Narrative Essays And Homeless: A Comparative Analysis
Compare-Contrast Essay
Lesley Perry-Tanner
ENG 121
Annemarie Hamlin
November 28, 2013
There are many similarities as well as many differences in narrative and descriptive essays. A narrative essay many times reflects some type of personal experience. The narrative essay also tells a story and it has an intriguing way to keep the audience wanting to know more. The descriptive essay on the other hand usually just describes a person, a scene, or feelings to a reader (Connell, C., & Sole, K.) (2013). Descriptive essays can be very helpful but may sometimes take a while to grasp the audience’s full attention. Narrative essays seemingly appear easier to follow and understand in most cases than descriptive essays. In this compare-contrast …show more content…
essay one will find that the narrative essay entitled “Are the Rich Happy” is indeed superior to the descriptive essay entitled “Homeless” in that the narrative grabs and holds the audience’s attention right from the beginning and tells a story whereas the descriptive just describes places.
Stephen Leacock, writer of the narrative essay entitled “Are the Rich Happy?” grabs the audience’s attention with the title alone. Are the rich happy? Leacock makes the reader think and gets their curiosity up from the very beginning. He states,
“Let me admit at the outset that I write this essay without adequate material. I have never known, I have never seen, any rich people. Very often I have thought that I had found them. But it turned out that it was not so. They were not rich at all. They were quite poor. They were hard up. They were pushed for money. They didn 't know where to turn for ten thousand dollars” (Leacock, S 1916 paragraph 1).
He lets the audience know that he himself have never known or seen any rich people. Leacock poses at question to his audience; are the rich happy? The average reader would say yes without giving any thought about it and perhaps pose a question of their own; why wouldn’t they be? But Leacock paints a totally different picture and allows the reader to envision with him how the rich appear and how they really are. He draws the audience into how he feels about the rich immediately. Now I wonder, are the rich happy?
Several examples are given of the seemingly rich by Leacock and his view on their happiness. He affirms that, “In the first place I find that the rich suffer perpetually from money troubles. The poor sit snugly at home while sterling exchange falls ten points in a day. Do they care? Not a bit.” (Leacock, S 1916 paragraph 6). He has told a short story. The audience has been sucked in whether they are rich or poor they can instantly relate. The audience if they are rich can relate to being rich and worried and the audience if they are poor can relate to being poor and care free. The rich worry where about how their money will fair in the stock exchange while the poor don’t have a clue. I myself had never even begun to see the rich from this view point until I read this narrative. The author has shown me a whole other way to view the rich life versus the poor life. He makes you see how the rich can hurt from having too much and the poor could care less. Another example that Leacock gives of the rich being troubled by money is with his acquaintance Spugg. He emphasizes,
“With this same man, Mr. Spugg, I have often talked of the problem of wealth. He is a self-made man and he has told me again and again that the wealth he has accumulated is a mere burden to him. He says that he was much happier when he had only the plain, simple things of life.” (Leacock, S 1916 paragraph 8).
The audience is invited to feel the way Leacock feels as well as feel the way his friend Spugg feels.
The reader can ask what is standing in the way of Spuggs eating a simple dinner or living a simple life for that matter. Spuggs probably can’t even drive himself to the store or take a long walk alone. Who would have thought that something as simple as eating plain food would be a burden to the rich? I would have never imagined that before reading this narrative. The poor eat plain food everyday if the eat at all. Anna Quindlen, author of the descriptive essay “Homeless” paints a picture based on what she considered homeless people. Although she delivers several good points on homelessness she does not make a clear thesis statement that gives her audience a question to answer in the beginning of her essay. Quindlen begins her descriptive essay by eluding her audience to envision what appears to be a homeless person. She writes,
“Her name was Ann, and we met in the Port Authority Bus Terminal several Januarys ago. I was doing a story on homeless people. She said I was wasting my time talking to her; she was just passing through, although she 'd been passing through for more than two weeks” (Quindlen A, paragraph …show more content…
2).
Quindlen goes right into her story. The audience has to figure out where she is going and what her point is. She is in a bus terminal along with a lady named Ann. How does that imply that she is homeless? In fact this lady was not homeless. She just had a different definition of what it was to have a home. Quindlen goes on to write,
“To prove to me that this was true, she rummaged through a tote bag and a manila envelope and finally unfolded a sheet of typing paper and brought out her photographs. They were not pictures of family, or friends, or even a dog or cat, its eyes brown-red in the flashbulb 's light” (Quindlen A, paragraph 2).
