Compare and Contrast Essay: A Quilt of a Country vs. The immigrant Contribution

📌Category: Articles
📌Words: 774
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 27 January 2022

Two articles, written by Anna Quindlen and John F. Kennedy both have views on immigrants becoming American citizens, and how everyone in this country is so different, but we’re held together by our patriotism and desire to be a true American. Even if they are writing about similar topics, they can describe the same topic so differently and both be so amazing. They also may have different perspectives on different topics, like immigrants and immigration. In “A Quilt of a Country”, by Anna Quindlen, her diction and writing style are very sophisticated and poetic. Her metaphors can be complicated but very beautiful once you understand them. But, in “The immigrant Contribution”, by John F. Kennedy, his diction and writing style is straightforward to comprehend. While he uses more data and facts in his article, he also has some metaphors. They are easy to understand and send a clear message to the reader. Quindlen and Kennedy have very different writing styles and diction, but they have different and similar perspectives on America.

Quindlen and Kennedy have both written about similar things, but it just sounds so different when reading their metaphors. When reading, “A Quilt of a Country”, by Anna Quindlen, you can see that she has a more sophisticated and high-level diction. For example, “That’s because it was built of bit and pieces that seem discordant, like the crazy quilts that have been one of its great folk-art forms, velvet and calico and checks and brocades”, this section is very wordy and consists of a lot and it’s harder to understand. But she’s writing about how America is very diverse and consists of many different pieces. She thinks America is a place where many different people from different places come together to make a ¨crazy quilt¨. A crazy quilt may have many different patches and parts but come together to make a beautiful quilt. She compares this to America because America is filled with many different kinds of people but come together to make America. Kennedy says something similar in his article as well. In “The immigrant Contribution”, he writes, “The idea of the ‘melting pot’  symbolized the process of blending many strains into a single nationality...”. In this, he explains a similar thing as Quindlen but says it very differently. He explains using the metaphor, “melting pot”, how America is a place that blends many different cultures to create one culture. A melting pot consists of many different things, just like America consists of many different cultures and people. His metaphor is a little more straightforward forward but their metaphors are also very similar in the sense that they are talking about the same thing. When reading these metaphors from the articles they both talk about how America has many different cultures and is very diverse. But come together to create America. 

She wrote, “ Once these disparate parts were held together by a common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and the electrified fence of communism. With the end of the cold war there was the creeping concern that without a focus for hatred and distrust, a sense of national identity would evaporate, that the left side of the hyphen- African American, Mexican-American, Irish-American- would overwhelm the right.” Her article is all about how the American identity doesn’t just involve people who were born in America. It’s everyone that works hard and strives to make their place in this country. Quindlen’s article uses a bit more uncommon words. She also uses the analogy, “electrified fence”, to describe communism. In comparison, Kennedy’s article is much different. He writes about how immigrants have contributed to America and all of the things that they have done to help build this country. Unlike Quindlen, Kennedy states, “So of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence, eighteen were of non-English stock, and eight were first generation immigrants.” Kennedy talks of how immigrants have been here since the country was founded, and that this country has not had immigrants in it. He wrote about how immigrants have helped invent and create many of the things that we use in our society. His wordplay is also a lot more simple and uses everyday words.

When reading these stories you can see how differently they write even when they are talking about similar things. But you can also see how different their perspectives are on a subject like immigrants. You can also go back to see how their backgrounds and their audience has an effect on how they write. Quindlen is an award-winning journalist who is writing for Newsweek, which is a genuinely more educated audience. But Kennedy is a politician who is writing for the whole world, so he uses a more casual and neutral diction so everyone who is reading can understand what he is talking about. They both have views on immigrants becoming American citizens but agree on how everyone in this country is so different, but we’re held together by our patriotism and desire to be true Americans.

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