Comparing Texts: A Guide Using an Example

In English Language Paper 2, question 4 asks you to compare the writers’ ideas and perspectives in two different sources. 

These two sources will both be non-fiction texts, and could come from the 19th, 20th or 21st centuries. They will be provided to you in a separate booklet to the answer booklet, often called an ‘insert’. 

An example of this question could be: 

“For this question, you need to refer to the whole of Source A, together with the whole of Source B.  

Compare how the writers convey their different thoughts and feelings about camping experiences.”

In your answer, you could:

• Compare their different thoughts and feelings about camping experiences

• Compare the methods they use to convey their thoughts and feelings

• Support your response with references to both texts.
  
  [16 marks] 

This question requires a response including:

• You showing your understanding of the ideas and perspectives in both texts

• A comparison of those ideas and the writers’ different perspectives

• Relevant textual evidence (quotes that back up your argument of what the text is saying) 

• An explanation on how both writers have used different methods to show their point of view. 

Tips:

• Read each text carefully before you begin to write your answers. 

• Note any similarities or differences in the attitudes and ideas conveyed, as well as the language and structure used. 

• When you write your answer, make sure to link each point to a specific quotation. 

• Do not just list the similarities and differences - explain why similarities and differences are important.
  

Key words to use in your answer:

Using key words to signpost to the examiner what you’re writing makes sure the examiner can clearly see that you are answering what the question is asking, such as ‘comparatively’. 

When describing similarities between the two texts, you could use words such as: 

• Similarly… 

• Likewise…

• In the same way… 

• Both texts… 

• Like in the first text… 

When describing differences between the two texts, you could use: 

• On the other hand…

• However…

• Whereas…

• In contrast…

An Example Analysis - Extract 1 

Below are a few small sections from an extract that was used in the June 2022 GCSE English Lang. paper. This extract is from The Wilderness, written in 1878 by the American writer Charles Warner. At this time, Americans were looking for adventure by camping in the wild. 

The question asks for comparison on the author’s ideas and perspectives - therefore, you need to understand how the author feelsabout the topic (in this case, camping) and howthey show this opinion (their methods). 

• “Escape from civilisation” and “limits of society”

  • The author shows his love for nature by comparing it with society, which he views as restrictive.

  • Using the word “escape”, the author shows his view of society as a place that people need to leave in order to find true happiness, which is limited by the rules and responsibilities of people in modern society. 

• “Primitive conditions of living, dress and food”

  • The author romanticises a “primitive” time before society became more complex with deeper, more complicated issues.

  • He shows that he believes our true priorities have become obscured and that we should return to focusing on the most basic essentials of survival such as “dress” and “food”. 

  • He views time in nature as not just a literal escape from the confines of society in urban areas, but also as an escape from more complex responsibilities that humans have to deal with in the modern era. 

  • Glamourisation of “primitive” society is striking given the context of the time the extract was written in the 19th century, when American colonists were in conflict with the Native Americans. There were attitudes of fear and revulsion, as well as admiration and romanticisation, towards the Native American culture, and the author’s focus on nature seems to show admiration of what the society considered a ‘primitive’ approach to life. 

•  “Everything is beautiful and unspoilt” and “The discoverers of this paradise, which they have entered to destroy” 

  • The author uses language to highlight his belief in the purity of nature and the polluting nature of humans (“unspoilt”; “destroy”).

  • His view of camping is that humans go into the “paradise” of nature and destroy it, even when trying to appreciate nature. 

  • The mention of paradise has biblical connotations - this could be linked to the biblical story of the Garden of Eden, which was a perfect natural paradise free of suffering and death until Adam and Eve, the first humans, disobeyed God and were cast out of the garden. 
    

• “Unspoilt” → “despoiled” 

  • Writer uses the idea of nature becoming “spoiled”.

  • Spoiled means damaged or ruined and is also used in the context of food going bad and not being able to be consumed anymore

  • Nature therefore becoming “spoiled” conveys that if humans keep destroying nature, there will be nothing left for us to even consume anymore - we are destroying our own natural resources through our desire to control nature. 

• “The charred and blackened logs, where the fire blazed, suggest the extinction of life”

  • Fire is often used in mythology to represent mankind (for example Prometheus in Greek myth), and arguably is the main ability that separates mankind from animals. 

  • Fire representing humanity then suggesting the “extinction of life” shows the author’s view of activities like camping as humanity imposing itself on nature and destroying the natural resources.

  • What humans consider as fun like camping actually brings about “the extinction of life.” 

• “Man has wrought his usual wrong upon Nature.” 

  • Even the act of camping, a leisure activity, is just another wrong of humans towards nature. The exploitation of natural resources like the chopping down of trees to make firewood in camping is mirrored in more wide scale exploitation of natural resources such as deforestation, burning of fossil fuels, etc. 

An Example Analysis - Extract 2 

Using another extract from the June 2022 GCSE English Lang. paper, below are a few key sections for analysis comparatively. This extract is a section from The Tent, The Bucket and Me in which Emma Kennedy describes her camping holidays in France in the 1970s. 

• “Battered around the edges”, “the pool a little more dull”, “the place had lost its gloss.”

  • Here, the author describes the stark reality of camping in contrast with her idealised memories from when she was younger. 

  • The amenities that she focuses on such as the pool and table tennis hut are all artificial leisure activities created by humans; she is not focused on the natural world but instead the human things people have brought into nature to make it more enjoyable. 

• “Soon, the rain was slashing down, the relentless battering against the tent canvas loud and frightening.” and “As the storm fractured the skies, we clung together, terrified.”

  • The weather here becomes a threat to the humans at the campsite, with the campers being forced to hide in tents and avoid the frightening weather.

  • This author shows the power of nature, and the powerlessness of humans in the face of natural events. 

  • While the campers attempted to dominate the natural area with human structures like the pool, the table tennis hut, etc, and their tents and tables, this was all washed away by the rain. 

  • Camping is portrayed as frightening and hazardous because it puts the campers at the mercy of nature and its dangers, like storms and flooding. 

• “There was something deliciously spine-tingling about being trapped inside the tent.”

  • The author however enjoys the destruction and chaos caused by the weather, showing that experiencing nature’s power can be exciting and fun.

  • This contrasts with destruction and chaos caused by humans, which cannot be enjoyed by nature. 

Comparison of the Two Extracts