Compare and Contrast of Quindlen and Lutz
Upon reading and examining two essays, “Life under the chief doublespeak officer” a narrative by William Lutz and “Homeless”, a descriptive by Anna Quindlen, I firmly believe that Quindlen provides the preferred essay due to the gravity of her subject, greater personal relevance, and that her material allows the reader to sympathize with the subject matter.
William Lutz’s essay addresses the growing trend in Corporate America to disguise actions with words and or phrases that mask the intention of the company. In Lutz’s essay he says,” With doublespeak, banks don't have "bad loans" or "bad debts"; they have "nonperforming assets" or "nonperforming credits" which are "rolled over" or "rescheduled." Corporations never lose money; they just experience "negative cash flow," "deficit enhancement," "net profit revenue deficiencies," or "negative contributions to profits." (Lutz, n.d.) Lutz’s point is well taken, however the cynicism detected removes any sincere attempt to gain sympathy from the reader. Quindlen, however, addresses a heavy topic that deserves more than just a passing read, and that is being homeless. Immediately into the essay, Quindlen introduces the reader to Ann, a vagrant that has been “passing through” for two weeks. In their conversation, Ann produces a photograph from which Quindlen says this, “They were not pictures of family, or friends, or even a dog or cat, its eyes brown-red in the flashbulb's light. They were pictures of a house. It was like a thousand houses in a hundred towns, not suburb, not city, but somewhere in between, with aluminum siding and a chain-link fence, a narrow driveway running up to a one-car garage, and a patch of backyard. The house was y...
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... enjoyed both essays. Lutz’s narrative essay was full of humor and irony that gave me a peak into the corporate world. His work flowed and kept my attention, mainly because I work in that world in which he wrote about. Quindlen, though, opened a new door of perception with her descriptive essay. She beautifully scripted her story that allowed me to connect with her emotions and that of her friend Ann. Quindlen’s essay pulled me in with the gravity of her subject, unlike Lutz’s work relying on ironic humor. Quindlen’s work created a deep sense of sympathy and opened my eyes to understanding and seeing the homeless through different lenses.
Works Cited
Quindlen, A. (n.d.). Homeless. Retrieved from http://pers.dadeschools.net/prodev/homelesstext.htm
Lutz, W. (n.d.). Life under the chief doublespeak officer. Retrieved from http://dt.org/html/Doublespeak.html
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Welty, Eudora. “Why I Live at the P.O.” Discovering a Voice: A Rhetoric for Writers. The University of West Alabama. Southlake, TX: Fountainhead, 2009. 359-67. Print.
The tenement was the biggest hindrance to achieving the American myth of rags to riches. It becomes impossible for one to rise up in the social structure when it can be considered a miracle to live passed the age of five. Children under the age of five living in tenements had a death rate of 139.83 compared to the city’s overall death rate of 26.67. Even if one did live past the age of five it was highly probable he’d become a criminal, since virtually all of them originate from the tenements. They are forced to steal and murder, they’ll do anything to survive, Riis appropriately calls it the “survival of the unfittest”. (Pg.
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