Comparison and Contrast

Comparison

Explaining how two subjects are alike. This term can also be used as a shorter way to mean both comparison and contrast

Contrast
Explaining how two subjects are not alike

Not Similar Enough

The Sonoran Desert surrounding Tucson, Arizona, is nothing like the city streets of Central Phoenix, even though for many months of the year, these two areas both
have temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It is not smart to go barefootin the desert or on the city streets. Both places have sharp objects on the ground
that can cut a person’s feet. In the desert, it might be rocks or cactus spines. In the city, it might be broken glass. Some of the Sonoran Desert is located in Arizona and some of the desert spreads into Mexico. All of Phoenix, on the other hand, is located in Arizona. These two places have a few things in common, but are mostly different.

The Sonoran Desert surrounding Tucson, Arizona, is nothing like the Mojave Desert, even though for several months of the year, these two areas both have temperatures reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It is not smart to walk barefoot in either desert because the ground is rocky and there are cactus spines. On the other hand, the Sonoran Desert is much more beautiful than the Mojave Desert. The Mojave has dry lakebeds, scraggly scrub bushes, and the famously bleak Death Valley. The Sonoran Desert is lush in comparison. The Sonoran Desert grows the very impressive saguaros, bright green palo verdes, and tall ocotillos. In the spring, all these plants produce either bright and waxy, or airy and fragrant, bouquets offlowers bursting with pollen. These two places have a few things in common, but are mostly different.

problem with the desert to city

• comparison is that the categories used to think about cities (population, housing, infrastructure, economy, and so forth) are not the same
• the purpose of the comparison is not clear
• purpose of comparing a desert region to a city center is hard to guess

Purposes for

comparing is explaining how things are alike

Contrasting is showing how they are different

used into three purposes:

• to understand
• to explore
• to persuade

to Understand

make sense of very complicated issues through comparison

example

if you want to understand how people are coping with immigration along the U.S.
border with Mexico, you might compare your current situation to other times in the county’s history, or you can compare people along the border to people who live along similar borders
between other countries.

Analogy

COMPARES ONE WELL-KNOWN THING TO THE THING WE ARE TRYING TO UNDERSTAND BETTER

Metaphors and similes are also used to help you understand something better by comparing it
to something familiar

metaphors

• sometimes be creative and even poetic to help make your point
• adds imagery, passion, and emphasis
• takes your reader beyond the literal meaning of your words
• says more than you can with words alone to evoke a stronger connection in your reader

For example, young desert tortoises are the quiet moving stones of the desert.

Not literally, but metaphorically speaking. Get the picture?

similes

• useful figure of speech just slightly less poetic slightly more formal than a metaphor
• use the words like or as
• slightly more formal than a metaphor

If you write that young desert tortoises are camouflaged because they look like stones, your reader still gets the picture, but your tone is different

What is the
difference in tone between these two sentences?

Rattlesnake tastes like chicken.

Rattlesnake is the desert chicken.

analogies

• described as an extended metaphor
• metaphor that goes on for more than a few sentences
• long and thoughtfully constructed metaphor created to argue a specific point of view
• Can be an entire essay or just one paragraph

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to Explore

example

human nature and human relationships are certainly complex

comparing two complex ideas

reader can learn to appreciate
each concept

Each subject is explained a little more by understanding both

For example

Depending on where the boundaries are drawn, the Southwest region of the United States is home to more than 25 different Native American tribes. Although the native people of the Southwest have some recent history in common, the tribes have different traditional heritages. A comparison of even two tribes currently living close by each other helps to underscore the profound variety of cultures among the tribes. For example, the Hopi Reservation is within the larger Navajo Nation, yet the languages, traditions, and art of the two peoples are very different.

The Reader

• -comes to understand more about Native American tribes in general by a comparison of two tribes
• -would expect to read specific examples of how the Hopi and the Navajo are different according to categories such as language, culture, heritage, history, and perhaps even diet and art

The Reader

• -comes to learn more about these tribes
• -understand the implied argument that other Southwestern tribes are also very different

to Persuade

take a particular action in favor of or against something

used to create a convincing argument

author must make a calculated choice about which subjects to compare

example

if you want to say that dried cherries are a healthy after school snack, you can show that, by comparison, cherries are a much healthier snack than cherry Pop Tarts.

if you want to say that dried cherries are not a very good after school snack because they do not provide much protein, you can compare dried cherries to dried apricots, which have more protein.

be careful

compare what you want to promote with something that is obviously bad, you are committing a logical fallacy called using a...

