Compare Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Compare - Essay Example In this paper, two passages are taken from two different writers namely Elie Wiesel and Cynthia Ozick. The aim of the paper is to undertake a comparative discussion on their writings namely â€Å"Night† and â€Å"The Shawl† respectively. This means that any major similarities or differences that are noticed in the two passages selected shall be discussed from the perspectives of the themes used by the writers, style of writing, themes covered in the writings, as well as any identified problems. Style of writing Reading through â€Å"Night† and â€Å"The Shawl†, readers get a sense of feeling that two different forms of writings are presented. This is rooted in the general approach used by the two writers, manifesting in the style of writing they used to present their work. Generally, â€Å"Night† is presented by Elie Wiesel from a more juvenile perspective of wording, making the whole style of writing easy to read and understand. There are not much use of literary devices and other technical literature terms. Rather, the reader to have a smooth flow of the storyline with no meandering of ideas entertained. The advantage that this had on the text was that it made it very easy for the reader to get along with the ideas being portrayed by the writer without any difficulty in understanding. Indeed, events were described in a down to earth approach making statements like â€Å"I decided to give my father lessons in marching in step, in keeping time. We began practicing in front of our block. I would command: ‘Left, right!’ and my father would try.† (PAGE 55). On the other hand, â€Å"the Shawl† is presented in a more classical manner, disbanding the use of naive and juvenile techniques to making the theme of the story flow. This was seen through several perspectives of the writing including the use of complex sentence structuring, idiomatic expressions and a number of literary devices. Along the way howev er, Ozick gets comic just as Elie had been throughout his writing by stating that of Stella who wanted to be in the shawl like Magda that â€Å"A thin girl of fourteen, too small with thin breasts of her own, Stella wanted to be wrapped in a shawl, hidden away, asleep, rocked by the march, a baby, around infant in arms† (PAGE 3). Themes The family as an agent of socialization Throughout both stories, the role of the family in society is clearly defined as both Ozick and Elie make statements that suggest that the family is an agent of socialization. By this, reference is being made to the larger concept of family and how the family plays its role in ensuring that the people that are born into it fit in perfectly. In â€Å"Night†, socialization is depicted as a bilateral responsibility between children and their parents. That is, parents socialize children and children socialize parents. The relationship between Elie and his father is shown to reflect the popular saying that if your parents take care of you for you to make teeth, you also take care of them till they loss their teeth. From another perspective, it could be said that the marching training that Elie gives to the father represents a reverse of role because it is fathers who are normally expected to teach their kids to walk. In â€Å"The Shawl† also, the role of family in socialization is resounded as Rosa makes frantic efforts to cater for her two daughters, Stella and Magda. Stella was 14 years and Magda was only 15 months. Due to economic