Write an essay of 4-5 pp. (or 1200-1500 words) concerning material read in this course in which you make a comparison as a way of developing your thinking about some idea. To choose a topic you will need to identify:

(i) two things (characters, events, works, etc.) to compare,

(ii) a respect in which to compare them, and

(iii) an idea that can be understand more fully as a result of the comparison

The things you compare might be very similar (this can highlight differences) or very different (this can highlight similarities). They might come from the same selection or from different selections. And although comparisons between things of the same sort are probably the easiest to construct, it is possible to compare different sorts of things; for example, Gaskell (on J-16) suggests a comparison between Victor Frankenstein, a person, and the English bourgeoisie, a large group of people.

A given pair of things can be compared in many different ways, and you should be fairly specific about the sort of comparison you will make. Frankenstein and his creature might be compared in regard to their acceptance of responsibility or their education (among many other possible comparisons); but, although it's conceivable that such comparisons could be tied, they would fit most naturally in essays about responsibility on the one hand and education on the other. So your essay should not attempt to list the many respects in which the things you compare are alike or different (though making up such a list might be a useful way of searching for a topic).

You might think of the third aspect of your topic as the moral of your comparison, but be careful not to present it as the sort of single pithy statement that is often the expression of the moral of a story. Think of its presentation instead as a part of the essay in which you reflect on the significance of the comparison. This might involve a summary of the key points of the comparison, but it should also formulate what can be learned in a way that does not refer to the specific comparison you have made. The idea you discuss in this way is likely to be related to the respect in which you make the comparison, but it does not need to be identical to it.

There are many ways in which an essay like this might be organized, but one straightforward approach would be to begin with an introduction in which you identify the things you compare and the respect in which you compare them, to develop the comparison by first describing each of the two things in a way that highlights the features you will compare and then noting the similarities and differences you want to call attention to, and finally to conclude by presenting the understanding that can be gained from the comparison.

Here are a few more examples of possible comparisons. I've tried to illustrate several different sorts of comparison; but I'm sure there are many that haven't occurred, and there are, of course, many other examples of each sort. There are also very different ways of developing each one of these sample topics, and there are many legitimate topics that compare the pairs of thing mentioned below but in different ways.

• Compare two of the characters of Frankenstein in regard to the way they pursue their central aim in life as a way of understanding the idea of restraining ambition.

• Compare specific presentations of one aspect of working-class life in Engels and Gaskell as a way of understanding what it can mean to describe the past.

• Compare Frankenstein's research and with the sequencing of the human genome as a way of understanding what it means to advance knowledge.

• Compare the ways Babbage and Engels discuss competition as a way of understanding of how one might think of the significance of economic forces.

• Compare the responses to the Swing riots advanced by Lord Melbourne and the "county magistrate" as a way of understanding how to best manage institutional change in response to insistent demands.

Don't hesitate to seek my help if you find it difficult to formulate a topic; and, of course, I'll be glad to help, too, as you are working on your essay.

Although these are due at class time, I'll be happy to accept them electronically (either as e-mail attachments or on Blackboard) but please check for confirmation that I have received your essay.