Straw Man

straw Man

• -Comparing one subject to another subject that is obviously much worse in order to argue that the first is better
• -you lose your reader’s respect and trust

Example

• if you believe that enjoying a protein snack in the afternoon improves concentration while you study, comparing turkey and crackers to a Thanksgiving dinner is a Straw Man fallacy

A Thanksgiving dinner as an afternoon snack is probably a poor choice for many reasons.

-wrong choice for a snack (it is not even a snack!)
-does not help to explain how or why the lighter protein snack is a good option in comparison
-you did not choose a subject for a fair comparison

Example Persuasion

Starting out in the dark on an 8-hour road trip from Phoenix to Los Angeles is better for both early birds and night owls because it is cooler at night and there is less traffic. However, for both kinds of drivers, heading out at 4 a.m. is a better choice than starting out at 10p.m. After an 8-hour drive, both drivers will be ready for breakfast and coffee. For the night owl, it will be 6 a.m. in Los Angeles when they arrive and very early for breakfast. The driver who started out at 4 a.m.,though, will arrive in Los Angeles, just in time for lunch.

Choosing Subjects to Compare

similar or different attributes can become points

Venn diagram

-Each circle contains attributes of just one subject

-attributes in the space where the circles overlap is what the two subjects have in common

Review your Venn and mind Map

• -think about how the points might be grouped into categories that can help you organize your points into paragraphs

Organization

Comparison and contrast essays are not always split evenly between comparing and contrasting

Consider

• -Sometimes the comparison is obvious
• -contrast is what is important in an essay comparing
• -Sometimes the similarities are the unexpected and interesting point we want to make.

example

a student might compare learning how to write with learning how to play baseball

two skills seem so different; thus, the comparison of their similarities would be the more interesting and probably the longer part of an essay

Two options when planning...

• 1. either alternate your points going back and forth between subjects in each paragraph, subject-by-subject
• or
• 2. choose to organize all your points about each subject one subject at a time in a series of paragraphs, point-by-point

Subject-by-SubjecT

• spend a few paragraphs explaining all the points for the first subject
• spend the same number of paragraphs to explain all the points in the same order for the second subject

take into consideration whether your reader will be able to easily recall the early points about your first subject

by the time you cover those similar categories for your second subject

fewer the categories the better and explore in Depth

template to organize subject-by-subject

Point-by-Point

• -moves the reader’s attention back and forth between the subjects comparing points in each paragraph
• -paragraphs are organized by categories

example

an essay that compares the South and West rims of the Grand Canyon

might have three body paragraphs that cover the topics, views, hiking trails, and lodging

All the points in each category are compared in each paragraph

Look at the example

a paragraph that compares two subjects (South and West Rims of the Grand Canyon) using one category (views) and two points (expansive versus narrow, and familiar versus unique)

Example
The South Rim views are the classic Grand Canyon views with which you are probably familiar. Wide, expansive, and panoramic—the Grand Canyon as seen from the South Rim is an almost surreal, unbelievable sight that will leave you changed forever. The view of the Grand Canyon from the West Rim is impressively deep, with narrower canyon walls plunging downward to the Colorado River below. Many visitors delight at the unique view of the Grand Canyon available only at the West Rim—the view from the Grand Canyon Skywalk. The view straight down through the glass cantilevered bridge offers a sometimes dizzying perspective on the Grand Canyon and the rocky chasm floor 4,000 feet down(Hecht, 2012, para.7).

Example of Point-by-Point Organization

Alternative Point-by-Point

Group the points in each paragraph by whether they explain a similarity or a difference

example

within the category of views from the South and the West rims of the Grand Canyon
writer can first explain how the views are similar and then explain how they are different

transition words

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Review

• -use comparisons to make important decisions and to understand new information
• -If subjects do not have enough in common, the comparison can be meaningless

Review

• -used to persuade an audience that something is better than something else and one subject is obviously much worse, the comparison is not fair
• -understand metaphor, simile, and analogy in order to compare and contrast complex ideas in interesting ways

Review

• -Option to organize the paragraph subject-by-subject
• -if there are many categories to compare, organize your paragraph point-by-point