Rikki Tikki Tavi Comparison and Contrast
Compare and contrast the literary devices, plot, and characterization of “Rikki Tikki Tavi” in
your InterActive Reader and Rikki Tikki Tavi the movie. Use examples from the story and the
movie to make your arguments strong. When citing examples from the book make sure to cite
the author and page number. When citing from the movie, use the author and movie title. For
example
In “Rikki Tikki Tavi,” the narrator tells the reader, “Darzee was a featherbrained little fellow
who could never hold more than one idea at a time in his head” (Kipling, 124).
In Rikki Tikki Tavi the audience is introduced to Rikki Tikki in the first scene when he was all
wet and looked as though he was dead (Jones, “Rikki Tikki Tavi”).
The key principles to remember in a comparative essay are that you must:
1. Explain precisely what you are comparing
2. Narrow your focus and define what you are looking at and what you are not looking at
3. Keep the comparison alive throughout the essay
The Thesis
The thesis of a comparative essay can either state a preference for one of the two things being
compared or make an interpretative assertion about the differences or similarities between the
two.
Organization
Once the comparison and the basis of the argument have been defined, then you need to organize
the sequence of paragraphs in the main body of the argument. In setting up the sequence of the
paragraphs, you have some options, as follows:
1. Keep the comparison alive in every paragraph, so that the argument discusses each half
of the comparison in each paragraph.
2. Alternate between the two subjects, point by point.
3. State your entire argument for one side first, then consider the other side of the
comparison.