You will write a comprehensive APA compare/contrast analysis paper using all that youve learned in ENG1021. For your essay, you will choose two literary works from Units 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 to compare and contrast. You may choose from poetry, short stories, essays, or even drama; you could select two texts in the same genre, or you can select two texts from different genres (e.g., a poem and a short story). Your two literary texts may come from different units. Select a different comparison from the one you wrote in week 3. Do not self-plagiarize from previous weeks.Â
Begin by selecting two literary texts that can be compared and contrasted from the authors point of view, literary style, or other points of comparison. Once you have selected two literary texts, its time to decide what within each selection you will compare. For instance, you may choose to compare/contrast the use of food or the portrayal of grandmothers in BacasGreen Chile and Rios Nani (poems). You could choose to compare/contrast the use of the grotesque in FaulknersRose for Emily and OConnorsA Good Man Is Hard to Find or the coming-of-age theme in Kincaids
Girl and UpdikesA&P (short stories). If you decide to mix genres, you could focus on a shared theme, such as assimilation in MorasImmigrants (poem) and Staples? Black Men in Public Space (essay) or stereotypes in We Real Cool and Black Men in Public Space. The possibilities are many.
Ultimately, when writing a literary comparison, you will answer the question: So what?
In other words, you will not only explain the similarities and differences between the two literary works but also explain the significance of your comparison. A comparison intends to inform readers of something they havent thought of before. Therefore, for a comparison to be illuminating, the things compared typically appear different but have significant similarities or appear similar but have significant differences.
You must have a purpose for your comparison. The reader of the comparison should not have to ask, So what? at the end of your essay. To help you with this, your essay should be anchored by a strong thesis statement that makes a claim about these two works and how they compare and contrast with one another.
Your essays introduction should contain: