tendon that connects muscle to bone)
• Obeisance – an action showing
respect and obedience (bowing)
• Fidelity – the quality of being
faithful and loyal
• Poignant– causing strong feelings
• Diametrically – completely different or
opposite• Aristocracy
– the people of the highest social class
• Chivalry– a man’s honorable,
kind, brave, generous behavior, especially toward women (knights in the Middle Ages)
CATTON’S GRANT AND LEE: A STUDY IN CONTRASTS
• Based on the descriptions in the essay, which general is Lee and which is Grant?
• What clues does the essay give us?
THESIS STATEMENT
• Option 2: – “Two great Americans,
Grant and Lee--very different, yet under everything very much alike. Their encounter at Appomattox was one of the great moments of American history” (149).
• Option 1: – “[Lee and Grant]
were two very strong men, these oddly different generals, and they represented the strengths of two conflicting currents that, through them, had come into final collision” (146).
ORDERING OF INFORMATION
• Outline
– Lee (par. 4-6)
– Grant (par. 7-9)
– Grant, then Lee mentioned (first sentence of par. 10)
– But, Lee described first, Grant second (par. 10)
– Grant, then Lee (par. 11+)
• Does Catton keep the order of information about Lee and then Grant the same throughout the essay?– No
• Where does it change?– Paragraph 10 (pg.
148)
Lee
• Represented old aristocracy (tiered class system)
• Saw advantages in maintaining a social hierarchy (upper class leads nation)
• Loyalty to the South
Grant
• Represented individualism (self-determination)
• Competition will determine leaders
• Loyalty to a unified nation (creation of the United States)
Similarities
• Both excellent soldiers• Refused to
give up• Daring and
resourceful• Quick in
thought & action
• Both turn from war to peace quickly
Contrasts and Comparisons
• Why does Catton
highlight the
differences between
Lee and Grant before
he compares them?
• Would the essay have
worked if he had put
the similarities first
and ended with the
contrasts?
COMPARE & CONTRAST METHOD: BLOCK PATTERN