Comparison and Contrast
Strategies for Rhetorical
Analysis
Basic Structure for All Essays
Introduction—Leads readers into essay,
provides contexts, and so on. Often ends
with the thesis statement.
Body—Presents as many paragraphs as
necessary to fully support and develop the
thesis.
Conclusion—Does not just repeat the
introduction.
Rhetorical Analysis: Sample Chart
McCarthy
Persona/Tone/
Narrator
Genre,
Subject/
Attitude (of
Author)
Language/
Style
Target
Audience
Cisneros
Another Chart for
Comparing/Contrasting
Similarities
Cisneros
McCarthy
Differences
Venn Diagram for Comparison/
Contrast
McCarthy
Cisneros
Mary McCarthy
Memories of a Catholic Girlhood
White hair, glasses, soft skin,
wrinkles, needlework—all the
paraphernalia of motherliness were
hers; yet it was a cold, grudging,
disputatious old woman who sat all
day in her sunroom making tapestries
from a pattern, scanning religious
periodicals, and setting her iron jaw
against any infraction of her ways.
Mary McCarthy (continued)
Combativeness was, I suppose, the dominant
trait in my grandmother’s nature. An aggressive
churchgoer, she was quite without Christian
feeling; the mercy of the Lord Jesus had never
entered her heart. Her piety was an act of war
against the Protestant ascendancy. The religious
magazines on her table furnished her not with food
for meditation but with fresh pretexts for anger;
articles attacking birth control, divorce, mixed
marriages, Darwin and secular education were her
favorite reading. The teachings of the Church did
not interest her, except as they were a rebuke to
others; “Honor thy father and thy mother,” a
commandment she was no longer called upon to
practice, was the one most frequently on her lips..
Mary McCarthy (continued)
The extermination of Protestantism, rather
than spiritual perfection, was the boon she
prayed for. Her mind was preoccupied with
conversion; the capture of a soul for God
much diverted her fancy—it made one less
Protestant in the world. Foreign missions,
with their overtones of good will and social
service, appealed to her less strongly; it
was not a harvest of souls that my
grandmother had in mind
Sandra Cisneros
The House on Mango Street
(Vintage Books, 1991)
Everybody in our family has different
hair. My Papa's hair is like a broom, all up
in the air. And me, my hair is lazy. It never
obeys barrettes or bands. Carlos' hair is
thick and straight. He doesn't need to comb
it. Nenny's hair is slippery--slides out of
your hand. And Kiki, who is the youngest,
has hair like fur.
Sandra Cisneros (continued)
But my mother's hair, my mother's hair,
like little rosettes, like little candy circles all
curly and pretty because she pinned it in
pin-curls all day, sweet to put your nose
into when she is holding you, holding you
and you feel safe, is the warm smell of
bread before you bake it, is the smell when
she makes room for you on her side of the
bed still warm with her skin, and you sleep
near her, the rain outside falling and Papa
snoring. The snoring, the rain, and Mama's
hair that smells like bread.
In-Class Group Work
Using the elements of the Rhetorical
Situation (or Aristotle’s schema),
compare and contrast the paragraphs
by McCarthy and Cisneros. Pay close
attention to the way these
professional authors use details and
language.
Sample Structures for
Comparison/Contrast Essays
Introduction
Introduction
Whole work #1
Work #1—Element A
Work #2—Element A
Whole work #2
Compare/contrast both #
1 and #2
Conclusion
Work #1—Element B
Work #2—Element B
Work #1—Element C
Work #2—Element C
Conclusion/summary
Comparing/Contrasting Texts
McCarthy—Persona,
Tone, Attitude, Subject,
Style, Target Audience
Cisneros--Persona,
Tone, Attitude, Subject,
Style, Target Audience
McCarthy and Cisneros
compared/contrasted
McCarthy and CisnerosPersona
McCarthy and CisnerosTone and Attitude
McCarthy and CisnerosStyle
McCarthy and CisnerosTarget Audience
How to Decide
The structure an author chooses depends
upon his/her purpose and the materials
discussed.
Some essays and articles require extensive
use of comparison/contrast (college
exams, buying guides, classification
systems, etc.).
Many other essays use the technique only for
particular sections.