3.05 Compare & Contrast Essay Directions
Directions: Select a short story that you have read in this course. Then, select a piece from another artistic medium—an image such as a painting or mural; music such as a song or symphony; a sculpture—that represents the same subject or an important scene in the story. Write a 4-5 paragraph essay comparing and contrasting the text of the story and the other artistic medium. In what ways are the two similar? In what ways are they different?
STORIES WE HAVE READ THIS YEAR: All of these stories can be found in the OLS under “Content”
● “The Oasis: Africa”
○ The story is set in the African desert during World War I. An oasis—a green and fertile area with a spring—would be a welcome discovery for soldiers facing such bleak conditions.
● “The Interlopers”
○ Two men, Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym, are both in a forested area on the Carpathian Mountains one night. The men are sworn enemies, embroiled in a generations-old land dispute. On this particular night, each hopes to find the other in order to kill him in defense of their property rights.
● “The Black Cat”
○ The Black Cat' is the story of a man who is driven insane by his addiction. He tortures and kills his cat, Pluto. Then, a stray cat that looks almost exactly like the cat he murdered except for agallows mark on its chest follows him home and drives him even more insane.
● “The Final Assault”
○ The conquest of Mount Everest- Edmund Hillary’s account
● “The Dream Comes True”
○ The conquest of Mount Everest- Tenzing’s account
● “Nameless Tennessee”
○ The Narrator goes to a small town called Nameless Tennessee. He meets Mr. Thurmond and Mrs. Virginia Watts, an elderly, very uneducated couple who run a general store out of their cellar. When the narrator asks about how Nameless became the name of the town, the couple invites him in to tell him the story.
● “August Heat”
○ "August Heat" is a 1910 short story by W. F. Harvey, about two men, unknown to each other, whose look at the other's possible future suggests that one of them will be murdered and the other will be the murderer.
● “Water Never Hurt a Man”
○ A coming-to-age story about John and his father working on the Erie Canal.
● “Marigolds”
○ A coming-to-age story during the Great Depression
● “The Most Dangerous Game”
○ This is a story about a man named Rainsford, an expert in hunting jaguar, who falls off a boat and is left on a deserted island in the Caribbean.
● “A Horseman in the Sky”
○ Highlights the destructive impact of the war on a single family. The central character is a young Virginian, named Carter Druse, who decides to fight for the Union, betraying his state.

ESSAY LAYOUT
Introduction: (5-7 sentences)
● Hook: Find a quote that brings the two mediums together
● Introduce the short story: What is it about? Make sure to include the author and title of the story
● Introduce the medium you are comparing it to. What information can you provide the reader on the medium.
● Thesis (FILL IN THE BLANK):
○ Both and relate and differ in numerous ways, however, it is that really connects the two mediums.

Body 1: Compare (5-7 sentences)
● Topic Sentence: What makes the two mediums so similar?
● Find two details to PROVE that the two mediums are similar

Body 2: Contrast (5-7 sentences)
● Topic Sentence: What makes the two mediums different?
● Find two details to PROVE that the two mediums are different

Conclusion: (5-7 sentences)
● Sum up your essay
● Restate how the two mediums are similar and how they are different
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