Comparing Neat People Vs. Sloppy People, By Suzanne Britt

The Importance of Comparing and Contrasting

In The Norton Mix, Suzanne Britt’s “Neat People vs. Sloppy People,” Bruce Catton’s “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts,” and Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Cultural Baggage,” all compare and contrast people or things in the stories. It is important for the author to clearly distinguish what he or she is saying, because it allows the reader to understand the story better. Comparing and contrasting different things is also a way to organize the author’s thoughts. It is important for the reader to be able to see the difference between things or people so one can have a more suitable understanding, better insight, and a firm viewpoint of the subject.

In “Neat People vs. Sloppy People,” Suzanne Britt uses humor to compare and contrast neat and sloppy people. Britt notes, “Sloppy people, you see, are not really sloppy. Their sloppiness is merely the unfortunate consequence of their extreme moral rectitude” (par. 2). By using humor, the author explains how sloppy people are the way they

are because of their uprightness. Britt then states, “Neat people will toy with the idea of throwing the children out of the house just to cut down on the clutter” (par. 6). The author also uses humor in this statement to describe how neat people will do almost anything to cut back on a mess. Britt uses humor to get her point across about neat and sloppy people so the reader can understand the differences between the two.
In “Grant and Lee: A Study in Contrasts” by Bruce Catton, he discusses the differences between Ulysses S.

Grant and Robert E. Lee. Catton states, “Lee was tidewater Virginia, and in his background were family, culture, and tradition…the age of chivalry transplanted to a New World which was making its own legends and its own myths” (par.5). Here, Catton uses historical facts to describe the type of person Lee was, explaining that he was a traditional kind of man. Then Catton states, “Grant, the son of a tanner on the Western frontier, was everything Lee was not. He had come up the hard way, and embodied nothing in particular except the eternal toughness and sinewy fiber of the men who grew up beyond the mountains” (par. 7). The author describes the type of man Grant was; a tough man who had to earn everything himself. Bruce Catton uses historical facts about Lee and Grant so the reader can have a better insight about the variations between the two

men.
In “Cultural Baggage” by Barbara Ehrenreich, she talks about how she has no culture. Ehrenreich notes, “This insight did not exactly furnish me with an “identity,” but it was at least something to work with: we are the kind of people, I realized – whatever our distant ancestors’ religions – who do not believe, who do not carry on traditions, who do not do things just because someone has done them before” (par. 9). The author describes the reason she believes she does not have a culture is because she didn’t grow up in a family where everyone followed traditions. Her family played by their own rules. The author also states, “A few weeks ago, I cleared my throat and asked the children, now mostly grown and fearsomely smart, whether they felt any stirrings of ethnic or religious identity, etc., which might have been, ahem, insufficiently nourished at home. “None,” they said, adding firmly, “and the world would be a better place if nobody else did either.” My chest swelled with pride, as would my mother’s, to know that the race of “none” marches on” (par. 13). Ehrenreich explains that she is proud that her children don’t feel pressured to have some sort of cultural identity. The author uses her family values to explain her viewpoint on family traditions and cultures.
In each essay, Britt, Catton, and Ehrenreich each contrast different ideas to explain their points. Britt uses humor to help the reader understand the differences between sloppy and neat people. Catton uses historical facts to contrast two men and help the reader to have a better insight on the topic. Ehrenreich uses her family values to explain her point about family traditions so the reader can make their own decision about cultures. Each author uses contrasting ideas to get their point across appropriately.