Bryson Eiler Ms. Lehmann English 1-3 25 September 2018 “The Gettysburg Address” and “A Quilt of a Country” Compare and Contrast Elmer Davis once said, “This nation will only remain the land of the free as long as it remains the home 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” (Quindlen 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 equal” (Lincoln 27). While Quindlen talks about equality among diverse cultures, Lincoln urges the nation to end slavery. While the goals of authors are different, both of them 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, divers 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” (Quindlen 5). Here, the author clearly values unity and explains that one of the unique and valuable characteristic of this country is that diverse people can coexist peaceful 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. Unity can also inspire a sense of patriotism in the denizens of our nation. Quindlen and Lincoln both agree that patriotism can be inspired in the hearts of everybody. Both authors agree in the sensation of patriotism that can inspire the citizens of America to fight for the nation and not against it. Quindlen stated 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 as different as a dozen countries, and still be able to call it by one name” (Quindlen 6). It is in this quote that she summarizes the idea that even though we may not have the same goals in mind, we should still be fighting to defend our country. In “The Gettysburg Address,” Lincoln says “…that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion…” (Lincoln 28). In this quote, Lincoln urged the nation to take up the idea that the soldiers died for and defend it in honor of those who died defending this nation. Both authors, although they may not say it in the same way, argue that we should honor our country. Rather it be honoring the soldiers who died or honoring the ideas they died for, Lincoln and Quindlen agree that we should feel a sense of patriotism 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 “A 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 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 properly compare and contrast an essay without making it look like a mess. It will make my essays look much more organized.
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 revision I had to make was to correctly site a quote, I had to fix this because it wasn't exactly what was in the book. I revised it by skimming through the book, finding the quote, and putting in the right quote. I learned to always have correct quotes in your essays.
3. What are the conventions of this essay and how did you meet those in this assignment?
The conventions of this essay are to compare two subjects and show how they are different, I met those in this assignment by comparing and contrasting two different topics.
4. Given more time to work on this assignment how would you improve it?
I would put more information in it and make it sound more clear.
5. What is one thing you’re proud of in this paper?
I was able to put in two quotes for each paragraph listed without it sounding like complete nonsense.