XU4 Sample Essay 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, complementary 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. The reason we distance ourselves from adversity is because we feel threatened by it. This is what causes the dysfunctional reactions to adversity in both essays. Ascher gives a scene in which a homeless man approaches a mother and her child. It is obvious that the mother is uneasy with the man’s presence. After a long pause of tension, the mother finally hands the man some money, and briskly walks away. Ascher asks “Was it fear or compassion that motivated the gift?” (Ascher 47). Mairs recognizes a similar fear in her doctors. After acknowledging how much MS patients hate doctors for not having a cure, she points out that doctors hate meeting with MS patients for the same reason (Mairs 255). In d.

1. XU4
Sample Essay
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, complementary 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

2. 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.
The reason we distance ourselves from adversity is because
we feel threatened by it. This is what causes the dysfunctional
reactions to adversity in both essays. Ascher gives a scene in
which a homeless man approaches a mother and her child. It is
obvious that the mother is uneasy with the man’s presence.
After a long pause of tension, the mother finally hands the man
some money, and briskly walks away. Ascher asks “Was it fear
or compassion that motivated the gift?” (Ascher 47). Mairs
recognizes a similar fear in her doctors. After acknowledging
how much MS patients hate doctors for not having a cure, she
points out that doctors hate meeting with MS patients for the
same reason (Mairs 255). In describing her incurable disease,
she says “I am not diminished by it, and they are. When I push
myself up from my seat in the waiting room and stumble toward
them, I incarnate the limitation of their powers” (Mairs 256).
The doctors feel like they are the real victim, not she. We do the
same thing as both the doctor and the mother in these two
essays. Many of us, like the mother, view the homeless as an
untouchable, problematic, and dangerous people group. Since
they don’t fit our American ideal of a career-driven and wealthy
homeowner, they are alien to us. They are unfamiliar,
uncivilized, and unknown in our eyes. This is what makes us
scared and overwhelmed, if only subconsciously. Since
homelessness and incurable diseases seem too big of a problem
for us to solve, they daunt us. Like the doctors, we feel belittled

3. by that which we think we cannot fix. We are afraid of what
limits us; yet fear imposes the biggest limit. It puts a barrier
between us and the subject at hand. The mother put as much
distance as possible between her and the homeless man. She,
like the doctors, is more focused on protecting herself from the
problem, than on meeting the needs of those in her path. If this
barrier remains, if we shy away from any problem we face,
nothing will be solved.
We handle people that are unpleasant by avoiding them
altogether, at the expense of those people and society as a
whole. Homelessness and crippledness are uncomfortable topics
to address. The mayor of New York address the problem of
homelessness by transferring the homeless from the streets to
the city’s hospital (Ascher 48). Although at first glance this
may seem like a noble deed, Ascher points out that it was really
a successful attempt to get “the troublesome presence [...]
removed from the awareness of the electorate” (Ascher 48).
Instead of addressing the root of homelessness, the city simply
moved the problem out of the way. Mairs says that society does
this with anything that it doesn’t like. She expresses her
frustration with the many inaccurate labels others give her. This
is because “Society is no readier to accept crippledness than to
accept death, war, sex, sweat, or wrinkles” (Mairs 245). We
don’t like to think about things that are sad, painful, awkward,
gross, or shameful. Our expectations for perfection are so high
that no one is able to fit them. We expect everyone to be happy,
wealthy, and outwardly flawless. When someone like Mairs
doesn’t meet our standards, we avoid their condition altogether.
This is why the city council got the homeless out of the way-
they didn’t want to see the problem every time they walked
down the street. They accomplished their goal- the homeless
will not be seen if they live off the streets. But the problem of
homelessness will not be solved. When we avoid the very issues
that are problematic, it hurts those involved. People like Mairs
feel like their identity is being washed over, and the homeless

4. feel like a nuisance that is pushed out of the way. Avoiding
problems means we avoid people. And if we keep avoiding
people who don’t fit our ideal, we will become an isolated
society, unable to form a community. This is not functional, and
it is not humane.
Our acts of kindness to those who are suffering are often a
facade. Both Mairs and Asher see through the seemingly kind
gestures they observe, revealing the true intentions of the do-
gooders. In Mair’s case, she describes how one might expect her
husband to divorce her, her kids to never want to be seen with
her, and her family to treat her like an outcast. She then
juxtaposes this to how her family actually treats her. They help
with chores that she is unable to do, they unashamedly
introduce her to friends, and they make any accommodations
necessary to make life easier for her. However she fears that the
people around her are “professing fondness while silently
putting up with me because of the way I am” (Mairs 251). Are
these acts that resemblance kindness actually just false
tolerance? Ascher asks the same question. When she watches
the owner of a cafe repeatedly give a homeless man free food
and coffee, she asks “what compels this woman to feed this
man? Pity? Care? Compassion? Or does she simply want to rid
her shop of his troublesome presence?” (Ascher 47). In both
scenarios, the act of kindness itself is not questioned; helping
around the house and providing food are very practical ways to
help someone. Whether these acts are genuine is what is being
questioned. We may look like we are acting out of deep care
while we are actually barely tolerating them. Were it not for
Mair’s crippledness, would people treat her with the same
kindness? Or is it just because she is crippled, that they feel
obligated to be nice? It is degrading to the receiver to be helped
merely because they are different. Similarly, why would the
shop owner continue feeding the man, when most shop owners
don’t want a smelly homeless person in their presence? (Ascher
47). She only gives free food to the homeless, no one else.

