a) You will do at least two prewriting activities (refer to pp.44-50) in preparation for Essay #1. You will turn them in with draft 1.
b) The first draft of Essay #1 will be due in class on Tuesday 1/27 for UH students along with your pre-writings.
MW students will write draft #1 in class on Monday 1/26.
c) Remember that you must follow standard essay organization format, and you must have a thesis statement in the introduction (Read the Essay Mechanics section at the class web page).
d) The second draft of Essay #1 will be due one week Monday 2/2 for MW students and Tuesday 2/3 for UH students.
e) The third draft of Essay #1 will be due one week later, in class or by 5:00 at my office..
f) Remember, you must follow standard essay organization format (read the Essay Mechanics link). You also must have a thesis statement in the introduction and a restated thesis in the conclusion.
INTRODUCTION &endash; In the introduction, you have to provide enough background information for the reader to understand your thesis.
1 Give a brief summary (1 or 2 sentences ONLY) of the readings.
2. Your thesis should explain the man idea that you want to write about in your essay. That idea must be related to both of the readings. Try to avoid a thesis that is too general, for example:
This kind of thesis is just a statement o ffact. it doesn't tell the reader what aspect of discrimination YOU want to focus on. The thesis statements below are better.
terrible when it comes from government laws.
or
but even children can a way to be strong if they try.
3. Make sure you mention the title and the author of the readings(s) you will discuss and summarize the reading(s) in paragraph 1 or 2.
BODY &endash; You have to have three or four paragraphs in the body
1. You should give a brief summary of the readings in the first body paragraph. Next, you will focus on the aspect (s)of the authors' experiences aand how those experiences affected, changed or influenced them.
2. Give specific examples to show similarities and differences.
3. Stay on topic! REMEMBER that all of your topic sentences and all of your examples have to be about the main idea you put in your thesis statement.
CONCLUSION &endash; Restate the thesis!!! Summarize. This is the place to add your personal opinion and/or suggestions related to the experience.
What is a Comparison Essay?
In a comparison/contrast essay, you examine smilarites and differences in 2 or more readings. The subjects of this kind of essay are experiences or ideas or themes that are related in some way. In this kind of essay, first you find a common idea/theme or experience in the readings which you will introduce in the first paragraph. Then, in body of the essay you focus on similarities AND differences between two or more things (e.g., people's problems, experiences or ideas, their actions, their reactions to their situations, solutions to problems, etc.).This kind of essay contains an introduction, three or more body paragraphs and a conclusion.
Patterns of Organization
There are two basic ways ot organize a comparison/contrast essay: the block method and the point-by point method.
BLOCK METHOD: With the block method, you present one subject or story and all of its points of comparison/ contrast before you do the same for the second subject or story.
Here is an example of the organization of an essay about readings on the social behavior of Russians and Americans.
Introduction paragraph 1 - a hook
- topic background and readings- (summaries)
- a thesis statement (your main idea)
Body paragraphs - 1 paragraph summary of all the readings (especially if you have read more than 2 stories or articles)
-1 paragraph: similarities and differences in American and Russian- at parties- in school
- at home
-1 paragraph: similarities and differences in American and Russian
- parties- in school
- at home
Conclusion paragraph- restated thesis
- your opinion, suggestion, etc.
POINT-BY-POINT: with the point-by-point method, you presents both subjects or stories under one point of comparison and/or contrast before moving on to the next point. Here is an example of the organization of an essay about the social behavior of Russians and Americans.
Introduction paragraph 1 - a hook
- topic background and readings- (summaries)
- a thesis statement (your main idea)
Body paragraphs - 1 paragraph summary of all the readings (especially if you have read more than 2 stories or articles)
- 1 paragraph : At parties - similarities- Russian social behavior- American social behavior
- 1 paragraph: In school - differences
- Russian social behavior- American social behavior
- 1 paragraph : At home - differences
- Russian social behavior- American social behavior
Conclusion paragraph- restated thesis
- your opinion, suggestion, etc.
In " The School Days of an Indian Girl" by Zitkala-Sa (Getrude Simmons Bonnin) and " College" by Anzia Yezierska, dealing with discrimination optimistically is a big issue. Discrimination is always the most unpleasant experience in our life. Neither discriminating against others nor being discriminated against by others can make our society more harmonious. People are born equal and nobody should think he or she is superior to other groups or races. However, discrimination won't just disappear as human evolution goes on. No matter in the past or the present, discrimination sometimes makes us frustrated, especially when we enter an unfamiliar or new environment. It is better to have a different idea about that.
