Comparative Essay Sample: Pamela Colloff’s “The Innocent Man” and Michael Wolff’s “A Life Worth Ending”

Feeling strongly is a powerful thing. In their essays, Michael Wolff and Pamela Colloff both depict a raging passion in similar ways. When reading Michael Wolff’s “A Life Worth Ending,” readers can feel the heartbreak children experience when living with a parent with depreciating health, watching their life get harder and harder every day. Pamela Colloff’s “The Innocent Man” takes the reader through the experience of a wrongfully accused man jailed for 25 years due to poor scientific evidence and a biased jury. Despite the stark contrast in central ideas, Pamela Colloff’s “The Innocent Man” and “Michael Wolff’s “A Life Worth Ending” share the same theme. They both depict people and their passions through their use of point of views, writing styles, and characterization. 

The two authors utilize similar points of view to display a feeling of passion. In “A Life Worth Ending,” employing a first person point of view adds a personal touch and gives the reader an insight to what Michael Wolff is experiencing with his mother.  “And yet, I will tell you, what I feel most intensely when I sit by my mother’s bed is a crushing sense of guilt for keeping her alive.” (PLACEMENT) Coming from someone who has loved this woman her entire life, watching her age so poorly hurts to watch. He loves his mother, but this woman is no longer the same woman as the one he once loved. She has aged so much that she can barely classify as the same person. Coming from a different point of view, the readers wouldn’t know her as a person, only as a victim of old age. “The Innocent Man,” is written with a third person limited point of view, meaning that the narrator knows what the protagonist, Michael Morton is feeling. While this isn’t a  first person point of view like Wolff’s essay, it still gives the reader a lot of the same benefits. Having this ability, Colloff is able to write so that the readers form a personal attachment to Michael. Being accused of murdering his wife has put a mental toll on him, just as it would anyone accused of the same crime. “...Given the lack of evidence against him, he felt cautiously optimistic that twelve people would not be able to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” (Colloff 92). She is able to write in the moment, but also flash forwards to the future to let the reader know that he was wrongfully accused at the end of the trial. Reading the thoughts Michael is thinking in the courtroom really puts a toll on the reader’s heart when they learn that he was accused. Reading these from different points of view would make them a lot less meaningful. 

When writing their respective essays, Wolff and Colloff both took a similar approach when it comes to style.  “The Innocent Man” and  “A Life Worth Ending” are both written in a neutral style, meaning they have similar diction, syntaxes, and narrative modes. The way the words are pieced together helps the reader form a deeper understanding and perception of each protagonists’ passions. The way Wolff writes about his mother is in a casual but equally sorrowful tone. Taking about coping with his mother’s age he writes, “Sometimes we comb my mother’s hair in silly dos , or photograph her in funny hats- a gallows but helpful humor: Contrary to the comedian's maxim, comedy is easy, dying hard,” (Wolff 207). A writing style like this shows the passion he feels about his mother and how he wishes there was a different way to deal with the pandemic that is old age. In “The Innocent Man,” the neutral style of writing is able to portray the sinister and painful experience that Michael went through better than a formal style can. Returning home after work, he found law enforcement buzzing around and inside his house. After learning of his wife’s murder, he walked into their bedroom and saw how “the walls and ceilings of their bedroom were spattered with blood… Michael believed that she had been attacked shortly after he left for work early that morning. But who had broken into his house and savagely beaten her was still a mystery, one he was determined to solve,” (Colloff 106). With such gory details, the reader is able to visualize the scene Michael came home to on the day of his wife’s murder. Both essays establish a neutral tone with a sorrowful undertone to allow the readers to feel what the main characters are feeling. 

Characters are arguably the most important aspect when reading literary nonfiction. In writing their works, Wolff and Colloff both portray and describe their main characters with similar characterization. Michael Morton and Michael Wolff are both static people, meaning they are unchanging throughout the story. Their stances throughout the essays are unwavering and consistent. When charged with his wife's murder, Michael Morton held tight to his stance. After 25 years in prison, he still refused to plea guilty because he claimed that his innocence was the only thing he had. "Michael Morton has never accepted responsibility for murdering his wife." … Michael had been told by other inmates that he would be eligible for early release only if he showed remorse for his crime, but he emphatically refused to do so," (Colloff 110).  Even though he could get out of prison, out of this hell he was experiencing, he refused to plea guilty for this crime he was accused of. His stance throughout this story was unwavering, he stayed consistent in his beliefs for years no matter what he went through. Similarly, in "A Life Worth Ending," Michael Wolff writes about how we should take care of our elders ourselves, even though it's easier to leave them in the hands of medical professionals. In the beginning, Michael says, "For my mother, my siblings and I will do what we are supposed to do. My children, I don't doubt, will do the same." (Wolff 206). He says that he will stay honest and take care of their mother, like all children should do. Later in the story, he is talking with his mother’s doctor, and she tells him that  "some people, she said, just upped and left their old relatives in the hospital,” (Wolff 222). In the essay, Michael Wolff explains how a stance like that is disrespectful to their parents. Throughout both of these pieces of literary nonfiction, the authors used the characterization of the main characters to put their sense of passion on display for the readers to see. 

Points of view, writing styles, and use of characterization are only some of the ways to describe the similarities between Pamela Colloff’s “The Innocent Man” and “Michael Wolff’s “A Life Worth Ending.”  Having a passion for something is a valuable trait. Without a passion, Wolff would have likely left his mother to live out the rest of her life in a retirement home, and Michael could have pled guilty to a crime he didn’t commit, hoping to get a shorter sentence. Their passions are a living breathing part of who they are, and having them gives them a rock to stand on when trying to get through situations they are stuck in. Staying true to what you are passionate about is a must when it comes to navigating tough and tricky situations. 

Works Cited

Wolff, Michael. “A Life Worth Ending.” The Best American Magazine Writing 2013, edited by Sid Holt, Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 205-224.

Colloff, Pamela. "The Innocent Man." The Best American Magazine Writing 2013, edited by Sid Holt, Columbia University Press, 2013, pp. 63-145.