Comparison Essay Outline
A. Opening paragraph
1. Begin with some background information.
For example: Americans have always been interested in great outdoors adventures…
Christopher McCandless was a 22 year-old man from the East Coast when he went to
explore the Western United States…
Sometimes humans test their limits in order to discover who they are…
Sections like these establish your topic and tone and invite the reader into your
essay.
2. Lead up to your thesis statement at the end of the opening paragraph. Your thesis is
the point or argument you want to make throughout your body paragraphs. If you
have trouble developing your own thesis, feel free to use one of the following.
Themes of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament are subtle in Jon Krakauer’s
book, but in his film adaptation of Into the Wild director Sean Penn emphasizes
Christopher McCandless as a Jesus figure.
Both writer Jon Krakauer and film director Sean Penn clearly show how difficult living
in the wild can be in their respective versions of Into the Wild.
Christopher McCandless has contrasting experiences of family with Jan Burres and
Bob, Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and with his own parents Walt and Billie
McCandless throughout the book and film versions of Into the Wild.
Although Christopher McCandless paints his parents as evil in his own words, both
the film and book versions of his life treat them as warm and caring human being.
In his book Jon Krakauer includes many opinions that characterize Christopher
McCandless as a fool, director Sean Penn shows him as a caring and intelligent young
man in the film, Into the Wild.
B. Body paragraphs
1. Each body paragraph should have a topic sentence giving a theme you will address that
is related to your thesis.
Example topic sentence: Like Jesus, Christopher McCandless had a sense that he might
not survive his experience in the wilderness.
2. Each paragraph should have at least one quotation or citation from the book, film, or a
third source. Make sure you introduce the quote and conclude on its inclusion in your
paper, explaining why it is there. Include in-text citations.
An example: (I have bolded the sentence that introduces the quote and underlined the
sentence that makes a conclusion about the quotations I included. )
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ has a premonition that he will soon die. “…and the Son
of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him
to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles: 19 And they shall mock him, and shall scourge
him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him (American King James Bible, Matthew 20:1719). Although he is still alive, he knows he will die. Similarly, Christopher McCandless sends
postcards to Wayne Westerberg and Jan Burres which eerily predict his own death. To Wayne
Westerberg he wrote, “If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again, I
want you to know that you are a great man. I now walk into the wild. (Krakauer 69) Sadly,
Christopher is correct in suggesting he may die on his adventure, but he shows a wisdom about
his own mortality that he shares with Jesus.
You should have at least 3 body paragraphs in this essay, each with a topic sentence that
focuses the purpose of your paragraph.
C. Conclusion paragraph
1. Make sure you restate your thesis in different words and phrasing
2. It is okay to make predictions, suggestions, or to share reflections.
3. Include a great concluding sentence, for example: While neither Jon Krakauer nor Sean
Penn suggests that Christopher McCandless was Jesus Christ incarnate, they both
emphasize some of his Christ-like traits to make him a more compelling protagonist in
their book and film versions of his life story.
D. Include a Bibliography (Works Cited) on a separate page at the end of your essay.
Remember you must use at least 3 sources: book, film, and another from the Robert
Frost poems, New Testament, articles on Geraldine Largay, Don Fendler, or anything
else you choose.