Zitkala-Sa was mistreated and irritated from the beginning of her journey. Native Americans, at that time, did not associate with white people and, therefore, almost every one of those whites on the train scrutinized her with their bold blue eyes, especially focusing on her moccasined feet and blanket regardless of her feelings. After reaching the missionary school, a rosy-cheeked paleface woman treated her as a plaything and tossed her up and down, which caused her to be on the verge of tears, because she was so scared and felt extremely uncomfortable. Even though she hated the way she was treated, she still had to abide by rules and orders in those following days or she would get punished. However, no matter how many sufferings from discrimination she had taken, she still always worked her own way through and never surrendered.
Anzia Yezieeska was discriminated by her classmates due to her origin and poverty. She wanted to be a real American and rid her miserable past and memory. Though she desired to be a member of her classmates' society and tried to associate with them, she still failed. She was regarded as a clown in her classmates. No matter how hard she tried to be involved with them, it was in vain. Because of her faith in God, she realized that she was supposed to be independent so that she would get somewhere one day.
Zitkala-Sa always grasped every opportunity to resist mistreatment and got revenge on those who discriminated against her. She tried to escape from having her hair shingled, and later she broke the jar filled with turnips for being punished unreasonably. She expressed her anger and strengthened her selfesteem through her owe ways, which indeed made her stand firmly up. Yezieeska was not defeated through so many setbacks and humiliations. On the other hand, those unhappy experiences gave her the chance to perceive herself again and made her mind stronger. She could go on with the love of God rather than little happiness through being accepted by others. Additionally, she realized that the sorrow is too little to mention in comparison with those suffering much more than her. Therefore, she is worth living a good life on her own feet.
Through the process of struggling of Zitkala-Sa and Anzia Yezieeska, we learned that we all could encounter some extent of mistreatments and setbacks, according to different environments where we are, but we should never give up and always look on the bright side. Furthermore, we even encourage ourselves to reach the ideal goal through our own efforts. Perhaps the process is hard, but the rewards shall be great!
Being Discriminated Against
Discrimination is always the most unpleasant experience in our life. Neither discriminating against others nor being discriminated against by others can make our society more harmonious. People are born equal and nobody should think he or she is superior to other groups or races. However, discrimination won't just disappear as human evolution goes on. No matter the past or the present, discrimination sometimes makes us frustrated, especially when we enter an unfamiliar or new environment. When we encounter discrimination against us, there are always a lot of pessimistic thoughts which arise in our minds, such as "I am probably doing something wrong" or "I am not good enough to be treated fairly". In " The School Days of an Indian Girl" by Zitkala-Sa (Getrude Simmons Bonnin) and " College" by Anzia Yezierska, dealing with discrimination optimistically is a big issue. Rejecting pessimism and walking out the shadow of prejudice is a lesson for those who suffer from being discriminated against by others to learn
In both of the stories, the authors tell their true experinces with discrimination and show the value of not giving up. The first story begins when Zitkala-Sa, who is a very young Native American child, rode the train starting a forced journey to a missionary school in Indiana with the delusive dream of roaming under a sky of rosy apples. However, she suffered from discrimination and humiliation. On the train the whites, who she calls "palefaces", stare at her with their glassy blue eyes just because of her traditional clothes, which made her feel like a kind of animal in the zoo. In the missionary school, she was forced to dress in tight clothes unlike her cin her culture, which always embarrassed her. She even had to have her long hair shingled; in her culture, short hair meant she should be ashamed. Yezierska, a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe, made every effort to realize her dream of entering the college, getting out of poverty, and becoming more acceptable to the mainstream American society. However, even though she tried to learn the ways other American girls behaved, she was still rejected by her classmates and teachers because of her.different background and lower socio-economic status. She was so depressed and frustrated because she could do nothing to change the situation. In both " College" and "The School Days of an Indian Girl", the two authors encountered mistreatment owing to inferior treatment.
The situations the authors were in were very similar about discrimination. Zitkala-Sa was mistreated and irritated even from the beginning of her journey. White people at that time, did not associate with Native Americans; therefore, almost every one of the whites on the train scrutinized her with their bold blue eyes, especially focusing on her moccasined feet and blanket regardless of her feelings. Yezierska was discriminated against by her classmates due to her Jewish origin and poverty. She wanted to be a real American and get rid her miserable past and bad childhood memories. Though she desired to be a member of her classmates' society and tried to associate with them, she still failed. She was regarded as a clown by her classmates because of her poor clothes and Russian accent.
