Comparative Analysis Essay: Example and Tips
Sometimes, for an in-depth assessment of historical figures, processes, and phenomena, it is advisable to use the method of comparative analysis. For example, compare the state system of the two countries with a similar mentality of people and the level of economic development. The classical structure of the comparative analysis includes the comparison of several objects, evaluating the object from different angles, identifying features and disadvantages. The author’s goal is to discover the common features and characteristic differences of the objects being compared.
Comparative analysis is a method of comparing two or more objects of study (phenomena, objects, ideas, results, etc.). As a result of this analysis, the advantages and disadvantages of the compared objects with the purpose of classification are revealed. Comparative analysis is used in various disciplines.
At the moment, there are many ways to conduct a comparative analysis. Let us draw attention to the main points by which a comparative analysis of the object under study is built. Here are some of them.
Content of comparative analysis
A context should be found, the main idea around which further work will be carried out. Simply put, the context may be:
- a certain problem,
- a theory,
- a main idea that relates to the main object of study.
Here is an example, if the purpose of the study is to compare two legal norms that are externally similar to one another, it will be correct to fully study the problematics of a given question, relying on those areas of legal relations in which legal norms are implemented.
In order to add hardness to the work, finally convincing the readers of their conclusions, it is necessary to carry out an in-depth analysis of the studied processes, scroll through various judgments in the head, approaches to this issue. Then highlight the main conclusions, which will be the basis of the context in a comparative analysis. When working, it is advisable to use authoritative sources by placing a link to them. Comparative analysis cannot be made without a verified context, because it will deprive you of the foundation necessary to build an evidence base when comparing two objects.
Real bases for comparison
In the process of research, it is necessary to substantiate the reason according to which comparisons of two similar objects will be made. For example, we need to compare what is more beneficial to health: cabbage or beets. The reader will look for logic, by which the researcher was guided when choosing objects for comparison.
What the researcher needs to do is to give the reader iron reasons, why it is necessary to pay attention to these objects of study. Assessing the correctness of your choice and realizing the logical chain of your arguments, the reader will understand that this topic did not arise from nothing, which means he or she should pay attention to it. So, you should specify the reasons for choosing a research topic.
Arguments in comparative analysis
You are engaged in a comparative analysis, which means you need to be guided by the facts, while objectively comparing two objects. It is necessary to show the strength of their statements, highlighting those features in which objects interact with each other.
What points should pay attention to?
- Determine how the selected objects complement, enrich, contradict, challenge, exclude each other.
- What is the purpose of clearly aligned arguments?
- Rate the interaction of the two objects.
- Facts are determined according to the accepted context of the idea (problems, theories) in which the compared objects are bracketed.
- In order to focus attention on the interaction of objects one should use the following words: “while”, “then”, “opposite”, “besides”, “supplementing”, “excluding”, etc.
Methods of comparative analysis
After editing the introductory part of the task: the context, the real reasons for the comparison, the facts and arguments, determine another method of comparison. For comparative analysis, researchers use the following methods:
- describe all the advantages and disadvantages of object X, and then object Y.
- one by one, in turn, parse similar elements of the compared objects.
- comparing X and Y, you need to clearly emphasize one of the objects. This method is used in the only case when X and Y cannot be fully compared with each other. So, the object X acts as a tool used to check the arguments of the object Y.
Work should be felt as a single organism, for this it is necessary to show the relationship between objects, making a logical chain of facts characterizing the interaction of two objects. Without such a construction of work, it will be difficult for the reader to see the connections by which the compared objects interact with each other’s arguments.
Comparative analysis essay example. Comparative analysis of the book and film “Me and you”
It is very difficult and dangerous to compare the book of Niccolò Ammaniti with the adaptation of Bernardo Bertolucci. However, both the motion picture and the literary basis are so finely and simply made that I can’t pass by. Perhaps the main value of the work is that it does not claim to be a global philosophical work or psychoanalysis of the average teenager. These are just a few days from the joint life of a closed young man and his drug-addicted sister. And if for her these days are a small break in drug addiction, then for him it is a leap from pimply youth to adulthood.
