Compare two texts with different genres
Key notes:
Authors sometimes revisit or reinterpret the same topics, themes and stories as other authors.
The way that authors present ideas often depends on the genre, or text type, they use. Some genres may help to inform, explain or persuade readers. Other genres may help to entertain readers or show a more personal perspective. Reading texts with different genres can help readers understand different perspectives or gain a more in-depth understanding of a topic.
When you compare texts about the same topic, think about how authors in different genres build on, challenge or reveal new viewpoints about that topic.
Learn with an example
🔥Read the following text from a short story. This excerpt is about Ichabod Crane.
Ichabod Crane lived in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes and a long snipe nose. To see him striding along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the spirit of famine descending upon the earth or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield.
Adapted from Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
🔥Based on this excerpt, what can you conclude about Ichabod Crane?
- Crane was a very strict teacher.
- Crane was bulky and frightening.
- Crane was not a good-looking man.
Based on this short story, you can conclude that Crane was not a good-looking man. The text in bold below helps support this idea.
- Ichabod Crane lived in Sleepy Hollow, for the purpose of instructing the children of the vicinity. He was tall, but exceedingly lank, with narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves, feet that might have served for shovels and his whole frame most loosely hung together. His head was small, and flat at top, with huge ears, large green glassy eyes and a long snipe nose. To see him striding along the profile of a hill on a windy day, with his clothes bagging and fluttering about him, one might have mistaken him for the spirit of famine descending upon the earth or some scarecrow eloped from a cornfield.
🔥Read the following text from a folktale. This excerpt is about Aladdin.
His son, who was called Aladdin, had been brought up in a very careless and idle manner, and by that means had contracted many vicious habits. He was stubborn and disobedient to his father and mother, who, when he grew up, could not keep him indoors.
The mother, finding that her son would not follow his father’s business, shut up the shop and sold off the implements of trade. With the money she received for them, and what she could get by spinning cotton, she thought to support herself and her son.
Aladdin, who cared so little for his mother that whenever she scolded him he would berate her, gave himself entirely over to his idle habits.
Adapted from Unknown, The Arabian Nights
🔥Based on this excerpt, what can you conclude about Aladdin?
- Aladdin was dishonest with his mother.
- Aladdin treated his mother with pity.
- Aladdin treated his mother poorly.
Based on this folktale, you can conclude that Aladdin treated his mother poorly. The text in bold below helps support this idea.
His son, who was called Aladdin, had been brought up in a very careless and idle manner, and by that means had contracted many vicious habits. He was stubborn and disobedient to his father and mother, who, when he grew up, could not keep him indoors.
The mother, finding that her son would not follow his father’s business, shut up the shop and sold off the implements of trade. With the money she received for them, and what she could get by spinning cotton, she thought to support herself and her son.
Aladdin, who cared so little for his mother that whenever she scolded him he would berate her, gave himself entirely over to his idle habits.
🔥Read the following text from a diary. This excerpt is about life for Jews in Europe at the beginning of World War II.
After May 1940 good times rapidly fled: first the war, then the capitulation, followed by the arrival of the Germans, which is when the sufferings of us Jews really began. Anti-Jewish decrees followed each other in quick succession. Jews must wear a yellow star, Jews must hand in their bicycles, Jews are banned from trams and are forbidden to drive. Jews are only allowed to do their shopping between three and five o’clock and then only in shops which bear the placard ‘Jewish shop’. Jews must be indoors by eight o’clock and cannot even sit in their own gardens after that hour. Jews are forbidden to visit theatres, cinemas, and other places of entertainment.
From Anne Frank, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl. Copyright 1952 by Otto H. Frank
🔥Based on this excerpt, what can you conclude about life for Jews in Europe at the beginning of World War II?
- Jewish people had many of their rights taken away.
- Jewish people could not associate with one another.
- Jewish people could no longer afford to buy theatre tickets.
Based on this diary, you can conclude that Jewish people had many of their rights taken away. The text in bold below helps support this idea.
- After May 1940 good times rapidly fled: first the war, then the capitulation, followed by the arrival of the Germans, which is when the sufferings of us Jews really began. Anti-Jewish decrees followed each other in quick succession. Jews must wear a yellow star, Jews must hand in their bicycles, Jews are banned from trams and are forbidden to drive. Jews are only allowed to do their shopping between three and five o’clock and then only in shops which bear the placard ‘Jewish shop’. Jews must be indoors by eight o’clock and cannot even sit in their own gardens after that hour. Jews are forbidden to visit theatres, cinemas, and other places of entertainment.
let’s practice!
