The two essays to be compared are both stories of how people in society react to different social groups and to particular kinds of individuals. They are also both stories of how, even though a person may not want to be seen in a particular way, people will inevitably be judged by the colour of their skin and by their gender. Despite this similarity between the two piece, however, they can also be seen to different and to make different arguments concerning the nature of what it means have one’s behaviour judged and defined by how one looks. One of the pieces attempts to make a positive argument for the potential of this to change in society, while the other one presents a much more pessimistic vision about the way in which people judge particular social groups. This comparison will focus on the two papers from this perspective and will show how the arguments that both of the authors make can be related to their different aims and to their views on the nature of their subject.
The essay by Staples focuses on race and how people may come to be defined by it. It takes the form of a personal anecdote and an argument which makes it clear that society assumes that African Americans are more likely to be criminals than any other group of people. Staples makes this clear by telling the story of when he was a graduate student in Chicago and was simply walking through the streets at night when a woman saw him and started to run away because she assumed that he would mug her. In this description, Staples describes himself as being surprised by the woman’s reaction and as not understanding it until later. He also draws attention to the fact that the the majority of African American people in Chicago live in poorer areas of the city, and that the woman may have assumed that he had come from there in order to rob more wealthy people. In this way, the anecdote both describes the author’s personal experience of racism and also makes it clear that this racism is related to structural conditions in America and that it cannot be fully separated from this.
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"Comparative Analysis of Two Essays".
Pollit’s essay focuses on gender and the way that this comes to define people, and it also makes use of some anecdotal evidence in order to demonstrate its points. At one point, the author describes her experience of children’s birthday parties in which she finds that all parents expect boys to pay with particular toys and girls to play with others. She notes at this point that it is clear that the social expectations and conditions which people live under effect the way that individuals behave and are able to relate to their own bodies and experiences. Through this use of anecdotal evidence in order to demonstrate the way in which society views people, both essays can be seen to be similar.
Despite this, however, they are major differences between the two pieces. One of the most important of these is Pollit’s use of statistics and hopeful thinking in order to demonstrate that perhaps gender differences will not continue to be the same forever. She notes that more and more young women are applying to be doctors, and also that boys are now applying to be nurses; something that would have perhaps been unthinkable only two decades before. As such, Pollit uses evidence to both describe how society influences people when they think about their gender, but she also uses it in order to show how this thinking might be being challenged by a new generation of individuals. As such, her essay should be understood to fundamentally hopeful and to present an argument for the eventual disappearance of gender discrimination.
I would argue that Staples’ writing does not possess this hope; rather it simply relates the reality of what it means to be African American in modern America. The author notes at key moments that many of his friends have experienced police-brutality and that this is simply a part of their everyday life, and there is little that they can do in order to avoid it. There is no evidence suggested that this may be receding or that people’s attitudes may be changing. Indeed, by tying his argument closely to his presentation of the economic reality of what it means to be non-white in America, Staples comes close to suggesting that there is no way for this to change without fundamentally changing society. This is, I would argue, the fundamental difference between the two pieces and one that makes Staples much more pessimistic than Pollit.
In conclusion, this paper has argued that both Pollit and Staples present an argumentative paper that shows how peoples’ attitudes are changed and influenced by the way that society views certain traits. While Pollit focuses on gender, Staples fondues on race. Both pieces use anecdotal evidence and make tie their arguments to structural social conditions. However, the key difference between the two lies in the fact that Pollit makes an for the eventual change of prejudice and assumptions as people become more enlightened, where Staples suggests that racism is simply part of what it means to be an African American. Indeed this seems to go as far as to suggest that the very structure and nature of society demands this racism and it cannot be changed without fundamentally changing society.