The reasons for their problems, however, came from different kinds of discrimination. After reaching the missionary school, a rosy-cheeked paleface woman treated Zitkala-Sa as a plaything and tossed her up and down, which caused her to be on the verge of tears, because she was so scared and felt extremely uncomfortable. Even though she hated the way she was treated, she still had to abide by rules and orders in those following days or she would get punished. On the other hand, no matter how hard Yezierska tried to be assimilated and get involved with others, it was in vain. The peole in the college town did not want to take away her culture and assimilate her, they just wanted to ignore her and treat like a ghost -- a dead person.
Finally, although both the authors were strong enough to find some optimism to be strong, they did it in different ways. Zitkala-Sa always grasped every opportunity to resist mistreatment and got revenge on those who discriminated against her. She tried to escape from having her hair shingled, and later she broke the jar filled with turnips for being punished unreasonably. She expressed her anger and strengthened her self-esteem through her own ways, which indeed made her stand firmly up.However, no matter how many sufferings from discrimination she had taken, she finally worked her own way through tounderstand them, get a little revenge. She realized she must never surrender to them and let them assimilate her away from her culture, or she would feel inferior always in her life. Yezieeska was not defeated through so many setbacks and humiliations. On the other hand, those unhappy experiences gave her the chance to perceive herself again and made her mind stronger. However, because of her faith in God, she realized that she had to be independent and ignore their unfriendliness, so that she could succeed in her life one day. She could go on with the love of God rather than little happiness through being accepted by others. Additionally, she realized that the sorrow is too little to mention in comparison with those suffering much more than her. Therefore, it was worth living a good life on her own feet.
Through the process of struggling that we see with Zitkala-Sa and Anzia Yezierska, we understand that we all may encounter some extent of mistreatments and setbacks in life. According to different environments where we are,we may be victims of discrimination or our own pessismism. However, we should never give up and always look on the bright side. Furthermore, we should also encourage ourselves to reach the ideal goal through our own efforts. Perhaps the process of fighting to try something better is hard, but the rewards shall be great!
Price of Equality
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and line out the turn meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal'… I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not judge by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." It was a famous speech, "I Have a Dream," of a civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., who delivered on the steps at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C on August 28, 1963, His dream becomes true. Nowadays, we can enjoy human rights and equality. People, who have different colors, do not need to worry about discrimination in the United States anymore. However, there is a price of equality. We need to bear in mind that enjoyments of equality and human rights today are an exchange for sufferings of and resistance to discrimination in the past.
Both stories, "The School Days of an Indian Girl" and "Waiting in Line at the Drugstore," illustrate that discrimination was a common problem in the United States in the past. In the first story, Zitkala-Sa describes her experience in school when she is a little girl. She is separated from her family and goes to school with the missionaries. However, all the white people in the school discriminate against her because of cultural arrogance. She tries to fight back against the white people in order to get a better treatment. In the second story, James Thomas Jackson tells how he becomes a writer even though he is black. Every morning he feels bad, as he needs to wait in line at a white drugstore until all whites are served. One day he realizes that there is a bookcase in the drugstore and he begins reading. Gradually, he feels that waiting in line is not bad, and in the end, he is deep into the world of literature.
Discrimination has always existed in the world, and it has always been unfair. More important than that is how it is inhumane. The white people discriminate both authors. We can sense that discrimination is inhumane through these stories because the majority does not have any respect for them. Zitkala-Sa and all the Native American children in school are discriminated against because of cultural arrogance. For example, they are forced to cut their long, heavy hair. Traditionally, shingled hair means cowards in their Indian culture. The white missionary does not understand or care about the important symbol of their hair. In addition, all children have to obey an eating formula. Their actions need to follow sounds of a bell and they cannot eat freely. They are trained like animals are trained. James Thomas Jackson is also discriminated against due to his race. For instance, he is forbidden to sit at the counter in the drugstore. All blacks have to stand and wait until all white people are served. Furthermore, if the blacks want to be treated equal and ignore the rule, they are beaten by the whites at the drugstore. Nowadays, we can say we believe that racism is unfair, but we cannot change such things completely until we understand their suffering and appreciate that their suffering has helped us.