Right off Quindlen is trying to justify what pictures of a home should be like. She believes that Ann’s pictures should consist of family, friends, and pets. Ann had proven Quindlen wrong. She was not homeless at all. She at one time had a home. The audience had to read all of that to begin to figure the author’s point. That is the problem with this whole descriptive essay. The audience has to figure out what exactly the author is trying to say. She goes on to describe what a home is to her. She affirms this by saying, “Home is where the heart is.” (Quindlen, A paragraph 4). I could finally imagine the point that Quindlen was trying to make. I could see the home she was describing. Home is what you make it to be. To some it’s where all the little imperfections are and to some it must be a perfect place. To the lady in the bus terminal it was a place she perhaps had been but was no longer there.
In conclusion, both authors attempted to bring their subjects and their subject’s events to life for their audience so that they could share in the experiences that they were making reference to and although both essays contained great details, the narrative essay “Are the Rich Happy” was far more superior to the descriptive essay “Homeless.” The Five W’s and an H was incorporated more so in the narrative that the descriptive essay.
It was easier to understand what was going on in the narrative from the beginning. The author of “Are the Rich Happy” had a clear and distinct point of view. He had a reason for writing his essay. Unlike in the narrative essay “Are the Rich Happy” the author of the descriptive essay doesn’t have a clear thesis statement. She is just writing. The audience has to read and infer in order to try and understand what the point or the thesis really is whereas Leacock had a clear thesis from the very beginning which was things and people are not always as they appear. Although it took Quindlen awhile to make her point, at the end you understand that every house is not a home and there’s more than one definition of being homeless other than simply living on the streets, under a bridge or in a shelter. Home is indeed where the heart is. It doesn’t matter where you live. All that matters is that your heart is there and you are happy. Leacock on the other hand told his audience almost immediately that life is not always what it seems. The audience can infer
from Leacock’s story that sometimes the less you have the better off you are. In overall comparison both essays speak of two different styles of living and have valid points. Your life and lifestyle is all about what you make it. What appears to be nice to you may be bad for someone else and what appears to be bad for you may be nice for someone else.
References
Connell, C.M., & Sole, K. (2013). Essentials of College Writing 2nd Ed. https://content.ashford.edu/AUENG121.13.1 Leacock, S. (1916). Are the rich happy? In R. Nordquist (Ed.), About.com Guide to Grammar &
Composition. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/Are-the- Rich-Happy-by-Stephen-Leacock.htm
Quindlen, A. (n.d.). Homeless. Retrieved from http://pers.dadeschools.net/prodev/homelesstext.htm
Lesley Perry-Tanner
ENG 121
Annemarie Hamlin
November 28, 2013
There are many similarities as well as many differences in narrative and descriptive essays. A narrative essay many times reflects some type of personal experience. The narrative essay also tells a story and it has an intriguing way to keep the audience wanting to know more. The descriptive essay on the other hand usually just describes a person, a scene, or feelings to a reader (Connell, C., & Sole, K.) (2013). Descriptive essays can be very helpful but may sometimes take a while to grasp the audience’s full attention. Narrative essays seemingly appear easier to follow and understand in most cases than descriptive essays. In this compare-contrast …show more content…
essay one will find that the narrative essay entitled “Are the Rich Happy” is indeed superior to the descriptive essay entitled “Homeless” in that the narrative grabs and holds the audience’s attention right from the beginning and tells a story whereas the descriptive just describes places.
Stephen Leacock, writer of the narrative essay entitled “Are the Rich Happy?” grabs the audience’s attention with the title alone. Are the rich happy? Leacock makes the reader think and gets their curiosity up from the very beginning. He states,
“Let me admit at the outset that I write this essay without adequate material. I have never known, I have never seen, any rich people. Very often I have thought that I had found them. But it turned out that it was not so. They were not rich at all. They were quite poor. They were hard up. They were pushed for money. They didn 't know where to turn for ten thousand dollars” (Leacock, S 1916 paragraph 1).
He lets the audience know that he himself have never known or seen any rich people. Leacock poses at question to his audience; are the rich happy? The average reader would say yes without giving any thought about it and perhaps pose a question of their own; why wouldn’t they be? But Leacock paints a totally different picture and allows the reader to envision with him how the rich appear and how they really are. He draws the audience into how he feels about the rich immediately. Now I wonder, are the rich happy?
