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Unterreiner
English 111 #27074
March 4, 2008
Compare/Contrast Essay
“The Childless Revolution” and “The Second Shift”
In the essay “The Childless Revolution” by Madelyn Cain, Cain argues against the negative stereotypes associated with the number of women who choose to be childless. She gives the reader an exact idea of what she is discussing by using specific numbers and statistics to prove her point that all women do not have children to be accepted into society. In her work titled “The Second Shift” the author, Sylvia Hewlett, argues that even successful married women still do the majority of the domestic housework. In Hewlett’s essay, she also uses statistics and percentages to give the reader a better idea of exactly how much housework an average wife does compared to the average husband. Although these two essays are on two different topics concerning families and personal relationships, the authors use similar writing approaches to appeal to the reader and get their points across. Both of these authors use different techniques and approaches to appeal to the reader on an emotional, motivational, and physical levels.
In “The Childless Revolution” Cain uses ethos to form a relationship with the reader. In order to do this Cain uses direct quotes from outside sources including Oprah Winfrey and the U.S Census Bureau to show the reader her sense of knowledge on the subject of childless women. She also shows a sense of fairness when she explains that she believes it is uncalled for to have a stereotype on women. Cain says “More women than ever are choosing a life that does not conform to the old standard. The time has come to absorb into our consciousness a new version of femaleness, one that is predicated on the measure of a woman’s character, not on the issue of her body (490).” Cain also shows a sense of fairness toward the reader when she argues for her view on the issue of childless women but can also...