Synthesis Essay

Sample Introduction and Thesis

Synthesis of “On Compassion” and “On Being a Cripple”

We tend to think of ourselves as caring people who are in tune with the way we should treat each other. When we see charity groups helping those in need, we smile to ourselves and sing along to “What a Wonderful World,” proud of the fact that we are “making the world a better place.” Unbeknownst to us, we are actually cowering in fear from anything that is unpleasant or out of our standard of acceptable, rather than facing the issue head on. In “On Compassion,” Barbara Ascher addresses such an issue: homelessness. Through her detailed descriptions of homeless peoples’ experiences, she takes note of how they are treated by the rest of the population. People appear to care for them through monetary donations, food, or temporary housing. However, Ascher questions their motives. She questions whether they do such acts of kindness out of love, fear, or a desire to get the homeless out of their way. Furthermore, she challenges us to take a look at what the presence of the homeless are teaching us: instead of pushing them out of the way, we need to see their misfortunes in order to learn to truly have compassion on our fellow humans. On the flip side of the coin, in “On Being a Cripple,” Nancy Mairs describes her life as someone who is on the receiving end of this societal tendency. As someone with MS, she takes the reader through her journey of forming her identity, caught between others’ expectations and her own insecurities. The pressure to be beautiful, active, and perfect has invoked deep self-hatred, since her limp and clumsiness disqualify her from society’s ideal. However, unlike those around her, she has embraced her crippledness by acknowledging the disadvantages it carries, while accepting it and blossoming in her new identity.

Both homelessness and crippledness are treated inappropriately in Ascher’s and Mairs’ essays, be it through pretentious acts of kindness or incorrect labels. This exposes the way we treat subjects that are uncomfortable, problematic, or unacceptable by our standards. In an attempt to protect ourselves from things that are unpleasant, we avoid and falsely care for people with adversity, stifling our ability to truly care for others.

Note that your introduction for the Synthesis Essay can be 1-2 paragraphs and it is up to you to decide how you want to divide the content. This author chose to establish the social issue and provide summary of the texts in the first paragraph. In the second paragraph, we receive the connection between the texts and the writer's thesis, which serves as a response to the connection and what the writer was able to gain after synthesizing the two texts.