Trinidad Damian Ms. Lehmann English 1-1A 25 October 2018 Compare and Contrast Essay What are the values of our nation that have stood the test of time? Both “The Gettysburg Address” and “Quilt of a Country” explore this very question. This essay will compare and contrast “The Gettysburg Address,” by Abraham Lincoln, and “Quilt of a Country,” by Anna Quindlen. The first value the two authors explore is unity. Both Lincoln and Quindlen see the value of unity in our nation. By unifying our people, the United States will be stronger and go further in the future. Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” delivered after one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, stresses the importance of uniting the North and South. Lincoln tells his audience to make sure that “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from theearth ”(Lincoln 28). Lincoln recognized that the only way to keep this country’s government alive was to unify the two parts of the nation. Like Lincoln, Quindlen wants the people of the United States to get along so we can function as one nation. Quindlen, though, is concerned with uniting the various cultures that make up our country today. Quindlen writes, “One of the things that [America] stands for is this 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” (Quindlen 5). Quindlen makes the observation that unity is one of the values that have stood the test of time in our nation. Although it looks different today than it did for Lincoln, unity still matters to our nation. Unity often leads to patriotism, another value the authors share. Lincoln and Quindlen both demonstrate a large amount of patriotism and urge their audiences to share in that as well. “The Gettysburg Address,” delivered at the dedication of the Gettysburg Cemetery, honored the fallen soldiers who fought for the North. Lincoln tells his audience that “we cannot dedicate – we cannot concecrate – we cannot hallow this ground” because “The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have concecrated it, far above or poor power to add or detract’’ (Lincoln 27). He even says that the world “can never forget what they did here” (Lincoln 27). Lincoln praises the soldiers for their patriotism and the urges the audience to show the same dedication to the US. For Quindlen, patriotism means being proud of your nation’s diversity. Quindlen writes that “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 a different as a dozen countries, and still be able to call it by one name”(Quindlen 6).While Lincoln was proud of the soldiers who fought to unify the country politically, Quindlen’s patriotism lies in unifying our modern, diverse population. Although it takes different forms, both authors agree that the United States is unlike any other country, but it is something that we should be proud of. Along with patriotism, both authors value equality. Lincoln and Quindlen are both passionate about equality, because without equality our country wouldn’t be as accepting and understanding as it is today. Lincoln’s view on equality mostly deals with slavery, and how they were treated horribly for not being a certain race. Lincoln said in his speech for the memorial of the fallen soldiers, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us,” (Lincoln 28). In this quote, Liclon he was referring to how he wants to end slavery and how we need equal rights for African Americans. Not only did he want to end slavery, he also wanted to end the Civil War. Quindlen’s views echo Lincoln in that she argues we should come together as a nation and treat everyone as our friend or family Quindlen says that America “is an improbable idea. A mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts, it is held together by a notion, the notion is that all men are created equal” (Quindlen 3). What Quindlen is trying to say is that we as a country have accomplished so much more than other countries in ways of treating each other the same. Even though it seems unlikely for everyone to get along, we have made more progress than other countries. Though born in two completely different times, both authors have a great passion for our country. “The Gettysburg Address” and “A Quilt of a Country” both examine the values of our nation, though they do so in different ways. Abraham Lincoln and Anna Quindlen both talk about unity, patriotism, and equality in ways that are similar and different. For both authors, unity is important, politically for Lincoln, and culturally for Quindlen. Patriotism for Lincoln centers on the government of the US while Quindlen values our diversity, but both authors agree that patriotism matters. Lincoln’s and Quindlen’s works prove that unity, patriotism, and equality are values of our nation that have stood the test of time.
Works Cited Lincoln, Abraham. “The Gettysburg Address.” Collections. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017. Quindlen, Anna. “Quilt of a Country.” Collections. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt,2017.
Compare and Contrast Essay Reflection
List one thing you've learned from writing this paper that you can apply to other writing assignments. What will that that look like? I learned that order of authors or raiders names I have a very important thing so the reader doesn’t get confused on who they’re talking about.
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?
What are the conventions of a compare and contrast essay and how did you meet those in this assignment? 1stsentence, big idea, author, title, main details only, no opinions. I tried to remember how and when to use the process.
Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? I believe it would benefit me
What is one thing you're proud of in this paper? To be honest I’m pretty proud that me being me and knowing how I do things normally I’m proud that I got through this assignment without cheating in anyway. But I’m not implying that are usually cheat on things but in a long paper like this I will usually copy and paste but I believe in myself that I can go through a hole paper like this and be OK without plagiarizing,
Compare and Contrast Reflection Questions
Answer all questions with complete, grammatically correct sentences. Be specific and thoroughly address each question.
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 find the differences and grab/use certain topics to compare and contrast with another article or topic.
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? I mostly had problems with punctuation in the writing section of this essay. but there was also some notes on how i could improve some of the writing.
What are the conventions of a compare and contrast essay and how did you meet those in this assignment? we had to keep order, the authors names and the way we explained each topic, we had to describe and prove factual evidence from both stories, and we had to learn how to keep the reader interested on the topics.
Given more time to work on this assignment, how would you improve it? I most likely would have gone into more detail for each topic. Made some of the statements of the people more interesting.
What is one thing you're proud of in this paper? I'm proud that I learned these new things that I will hopefully remember in the future that way my work is always better.