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