Compare & Contrast Essay (Rough Draft) To many people, the word “other” means not this one, but that one; or the alternative one not the same one. It also has a much larger definition that can be more relevant to a person or a place. Different or distinct from the one or ones already mentioned or implied, and a group or a member of a group that is perceived as different, foreign, strange, etc. These last two definitions are more accurate definitions of this study. A compare and a contrast essay of The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester and Orientalism by Edward W. Said. While they focus on many subjects, Dr. Minor from The Professor and the Madman and in a more general sense the East from Orientalism stand out the most. The professor
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In The Professor and the Madman, Dr. Minor is the subject of focus. Dr. Minor is a unique and talented man with many aspects that can be looked at. For example, he is an intelligent man with exceptional standards of living. For many years, he was a doctor who “flung himself into his work. Some of his old autopsy reports survive- they display neat handwriting, a confident use of the language, [and] decisive declarations as to the cause of death” (Winchester 65). All of these practices are characteristics of being a normal and healthy human being. However, reading further on about Dr. Minor some new and unfortunate facts are brought to the surface “Minor seemed to be suffering from monomania- a form of insanity that involves a fierce obsession with a single topic” (Winchester 69). Dr. Minor is insane! For this reason, he is cast out of normality and labeled as other. He is different from society because of his mind state, even though it is caused by an illness. Dr. Minor and his perpetual illness can be looked at as different and strange which fit him perfectly into our definition of …show more content…
Minor, the book Orientalism contains the orient which in this case is our other. The orient is not only a group of societies, but “the Orient […] is also the place of Europe’s greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant and one of its deepest and recurring images of the other” (Said 9). Based on this quote it is defined as an abstract way of thinking, while also still pertains to a group of people and a physical place. Since it refers mostly to a society rather than an individual and also because one subject contains three topics; for example, “Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient […] is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is orientalism” (Said 10); we can group together all three aspects and call them ‘other.’” First, the Orient is the group of focus. Second, an Orientalist defined above. Lastly, Orientalism is the field of study. Every one of these have one thing in common, the “other”, and all of these make up what the other
In The Professor and the Madman, Dr. Minor is the subject of focus. Dr. Minor is a unique and talented man with many aspects that can be looked at. For example, he is an intelligent man with exceptional standards of living. For many years, he was a doctor who “flung himself into his work. Some of his old autopsy reports survive- they display neat handwriting, a confident use of the language, [and] decisive declarations as to the cause of death” (Winchester 65). All of these practices are characteristics of being a normal and healthy human being. However, reading further on about Dr. Minor some new and unfortunate facts are brought to the surface “Minor seemed to be suffering from monomania- a form of insanity that involves a fierce obsession with a single topic” (Winchester 69). Dr. Minor is insane! For this reason, he is cast out of normality and labeled as other. He is different from society because of his mind state, even though it is caused by an illness. Dr. Minor and his perpetual illness can be looked at as different and strange which fit him perfectly into our definition of …show more content…
Minor, the book Orientalism contains the orient which in this case is our other. The orient is not only a group of societies, but “the Orient […] is also the place of Europe’s greatest and richest and oldest colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages, its cultural contestant and one of its deepest and recurring images of the other” (Said 9). Based on this quote it is defined as an abstract way of thinking, while also still pertains to a group of people and a physical place. Since it refers mostly to a society rather than an individual and also because one subject contains three topics; for example, “Anyone who teaches, writes about, or researches the Orient […] is an Orientalist, and what he or she does is orientalism” (Said 10); we can group together all three aspects and call them ‘other.’” First, the Orient is the group of focus. Second, an Orientalist defined above. Lastly, Orientalism is the field of study. Every one of these have one thing in common, the “other”, and all of these make up what the other