Paragraph Evaluation

Essay

Sibling rivalry is present in almost every family where there is more than one child. This type of rivalry is definitely present in the book Montana 1948; the rivalry is between David, the main character’s, father Wesley and David’s uncle Frank. Wesley, the town sheriff was really a typical person with nothing really special about him, at this point in his life he is an ex-law school grad who is currently working in the same profession as his father, the sheriff of Mercer County, Montana. This had been a position that Wes’s father had owned for many years before he turned the job over to Wes after he retired, this caused Wes to forgo a promising career in law to take this job. Frank, Wes’s brother has definitely had a more decorated life than Wes. Frank was a star athlete throughout high school and college, and then he would go on to be a war hero during the pacific battles in WWII as a battlefield doctor. He is currently a doctor living in the same area of Montana as Wes and his family. Both brothers never seem to exhibit any real feelings of a bitter rivalry for the most part, and for the most part seem to get along well; however the rivalry is definitely there as it is in most families, even though both men are adults. One tactic to stop sibling rivalries is to have both of them realize that both people have had different lives and both have accomplished much, but both have turned out okay, at a certain point two siblings they need to realize that not everything is a competition.


Research

Sibling rivalries are often present in families, they can sometimes play a major role in how the siblings live and deal with issues between one another. In the book Montana 1948 there is a big rivalry between the protagonist’s father Wes and uncle Frank. In a study published by Denise Henry of Scholastic Choices she says that, “family members will eventually grow out of a rivalry as they mature,” however, these two grown men have been rivals all their lives. Also, the same source goes on to say that, “As long as the two rivals remember that they are family they will be fine,” this is definitely displayed because even though Wes and Frank are rivals, they get along with each other very well. The reader can tell that Wes and Frank have a good relationship despite the rivalry because when on page 35 during a telephone conversation between the two about Wes’s families sick Native American Housekeeper both managed to take each other seriously during the call and have a professional conversation without any extra comments. It seems that even though they haven’t matured out of the rivalry completely yet, because there are still some instances where Wes is jealous of the recognition that Frank gets, like when Wes read some newspaper clippings about Franks heroism in WWII as a doctor he made a sarcastic remark which was, “I wonder if he was supposed to stay at the hospital.” (pg 36) However despite all of that they still manage to use tactics such as using the fact that they are family and should help each other rather than always compete to maintain at least a friendly relationship. This is definitely an example of how sibling rivalries can be controlled even though they are present.


Above are two paragraphs about sibling rivalry in the book Montana 1948 one is essay style and one is research. The difference is mostly that an essay style paragraph is usually a bunch of themes and quotes directly from a story. However a research essay contains research from something other than the book, usually a newspaper or online database of some kind, and contains more citations than an essay paragraph would. For me at least, I find writing a regular essay easier because it doesn't take as long to write since there is no extra research involved. However, research papers are more detailed and give more opinions and information about a topic, and that depth can make the point the writer is attempting to make clearer and easier to understand. So although I definitely like essays better due to their simplicity, a research paper is definitely the more professional of the two. For some more examples check out these two blogs of my friends Jamal, and Smith.