Paper instructions:

Hello Friday EN 101 students,

The following is your prompt and guide sheet for Major Essay #2: Comparing and Contrasting Images Concerning Gender. The following information is also available under “Course Content” on Blackboard.

Comparing and Contrasting Two Images Dealing with Gender

Gateway Criteria: Must follow assignment, meet word count, and be readable, or it will be returned to you without a grade, and must be revised for a maximum grade of 70%.

The goal of this essay is to think about the messages about gender that visual texts send to us, sometimes without us even being aware. Also, we will be thinking about how looking at the images in a museum requires much of the same skills of perceptiveness and critical analysis that are required to really understand the images presented to us in our contemporary culture.

Keep in mind, in order to compare or contrast two images, there has to be something in common between the two that is worth talking about. There needs to be a basic commonality first that justifies even discussing the similarities and differences of the two images. To compare and contrast a wash rag with an elephant would most likely be absurd because there exists mostly differences and very little to connect the two. However, to compare and contrast a wash rag with a sponge might bring out a discussion about which holds water better, which cleans more effectively, which lasts longer, etc.

Prompt: You will choose one museum image that struck you from the Portrait Gallery, and a second image of a person from our present-day culture that connects in some way to the museum image, whether they both depict the same person, a similar job, a similar setting, a similar theme, a similar message, etc. Then, you will compare and contrast how those images send messages about what it means to be a man or a woman (focus on either manhood or womanhood in your thesis, but not both).

To organize your comparison and contrast, you will need to find around three categories of similarities and differences. You will organize this in a point-by-point format where you compare and contrast one category at a time, discussing how both portraits deal with one category before moving on to the next category: see the handout on Comparison and Contrast Essays that I handed out in class. To do this, refer to the handout titled “Reading Portraiture at a Glance” that I gave you which will help you find categories to discuss, such as color, posture, layout, clothing, medium, setting, expression, and so on.

An easy way to write your thesis would be to use the following template: “The two images suggest that men/women [fill in the particular message here] by using [fill in three different categories to compare and contrast here]”. For instance, here is a sample thesis: “The two images of LL Cool J both suggest a particular type of manhood that is hard and dominant by effectively utilizing posture, facial expression, and clothing.”

To support your argument, you will use plenty of details from the images themselves.

Your introduction can give any background into the two images, including where the images can be found, who created the images, who are depicted in the images, and a basic sense of what is going on in the images.

Your conclusion can answer the question “so what?” How do these images contribute to our understanding of what it means to be a man or a woman? Why should we care?

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