This comparative essay sample will provide you with an answer to the question, “How to write a compare and contrast essay?” By looking through this sample, you will know the structure of the essay and the principles of paragraph organization.
Among numerous compare and contrast essay examples, we have chosen the topic of democracy. The first paragraph is the introduction. Keep in mind that a compare contrast essay does have a thesis statement in the introduction. Here you also provide background information on the topic.
People in the whole world have been enjoying the benefits that democracy brought to them. Nowadays, most countries in the world are independent. Without a doubt, these countries have learned from the experience of other nations who gained their freedoms earlier. Therefore, it is vitally important to explore the starting point of democracy and its main principles that started to exist in the ancient world. To demonstrate the process of democracy development, this essay will focus on comparing Ancient Athens and the Iroquois Confederacy.
The next paragraphs are body paragraphs. This essay structure makes it clear that in the first body paragraph, you describe the first object, idea or person under analysis, while in the second body paragraph you briefly describe the second and start comparing or contrasting it with the first one. The structure of paragraph organization usually depends on compare and contrast essay topics.
In Athens, those citizens who reached the age of 18, were males, and acquired education were allowed to vote. Their social status, i.e. whether they were renowned, rich or poor, did not matter at all. Since men played an important role in the development of Athens, they enjoyed equal treatment. Women were also respected, but, as a rule, they usually stayed at home, since they were under men’s control and had to subjugate to them. Consequently, men demanded that all women should not take part in the decision-making processes.
On the contrary, in the Iroquois Confederacy, both men and women had equal rights and freedoms. Both males and females had equal opportunity to take part in the democratic process though in a different way. Men and women belonged to separate councils. Despite the fact that only men could occupy chief ranks, women could also take part in voting for chiefs or removing them dependent on their performance. What is most important, only women could be ranked as clan mothers. Women were responsible for decisions in the village, whereas men were more concerned with business beyond the village. All in all, the power between males and females was kept in balance.
Nonetheless, both in Athens and in the Iroquois Confederacy, equality was regarded to be the basic human right that should be granted to everyone. This kind of equality let people express their concerns and opinions about the governmental structure. In Ancient Athens, the government, which was called the Assembly, comprised more than 6,000 people. The positions people could get in the council were chosen by conducting a lottery. In such a way, everyone was granted equal chance of gaining a particular position. However, the Iroquois Confederacy comprised the Seneca, Mohawk, Tuscarora, Cayuga, and Oneida Indian Nations. To be fair with all of the aforementioned nations, everyone had to agree to make a particular decision. Thus, all issues were discussed and analyzed.
The last paragraph in a comparative essay is conclusion, where you restate the thesis statement on the basis of comparison and contrast that you have made. This is a peculiarity of comparative essays.
In spite of the fact that the postulates of the democratic system of Ancient Athens and the Iroquois Confederacy may seem to be drastically different from the modern democracy, without a doubt, they have had a particular impact on the modern systems.