To discriminate is to accept that cruelty is a normal thing. The purpose and effects of this terrible treatment is always to make the victims suffer and feel bad. Luckily, however sometimes it can also cause some people to change their sufferings to a better way -- fighting back. Although both authors are discriminated against by the whites, their reaction about being discriminated and the ways they fight back are different. Both authors hate their bad treatment. Nevertheless, James Thomas Jackson does not feel that it is a kind of situation that is not normal, while Zitkala-Sa feels that she lives in dishonor. The occurrence of this difference is mainly because the others discriminate against Jackson from the time he was born. He feels that being discriminated is ordinary, just like the sun rises from east and sets to west. He cannot make any comparison between being discriminated against and equal. It's a harder thing for him to resist. Therefore, he has to choose a quiet way. But, even a quiet way to fight is important, and others can learn from his quiet fight. Most white people still treat him with discrimination at the drugstore and in his town, but at least the white waitresses could learn to treat one black boy better. Maybe that was the beginning of change for that town,
On the other side, Zitkala-Sa enjoys freedom and equality before she goes east to Indiana with the missionaries. Even though she is just a child she understands the importance of equality and freedom and that is why she wants to fight back to the whites. She also knows she has to protect her culture or lose it. Any revenge is important to show a protest, so she breaks a food jar of turnips while preparing the dinner. The missionaries do not punish her because they do not know it was revenge, but that was her child's step to help herself and maybe other Indians to have more self-respect and to fight discrimination. Their different actions show how past people could be brave in such a terrible situation; As a result, we have much less racism now.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, but his spirits and thoughts are still alive at present. Through the stories, we can feel that being discriminated is terrible. Let all kinds of discriminations be a history. However, when we enjoy our equality, we have to keep in mind that there is no free lunch in the world. Everything has its own price. Even though we do not pay it, people in the past, just like Zitkala-Sa and James Thomas Jackson, paid for us. We need to appreciate our human rights and equality that we obtain and respect different cultures among different races.
Getting Respect
How many friends have you got who are from a different culture? If you have some international friends, do you have a respect on your friends? Do respect from other people, especially form the other cultures. Personally, I've had some problems in the U.S. with that problem. But I know the most important thing to get a respect from others is having a respect for ourselves. This idea is easy to see in the real life in two true stories, "Waiting in Line at the Drugstore," by James Thomas Jackson and "College" by Anzia Yezierska.
The two different stories show two different ways to get a respect from people. The first story is about a black boy's discrimination in the time when black people get discrimination by white people. Jackson, a 13-year- old black boy, works in a photo studio and one of his jobs is to get some food in a White drugstore. This job is a kind of difficult for him, because he has to wait till all white people get served. Because he doesn't like this waiting, he starts to read a book while he waits so he can ignore those other people. Later some white people in the drugstore start to have respect on him, and his waiting time becomes shorter and shorter. The second story is about a Jewish girl. As a child she emigrates to New York and lives in the Jewish Ghetto area there. Also American people discriminate Jewish people at that time, so she has the hard , poor life for living in there. Later, however, because of her hard work she can go to her the university, and try to enjoy her the new life. Although she tries to be good to other people, she fails to get friends and to have good university life. Both of two people tries to get a better thing in their lives. But one gets it and the other one fails. The difference between the two stories is to understand others.
In "Waiting in Line at the Drugstore," after Jackson begins to read at the drugstore he seems to get a respect for himself. He begins to study again even after dropping out from school so young. When they see him improve himself and have an interest in himself, the waitresses also get an interest in him. They start to have a little respect on him. Before when he just had anger but not self-respect, they never respected him. After that, they start to understand the black boy as a human and a real customer. Then that makes them think properly, not as racists, and the relationship between them and Jackson gets improved. Even without any plan the interaction of his self-respect and a new respect from the waitresses makes the relationship better.
In "College", the author also has a discrimination problem with the other students and even teachers. Same as Jackson, the White Americans reject her because she is not like them. Now, however, let's talk about what is different with the Jewish girl. She is not like Jackson. She can't find a way to get respect from others in her college town. Why? She seems to have absolutely nothing wrong with herself. But her way to get close to other people is wrong because she doesn't have a respect on herself.
Even she is a really hard worker and a smart person, she has no idea that she has done a really great thing to escape her Jewish Ghetto all by herself and go to university.. She is only able to see what a different person she is from other students. She just tries to be more like them. I don't think the people in her university respect her because she does not have a respect for herself usually. They tease her and ignore her, which is wrong. But she believes she is the person who is wrong. She just tries to please them and not herself. She is a kind of pessimist about herself. Her own way of thinking is a problem to her and not just the discrimination.
In a conclusion, I would like to say a proverb my father told me," first respect on yourself, then everyone will do like that on you, too". That way is the most important way to get closer to other people. You don't have to be a great talented person or rich guy. Just show other people that you have a belief on yourself. If they see your improve yourself, just to get a better life and not to try to impress on others, then they will see you are a good human person. That is the way you have good relationship with other people and the way you get a respect from them.
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This page last updated October 2001