Comparison and contrast essay

Ivan/Wang Yifan & Romeo/Yu BingfuENG1300Compare/Contrast EssayTwo Old WomenThere are two old women’s stories, a fake old lady and a death old lady, and do you want to know what’s similarity or what’ s difference between them? When comparing “Old Before Her Time” and “From The Way To Rainy Mountain”, it can be clearly identified that both of them have well-organized structures and brilliant descriptions, but differ greatly in content and emotion.In “Old Before Her Time”, which written by Katherine Barrett, the protagonist Patty, a industrial designer, wanted to find out the needs of the elderly so she made herself up which makes her looked very old. And during May 1979 to September 1981, she learned seven lessons from seven sufferings. First suffering, Columbus, Pat find she was ignored and counted out which she had never experienced when she stood alone in the middle of a crowd of young professionals, then she learned that the old are often ignored; Second suffering, New York City, she couldn’t run away when she was attacked, and she learned the old often couldn’t afford to move and became unsafe; Third suffering, New York City, she risked a terrible fall when she get up and down stairs, or on and off bus, and she learned old people treat with no mercy of every barrier or rude person you encountered; Fourth suffering, Florida, she was impressed when she heard a women saying that she wouldn’t tell her children their father beat her because she didn’t want to disillusion them, and Pat learned even afifty-year-old marriage wa sn’t necessarily a good one; Fifth suffering, Florida, she was rudely hit and laughed by four little boys when she tottering down the side walk, and she learned social class affected every aspect of an older person; Sixth suffering, New York City, Pat felt lack of hugging and men when she was wasting time at benches, and she learned that you never grow old emotionally and you always need to feel love; Seventh suffering, New York City, Pat had her first date with a thin gentleman since her marriage ended and she learned that life does go on as long as you’re flexible and open to change. Finally, after she was back to living the live of a single thirty-year old, she realized that though people’s bodies age, inside they are really no different than when they were young.Likewise, “From The Way To Rainy Mountain”, which written by Scott Momaday, narrated a series of stories about author’s grandmother and their nation the Kiowas when he climbed the Rainy Mountain to visit his grandmother’s grave. First, when he arrived, he remember grandmother born when her nation the Kiowas surrendered to the soldiers at Fort Sill and imprisoned in the old stone corral in order to save themselves after the last great moment of their history, so she was exempted from high gray walls and realized the harm and damage of defeat. What’s more, he mentioned that the ancient Kiowas were hunters in North America and then they entered upon the Southern Plains they had transformed. Then he also review grandmother’s adult ag e at Yellowstone where she lived out her long life. The Kiowas reckoned their stature by the distance they could see, and they were bent and blind in the wilderness. Descending eastward, the Kiowas paused on their way and came tothe plains where they must change their lives. Finally, he remembered her old age. He describes some postures that were peculiar to her which constructed a mercy and unique figure. And it’s end with a peaceful view about the rooms where grandmother once lived and an beautiful scenery.Thus, s tructure is a wonderful similarity between “Old Before Her Time” and “From The Way To Rainy Mountain”. Obviously, both essays followed time logic and developed by different places, “Old Before Her Time” narrated Patty’s seven sufferings from May 1979 to September 1981, just as “From The Way To Rainy Mountain” narrated grandmother’s all live and the Kiowas’s history, very clear, straight-forward and flexible, so their structures both were familiar in general.Besides the excellent well-organized structures, there are some brilliant descriptions existing in the two essays. Firstly, in order to make the descriptions vivid, both of the two essays use figurative language. Like Momaday’s writing, “Her long, black hair, always drawn and braided in the day, lay upon her shoulders and against her breasts like a shawl,” he uses figurative language to draw the image of his grandmother and impress us deeply. Correspondingly, when Barrett writes, “Life is like a hard closed gate for the elderly, what’s the elderly should do is to come and open it,” We can get a vivid impression about the tough life for the elderly. What’s more, the two essays both reveal the characters through their action. In Barrett’s essay, she records a set of reactions of the major character when she gets the ignorance and discrimination. She successfully reveals the character’s sadness and embarrassment using the action. Similarly, Momaday uses the action to describe his grandmother aswell. In his description, he shows how his grandmother leads the life in the Rainy Mountain. Using describing what his grandmother does, he reveals his grandmother’s personality and life pursuit. Thus, both two essays use figurative language and record of the characters’ action so that to have brilliant descriptions.Rather than the similarities in writing skills of the two essays, obvious differences could be found in content and emotion. Barrett’s essay “Old Before Her Time” records a strange real journey. During this journey, the character named patty makes herself up as an old woman. She travels around the world with the special make-up. In the essay, the author aims to records all the facts and details about people’s reactions when meeting such an old woman. Conversely, Momaday’s essay “From The Way To Rainy Mountain”doesn’t record a set of experience about the strange journey. Instead, his essay presents his personal trip when he returns to Rainy Mountain where his grandmother lived all her life. Unlike Barrett’s essay recording quantities of facts, Momaday adds some his memory and history of Rainy Mountain to the essay. When referring to the emotion, Barratt desires to use her records of the special journey to show the discrimination about the elderly. Furthermore, the deeper emotion is that the author aims to use her essay to evoke or raise people’s awareness that the youth should respect the elderly without any discrimination. Unlike Barrett’s emotion and purpose, Momaday wants to show his personal feelings and emotion in his essay. Using some memory about his grandmother’s life in Rainy Mountain and some history about Rainy Mountain, naturally, Momaday expresses his miss to his grandmother and previous life in Rainy Mountain. Deeply, he reveals his sincere loveto his grandmother and Rainy Mountain.In conclusion, the two excellent essays both use time line to organize the essay and both use figurative language and record of the character’s action to have brilliant descriptions. However, two essays aim to convey different meanings, though they both have outstanding writing skills .In other words, it can be got a lot of similarities when reading as writers to analyze the writing skills. On the contrary, when reading as readers, it can be got different content and emotion from the two essays. Thus, when reading as a reader, Momaday’s essay is better. Comparing with Barrett’s essay, his essay has a stronger emotion, which can lead to a lasting impression to its readers.。