Melissa Villa Ms. Lehmann English 1-3 2 October 2019 Values of America Are equality, unity, and patriotism important to you? Anna Quindlen and Abraham Lincoln both thought they were crucial to the success of our nation. This essay will compare and contrast the way Quindlen and Lincoln discuss equality, unity, and patriotism in their works “A Quilt of a Country” and the “Gettysburg Address.” The first point to consider is equality.
Quindlen and Lincoln both talk about equality. Both authors agree that equality is worth striving for even though we don’t have it yet. Quindlen explains that our nation has held onto the value of equality since its creation. She writes, “America...is held together by the notion that all men are created equal” (Quindlen 3.) Here, Quindlen highlights the value of equality, not only as something we should fight for, but also as a value that has held our nation together. Although both authors value equality, Quindlen points to cultural inequalities while Lincoln faced the much more severe slavery issues of his time. Lincoln, like Quindlen, saw the inequalities in the way people in our country are treated, but he fought a civil war to free slaves. In his speech, he says, “We here highly resolve that...this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom” (Lincoln 28). Lincoln wanted equality to keep our nation together, but he didn’t see the fruits of his labor. Quindlen and Lincoln both recognize the value of equality, but they saw it in different ways. Both recognized its potential and pitfalls as a national value, and both argue that it is something the United States needs to continue to work for, just like unity.
Lincoln and Quindlen both think that unity is worth fighting for. While Quindlen and Lincoln both think unity is good, they also recognize the challenges in achieving it. Quindlen talks about how we talk highly of unity, yet we are not so close to achieving it. Still she says, “Amid all the failure is something spectacularly successful” (Quindlen 4). In this quote, she is stating that we take pride in the idea of being united and equal even if we struggle to make it happen. While the authors agree that unity is a critical, difficult ideal of our nation, they saw unity in different ways. Quindlen’s focus is on unifying the diverse cultures in our country on a social level, while Lincoln’s priority was unifying America politically. Lincoln clearly speaks his mind on the issue when he says, “That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain” (Lincoln 28). Here, Lincoln is concluding his speech by explaining that all the dead soldiers died to keep America together. Both authors see unity differently because of the times in which they lived, but they both see its value, nonetheless. Quindlen and Lincoln both noticed the difficulties of unity.Their unique opinions became very famous, just like their opinions about patriotism.
Both Lincoln and Quindlen agree that patriotism is having pride in America, flaws and all. They also see the importance of national pride in keeping the country united. Quindlen thinks that patriotism means that in the U.S it means to be proud of the unprobeable idea that so many different cultures can live together in one place and be called by a single name. 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 recognizes that patriotism requires U.S citizens to be proud that we are diverse but united. Lincoln was proud of America, too, but what he needed from citizens was devotion. Following the battle of Gettysburg 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 notion might live” (Lincoln 27). Lincoln see patriotism as being willing to sacrifice for your country. In both cases patriotism was necessary for unity.
Quindlen’s essay “A Quilt of a Country” and Lincoln’s speech the “Gettysburg Address” address the topics of equality, unity, and patriotism in ways that are similar and different. Both authors saw equality as an important ideal, but their struggles to attain it were different. Each of the authors wanted unity for different reasons. Quindlen and Lincoln are both patriots, but they show their loyalty to America in their own ways. So, considering all of this, what do you think the role of equality, unity, and patriotism is in the U.S? Work Cited Page Lincoln, Abraham. “Gettysburg Address.” Collections, Edited by Kylee Beers, Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William L. Mcbride, Erik Palmer & Lydia Stack, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 27-28. Quindlen, Anna. “A Quilt of a Country.” Collections, Edited by Kylee Beers, Martha Hougen, Carol Jago, William L. McBride, Erik Palmer & Lydia Stack, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017, pp. 3-6. Compare and Contrast Reflection
Please answer all questions in complete, grammatically correct sentences.
1.Explain the process you went through to write this paper. Please be specific. This paper wasn't very hard to write but there was definitely some obstacles. First, I broke it down and wrote down the intros, evidence, and the explanations to each paragraph so later on it'd be much easier to write. Once I finished filling out all the basic things I started on my paper. I started with talking about the similarities of equality, unity, and patriotism. once I had down each all my paragraphs for each similarity I started with the differences. i had the same subjects, equality, unity, and patriotism. After that I wrote my concluding sentence. Last, I went to the beginning a wrote my first paragraph. My teacher advised me to save the first one to last so I could tell what the paper would be about when it was done.
2.What qualifies this paper as a compare and contrast essay? What are the requirements for this genre and how did you meet them? It had the similarities and differences for each subject, each with quotes and explanations. The requirements were too compare all the subject and did so. In the essay I explain how and in what ways they are the same and different.
3.Tell me about one challenge you faced writing this paper and how you overcame it. The most challenging thing about this was the conclusion.i couldn't quite figure out how to summarize all that I had written. Many faced this challenge also so my teacher helped a few of us out and explained to us to just write one reason why they were the same one one why they were different as a conclusion.