Zander Roseborough Ms. Lehmann English 1-3 25 September 2018 Comparing and Contrasting Lincoln and Quindlen Elmer Davis once said, “This nation will remain the land of the free only as long as it remains the land of the brave.” Many people have expressed opinions about what is necessary to keep America’s ideals alive, including Abraham Lincoln and Anna Quindlen. This essay will compare and contrast Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech, “The Gettysburg Address,” with Anna Quindlen’s article, “A Quilt of a Country.” Both authors recognize the importance of equality to our national identity. Anna Quindlen and Abraham Lincoln both strive to convince their audiences to treat one another equally. Both authors make the argument that treating one another equally will lead to a more peaceful nation. Quindlen urges her audience to end the tensions between the various cultures that exist within the United States. She describes our nation as “a mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts…held together by…the notion that all men are created equal” (3). Quindlen highlights the fact that the United States is the only country built upon the concept of equality among people from a variety of cultural backgrounds. One hundred and thirty-eight years earlier, Abraham Lincoln spoke to an entire audience of Americans urging them to fight for the equality of slaves. Lincoln wrote that America was “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal” (Lincoln 27). While Quindlen talks about equality among diverse cultures, Lincoln urges the nation to end slavery. While the goals of the authors are different, both recognize equality as a defining value to our nation. Similar parallels can be seen in their opinions about unity. Both Abraham Lincoln and Anna Quindlen want to bring the United States of America’s people together. Quindlen wants to unite the various, diverse cultures that live in the U.S. Quindlen says that our country stands for the “vexing notion that a great nation can consist entirely of refugees from other nations, that people of different, even warring religions and cultures can live, if not side by side, then on either side of the country’s Chester Avenues” (Quindlen5). Here, the author clearly values unity and explains that one of the unique and valuable characteristics of this country is that diverse people can coexist peacefully as one complete nation. While Quindlen seeks to unify diverse cultures, Lincoln sought to unify the North and South during the Civil War. Lincoln begins his speech by telling the audience that “now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure” (Lincoln 27). Lincoln urges his audience to work toward the goal of unifying the nation to ensure the survival of our country. Both authors agree that unifying our people will lead to the survival of our nation. They also agree that patriotism is key to its survival. Both Abraham Lincoln and Anna Quindlen believe in patriotism. They both believe that patriotism is important for our survival. Quindlen thinks being a patriot is taking pride in your country and not always liking what goes on, butmaintaining faith in the nation. Quindlen says “But patriotism is partly taking pride in this unlikely ability to throw all of us together in a country that across its length and breadth is as different as a dozen countries, and still be able to call it by one name” (Quindlen 6). Quindlen explains that we need to be able to take pride in our country. Lincoln thinks of patriotism as being one and believing in your country. Lincoln said, “We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live” (Lincoln 27). Here, Lincoln expresses how he feels about our country and the people who fought for it. Lincoln felt that we should respect the people that are willing to go out and fight knowing they might not get to go home, and we should make a memorial out of respect for the soldiers that didn’t come home. Both authors are similar because they both think we should be respecting people that died for our country. Anna Quindlen and Abraham Lincoln share many similarities and differences in the values they see in our nation. Both “The Gettysburg Address” and “Quilt of a Country” explore the values of equality, unity, and patriotism, though they do so in different ways. By examining these two authors, one can trace how our nation’s values have changed over time. Ultimately, how these values look may have changed, but that they are central to our nation’s identity has remained true throughout our nation’s history.
Compare and Contrast Essay Reflection 1. List one thing you’ve learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that look like? I learned how to write quotes from people. When I have to write a paper and someone said something I know how to write that.
2. Identify a specific revision you were asked to make and explain why (this can be at any stage of the writing process). How did you revise? What did you learn? One thing I had to do was explain more on what Lincoln had said. I learned how to write what someone was thinking.
3. What are the conventions of a compare and contrast essay and how did you meet those in this assignment? We had to say how they are the same and how they are different. Well Mrs. Lehmann helped us on most of it but we wrote how they are the same.
4. Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? I might have found more info and been able to tell more. 5. What is one thing you’re proud of in this paper? The time I was talking about Lincoln I feel I did great at explaining how he felt maybe I didn’t but it felt great.