The comparison essay is the one that has proven to be the hardest for me because of the analysis that distinguishes it from a regular classification essay. The example provided was an essay written by Bruce Catton that compares to of the greatest American historic figures, Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee tittled "Grant and Lee: A study in Contrasts". In this essay, Catton compares the men by analyzing the the ideals they represent. Catton makes Grant and Lee the incarnation of the North and the South during the Civil War.
Catton describes each man's characteristics independently of each other but in a way that clearly shows how polar these two standpoints are though the men themselves exemplify similar characteristics such as their ability to fight, to think, and to virtue. Catton doesn't just categorize the two men as individuals and then analyze. When you look closer at the essay you see that there is analysis all through out the essay that may have been overlooked because of the subtlety of it.
In his introduction, Catton clearly states the subject of his comparison, though he doesn't really explain his purpose for comparison. The fourth paragraph, which reads "Back of Robert E. Lee was a notion that the old aristocratic concept might somehow survive and be dominant in American life" (213), summarizes Lee's identity in such a way that the ensuing paragraphs are meant to support it. Catton does this so that when he introduces Grant, he may describe him as "everything Lee was not" (213). Of course Catton is referring to Grant and Lee as symbols for the comparison and as people for the similarities.
This was something that I tried to imitate when began comparing George St-Pierre but failed in doing so because of the lack of analysis until the very end, by which point my comparison essay had become a classification essay.
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