Excess on the High Seas
Introduction
Jeffrey (2020) intimates that writing is a highly complex activity that entails using various devices to develop different styles, each of which serves a particular purpose. The implication is that notwithstanding the type of writing style, writing is an art that employees a range of stylistic devices to articulate messages to particular audience persuasively and effectively. As such, an author must understand how and what to choose from the broad assortment of writing devices to ensure that the message reaches the targeted recipients as intended and without distorting the original meaning of the writer’s message. Among the many available strategies that enable an author to deliver quality writing is using comparisons.
Thesis Statement
Comparisons are a highly important writing strategy because they allow the reader to improve their understanding of an issue by underscoring essential information, substantiating abstract concepts, and lessening the uncertainty between related ideas. Comparisons thus help the reader to use to interpret, judge, and decide on different kinds of information. Additionally, comparisons help highlight the most important idea among a host of ideas because they allow the reader to think about the unknown by contrasting it with something they are already familiar with.
Andrew Pyper’s “Excess on the high seas” article is an outstanding instance of an author using comparison effectively to communicate the anticipated message. Andrew uses comparisons to denote the airs and excesses that typify today’s cruise ships. Most readers are not acclimatized with the intricacies of cruise ships because these ships are not their every day indulgence. Nonetheless, Andrew uses comparisons expertly to enable the regular reader get acquainted with the unfamiliar subject. He compares the experience in the cruise ship to the usual features and elements that his intended audience recognizes. The first instance he uses comparisons entails comparing a cruise ship setting to Las Vegas. Many people worldwide are familiar with the city, at least for its well-known attainments and excesses. A fascinating aspect renowned about Las Vegas is its highly commercial background that features entertainment as its primary economic resource. Additionally, Andrew notes that the city’s foundation rests on a desert, using these two points on the city’s background to persuade the intended readers that in the same approach, the West has conquered the tumultuous high seas and managed to build an economic hub with an entertainment specialty.
Andrew uses comparison to highlight the intricacies and advancements of the Cruise Ship business by averring that its attainments surpass those of Las Vegas city. Andrew’s comparisons divulge that Las Vegas cannot compare to the high seas. He avers that it is much easier to build vast structures on a desert because it is not as prone to structural changes as the high seas are. Moreover, he intimates that the desert is a “nothing” upon which “something,” the city, is built. In calling the desert a “nothing,” Andrew implies that it has no meaningful history and is merely a sand surface that serves the purpose of holding a couple of structures. However, he offers a different and deeper description for the sea, averring that “It is mysteriously deep… storied with centuries of sailor lore… the shames…triumphs of military history and colonial takeover” (Pyper, 2018). Thus Andrew successfully persuades the reader that although Las Vegas is highly desirable to the average person, it compares nothing to the complicated art of constructing a commercial industry from an ocean typified by a profound and sentimental history in humankind.
Andrew then shifts his attention from a general to a more specific topic, that is, from describing the general cruise ship business to depicting the “Explorer of the Seas” cruise ship. Thus far, the author manages to persuade the reader that the cruise ship business is not only comparable to, but also possibly superior to Las Vegas City. Shifting from a common to a more precise topic allows the reader to compare his specific subject to one that readers are more acclimatized to. Andrew compares the “Explorer of the Seas” cruise ship with a schooner as well as with the West Edmonton Mall. A schooner is a sailing ship that consists of a mainmast and a foremast or more masts, while the West Edmonton Mall is North America’s biggest mall and among the world’s biggest.
Shifting to a more specific topic helps Andrew make comparisons that show the cruise ship’s excesses. Andrew avers that among both options, the “Explorer of the Seas” cruise ship is more like the North American mall. Further, Andrew makes other interesting comparisons that help the reader get a clear picture of the “Explorer of the Seas” cruise ship. For instance, he avers that the ship can hold so many people to the point that although the chef feeds them in two sittings, the number of people could match to the size of many nations’ armies. Additionally, Andrew uses comparison to describe the massiveness of the cruise ship’s chandelier by averring that the chandelier in the Titanic Ship can only be regarded as a “rhinestone reading lamp” (Pyper, 2018). Further, Andrew shows the excesses of the “Explorer of the Seas” ship by comparing its various amenities with what people are normally used to. He avers that although many other cruise ships have these features, they do not compare to the Explorer cruise ship’s. Andrew avers that the ship is over 300 metres and has 10 dining rooms, in which over 600 kilograms of beef and a tonne of chicken meat are served in a week. Further, the ship has a theatre that holds over 1,300 people for beauty pageants that match those at Broadway and 17 bars, as well as a 60 metres high rock climbing wall. The ship is attended by over 1,100 staff catering to over 3,800 guests, even positing that the ship’s magnificence can only be computed with a calculator. Most importantly, he crowns the depiction of the Explorer of the Seas” ship by asserting that unlike other cruise ships, it has a hockey arena, which paints a better picture of the ship’s grandeur over other ships and interestingly, even over Las Vegas City.
Conclusively, Andrew uses comparison successfully to inform the reader of a concept they are not familiar to by using familiar concepts. His successful use of comparison improves the reader’s comprehension of the “Explorer of the Seas” ship by highlighting the important differences of this ship from those of ordinary cruise ships.
Works Cited
Jeffrey, R. (2020). Types of writing styles. https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/aboutwriting/chapter/types-of-writing-styles/
Pyper, A. (2018). Excess on the high seas. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/excess-on-the-high-seas/article4169508/