5. Perhaps it is all in the interest of the giver, not the receiver.
Indeed, we often help people in need for selfish reasons. When
we help those in need, there are usually others watching and we
don’t want to appear heartless. Perhaps this is why the shop
owner gave away free food to the man in need: she didn’t want
to look like the heartless other owners who shewed him away
(Ascher 47). Like the shop owner, we do the good deed so that
others admire our benevolent heart and approve our actions. We
want validation from others so that we ourselves feel like we
are good people. In reality, we are merely phenomenal actors.
Our facade of kindness hides our self-righteousness and vanity.
Although the people we help are still being aided, they may not
be receiving the help that they actually need. Since it is all in an
attempt to boost our own ego, they don’t really matter; we do.
This is not true kindness.
In order to truly love others, we must embrace the reality of
their suffering. Mairs learns to do this for herself. While others
sugar-coat her disability with vague labels, she fully embraces
the disadvantages and even recognizes the gifts of having MS
(Mairs 245). She wants them to do the same. “Perhaps I want
them to wince. I want them to see me as a tough customer, one
to whom the fates/gods/viruses have not been kind, but who can
face the brutal truth of her existence squarely” (Mairs 245). She
wants people to feel the discomfort of her condition and be
forced to embrace it like she has done (Mairs 245). Ascher, like
Mairs, recognizes the necessity of facing adversity for what it
is. People complain about the discomforts of living in an
impoverished and congested city, wishing they could escape
from it. Yet Ascher argues that we need these discomforts in
order to learn how to be compassionate (Ascher 48).
“Compassion [...] is learned by having adversity at our
windows, coming through the gates of our yards, the walls of
our towns, adversity that becomes so familiar that we begin to
identify and empathize with it” (Ascher 48). Both authors see
the necessity of coming face to face with others’ suffering in a

6. way that we cannot avoid it. When we are forced to see
adversity at its full value, we begin to experience the pain for
ourselves. This enables us to embody their identity, and
therefore know what they need. They are no longer alien to us-
we are one of them. In doing this, we are bridging the gap
between them and us. We cannot afford to keep avoiding, keep
pretending. Compassion is needed and it takes a willingness to
feel others’ pain for ourselves. We must be willing to humble
ourselves to see others’ pain in honesty and vulnerability. It
will be uncomfortable, it will be inconvenient, but it will be
worth it.
Just as we put a mask over others’ suffering and identity, we
hide behind our own veil. Pretending is our biggest habit. We
quickly wipe the tears off our cheeks when someone asks us if
we’re okay. They can’t know that we’ve been broken. Neither
can we. Perhaps we are scared of our own adversity. Perhaps we
avoid our own problems for the same reason we avoid others’.
We don’t like to admit that we can’t fix our own shortcomings,
so we try to cover them up. Little do we know, we are crippling
ourselves from freedom. It is only when we admit we are
broken, that we can be healed.
Note all that is required for each body paragraph. You must
provide an arguable topic sentence and a context for each
textual example. Often, each textual example warrants a smaller
response. Then, you can transition into more of the "so what?"
That usually forms the cohesive analysis. What do both
examples show you about the social issue? For the conclusion,
you should follow the guidelines for the Analysis Essay.
Sample Introduction and Thesis
Synthesis of “On Compassion” and “On Being a Cripple”

7. 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

8. 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.
Synthesis Essay rubric
Excellent—Good—Average—Fair—Poor
Comments
Engaging and informative introduction that establishes topic
and summarizes texts.
Original, arguable thesis serves as a response to the connection
established between two or more texts
Textual examples are clearly and cohesively summarized and

9. analyzed. Relationship between the texts is clear.
Each paragraph presents a new idea and analysis that explains
what ideas and insights are presented in the texts. Analysis
answers the “why?” and “so what?” and supports the topic
sentences and examples.
Topic sentences are clear, specific, and arguable.
Conclusion presents a new idea and ends the paper. Conclusion
presents the author’s “final thought” on the subject.
Strong organization and flow throughout paper.

10. Proper use of grammar, punctuation, and MLA formatting.
All sources correctly cited throughout paper; all citations
included in a Works Cited page.
SYNTHESIS
Essay #4
The goal of this essay is to explore a relationship between two
texts. You must use an essay from 50 Essays as one text. For
your second text you can use another essay from 50 Essays or
you can also conduct outside research to find your own primary
source. Primary sources are contemporary accounts of the topic
you are writing about. They are usually written by a person who
experienced it. They can include memoirs, journals, speeches,
interviews, blogs, art, film, music, fiction, poetry. They can
also be newspaper or magazine articles, audio or video
recordings, research reports, and social science books.

11. Your thesis will focus on a claim made about an underlying
theme or social issue in each of the texts. You will make an
assertion about what insights you’ve gained about the idea and
use specific examples from the texts to support your thesis.
The requirements for this essay include:
· Conveying the meaning of each text through identifying and
presenting relevant evidence and analyzing the text’s theme.
· Finding a thread that connects two texts and establishes
meaningful relationships – not just obvious comparisons.
· Constructing an argumentative and original thesis that arises
from exploring one social issue throughout multiple texts.
· Creating a cohesive analysis of texts.
· Accurately summarizing and paraphrasing the texts.
· Organizing your paragraphs by ideas – not by your sources.
· Balancing your sources so that you include several examples
from each source.
· Choosing relevant textual evidence to support your thesis.
· Responding to your examples.
· Smooth and clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.
· Strong organization and an understanding of your structural
choices.
· Effective and correct grammar and punctuation.
· Correct MLA formatting and citation.
· A Works Cited page.
LENGTH: 5 pages
Notes for Synthesis Essay
For each text, you will take notes on 4 quotations or textual
examples and then list possible themes or ideas that are
addressed in that portion of the text. This will allow you to

12. begin thinking about some of the broader ideas of the texts and
potential relationships between them.
Quotation or textual example (add page number when possible)
Themes/Ideas Addressed
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