However, the maestro will not be such if he does not shovel the plot and important details of the narrative at will and understanding. In particular, the final of the book. Let’s see what and why the great Bertolucci reworked in the film version.
Main characters. The main character Lorenzo: “I spent a lot of time in front of the mirror, looking at my pale skin strewn with freckles, hair on my legs. A chestnut bush with my ears stuck out on my head adorned my face. Sexual maturation changed the features of my nose.”
Here are the first two descriptions of Olivia given in the book. The first is from the children’s memory of Lorenzo. The second is modern. “I thought Olivia was ugly, unpleasant and angry, like the Cinderella sisters, and she, on the contrary, turned out to be of extraordinary beauty, one of those girls who barely see how you immediately paint and everyone understands that you liked her, but if she speaks to you, you don’t know where to put your hands, you don’t even know how to sit. She had blond, thick and curly hair that fell on her back, gray eyes and a face completely in freckles, like mine. High, with magnificent breast, she could be the queen of some medieval kingdom.”
“Olivia was sitting on my bed. She was very thin, her cheekbones were sharper. Her face was gaunt, tired, and her hair was cut short. A faded T-shirt with the Camel logo and sailors looked over her jeans. She looked not so beautiful like two years ago.”
As we can see, in the film adaptation, Bertolucci refuses from the given description of Olivia’s clothes, puts on her a shaggy coat, a sock-cap. Also directed against the girl’s short haircut. At some point, the heroine abruptly and very effectively pulls off her hat, giving freedom to her hair. I suppose, for the sake of this moment, Bertolucci changed the description.
Scene in bathroom. A very bright scene where Lorenzo’s reaction to her sister’s drug dealer is very subtly and realistically shown. Without panic, without disgust, he just observes, leaves when he is asked, and prepares a bathrobe … very sensual, fraternal. It should also be noted that the director did not completely undress the heroine, as noted in the book. I believe that the actress did not agree.
“There was silence in the basement, but if I held my breath, I heard Olivia doing something in the toilet, heard cars passing along the street, rustling brooms – the Monkey cleaned the yard, – a distant phone call, hissing burner of the heating boiler, rustling beetles. And I smelled all those things piled up in a pile: tart wooden furniture, and unpleasant — damp carpets. And suddenly I heard something fall. I lifted my head from the pillow. And I noticed that the door to the toilet was ajar.
I got up and walked over to her. Olivia was naked, her skin was pale, writhing on the floor between the toilet and the sink. She tried to rise, but could not. Her feet slid over the wet tiles, like horse hooves on the ice. She had almost no pubic hair. I stood still, looking at her. She was like some kind of zombie. On the zombie that just got shot. She saw me at the doorjamb and boiled:
– Get out! Get out of here! Close this damn door!
I took the robe and hung it on the doorknob. Olivia went out, hiding behind a dirty towel, took a robe, looked at it, put it on, silently lay down on the sofa and turned away from me.”
The final. Using the Italian version of the famous song “Space Oddity” by David Bowie is, of course, a huge plus of the film adaptation. The cover was recorded in 1969 together with the Italian poet Giulio Rapetti. The meaning of the text is changed: it is not about space at all, but about a couple of lovers who meet on the top of a mountain. It is called “Ragazzo Solo, Ragazza Sola” (Lonely boy, lonely girl). So for the Bertolucci film, the meaning of the new version is quite adequate. The book also mentioned a completely different song by Marcella Bell. Heroes also dance, but the effect is completely different.
Bernardo Bertolucci rejected the idea to literally film the final of the book itself. Even though the original version of David Bowie’s song about the pilot lost in space plays on the final credits, the maestro gives the heroes hope for a more or less bright future.
In the film, the characters give each other promises. She has to quit drugs. He will stop hiding and will communicate with peers. As a result, the characters say goodbye and everyone seems to be happy. Although a hint is being made that Olivia hid a dose … In the book, everything is much sadder. She makes a promise to quit drugs and takes the floor with Lorenzo that they will meet again. In the epilogue of the book, they do meet. After 10 years, Lorenzo identifies the corpse of his sister in a drug addict.
Which final to choose – decide for yourself. And the fragment with the song is still beautiful. I enjoyed both, the book and the movie.