Several examples are given of the seemingly rich by Leacock and his view on their happiness. He affirms that, “In the first place I find that the rich suffer perpetually from money troubles. The poor sit snugly at home while sterling exchange falls ten points in a day. Do they care? Not a bit.” (Leacock, S 1916 paragraph 6). He has told a short story. The audience has been sucked in whether they are rich or poor they can instantly relate. The audience if they are rich can relate to being rich and worried and the audience if they are poor can relate to being poor and care free. The rich worry where about how their money will fair in the stock exchange while the poor don’t have a clue. I myself had never even begun to see the rich from this view point until I read this narrative. The author has shown me a whole other way to view the rich life versus the poor life. He makes you see how the rich can hurt from having too much and the poor could care less. Another example that Leacock gives of the rich being troubled by money is with his acquaintance Spugg. He emphasizes,
“With this same man, Mr. Spugg, I have often talked of the problem of wealth. He is a self-made man and he has told me again and again that the wealth he has accumulated is a mere burden to him. He says that he was much happier when he had only the plain, simple things of life.” (Leacock, S 1916 paragraph 8).
The audience is invited to feel the way Leacock feels as well as feel the way his friend Spugg feels.
The reader can ask what is standing in the way of Spuggs eating a simple dinner or living a simple life for that matter. Spuggs probably can’t even drive himself to the store or take a long walk alone. Who would have thought that something as simple as eating plain food would be a burden to the rich? I would have never imagined that before reading this narrative. The poor eat plain food everyday if the eat at all. Anna Quindlen, author of the descriptive essay “Homeless” paints a picture based on what she considered homeless people. Although she delivers several good points on homelessness she does not make a clear thesis statement that gives her audience a question to answer in the beginning of her essay. Quindlen begins her descriptive essay by eluding her audience to envision what appears to be a homeless person. She writes,
“Her name was Ann, and we met in the Port Authority Bus Terminal several Januarys ago. I was doing a story on homeless people. She said I was wasting my time talking to her; she was just passing through, although she 'd been passing through for more than two weeks” (Quindlen A, paragraph …show more content…
2).
Quindlen goes right into her story. The audience has to figure out where she is going and what her point is. She is in a bus terminal along with a lady named Ann. How does that imply that she is homeless? In fact this lady was not homeless. She just had a different definition of what it was to have a home. Quindlen goes on to write,
“To prove to me that this was true, she rummaged through a tote bag and a manila envelope and finally unfolded a sheet of typing paper and brought out her photographs. They were not pictures of family, or friends, or even a dog or cat, its eyes brown-red in the flashbulb 's light” (Quindlen A, paragraph 2).
Right off Quindlen is trying to justify what pictures of a home should be like. She believes that Ann’s pictures should consist of family, friends, and pets. Ann had proven Quindlen wrong. She was not homeless at all. She at one time had a home. The audience had to read all of that to begin to figure the author’s point. That is the problem with this whole descriptive essay. The audience has to figure out what exactly the author is trying to say. She goes on to describe what a home is to her. She affirms this by saying, “Home is where the heart is.” (Quindlen, A paragraph 4). I could finally imagine the point that Quindlen was trying to make. I could see the home she was describing. Home is what you make it to be. To some it’s where all the little imperfections are and to some it must be a perfect place. To the lady in the bus terminal it was a place she perhaps had been but was no longer there.
In conclusion, both authors attempted to bring their subjects and their subject’s events to life for their audience so that they could share in the experiences that they were making reference to and although both essays contained great details, the narrative essay “Are the Rich Happy” was far more superior to the descriptive essay “Homeless.” The Five W’s and an H was incorporated more so in the narrative that the descriptive essay.
It was easier to understand what was going on in the narrative from the beginning. The author of “Are the Rich Happy” had a clear and distinct point of view. He had a reason for writing his essay. Unlike in the narrative essay “Are the Rich Happy” the author of the descriptive essay doesn’t have a clear thesis statement. She is just writing. The audience has to read and infer in order to try and understand what the point or the thesis really is whereas Leacock had a clear thesis from the very beginning which was things and people are not always as they appear. Although it took Quindlen awhile to make her point, at the end you understand that every house is not a home and there’s more than one definition of being homeless other than simply living on the streets, under a bridge or in a shelter. Home is indeed where the heart is. It doesn’t matter where you live. All that matters is that your heart is there and you are happy. Leacock on the other hand told his audience almost immediately that life is not always what it seems. The audience can infer
from Leacock’s story that sometimes the less you have the better off you are. In overall comparison both essays speak of two different styles of living and have valid points. Your life and lifestyle is all about what you make it. What appears to be nice to you may be bad for someone else and what appears to be bad for you may be nice for someone else.
References
Connell, C.M., & Sole, K. (2013). Essentials of College Writing 2nd Ed. https://content.ashford.edu/AUENG121.13.1 Leacock, S. (1916). Are the rich happy? In R. Nordquist (Ed.), About.com Guide to Grammar &
Composition. Retrieved from http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/Are-the- Rich-Happy-by-Stephen-Leacock.htm
Quindlen, A. (n.d.). Homeless. Retrieved from http://pers.dadeschools.net/prodev/homelesstext.htm