COMPARING TWO OR MORE TEXTS.

1. In your own words, what is each text saying?

Text 1:
This text is an essay by J H Fowler, a paragraph writer. It begins by saying: "I shall
spare no pains to make their instruction agreeable, and their diversion useful”.
Which shows that the press was a way of instructing, but also entertaining. In
addition, he says, it is his obligation to refresh the memories of everyday life, which
may mean that he will tell the information that readers need to entertain themselves.
Fowler also points out to whom his writings are addressed: “ who live in the world
without having anything to do in it; and either by the affluence of their fortunes, or
laziness of their dispositions, have no other business with the rest of mankind, but to
look upon them.” To those who entertain themselves with the affairs of the other,
for whatever reasons: out of laziness, out of envy…. Promises to instill healthy and
healthy feelings that give talk for twelve hours, he says textually. And it includes,
that for whom the paragraphs will be most useful, it will be for women, who adds
that they have not taken enough efforts to find suitable jobs and deviations, which
are more adapted to sex than to species and ineptitudes such as the main
employment of Women's lives is the right fit for your hair, where the bathroom is
your big business scenario.
Text 2:
Natalie Hanley begins by asking a question that sums up very well what the text
means: “Were gossip ‘paragraphs’ simply entertainment for the upper-classes, or
were they a very public way of exposing indecorous behaviour and deviation? Did
they in fact facilitate discussion of the ‘rules’ of sexual and marital conduct and can
we perhaps see in them a forerunner to the celebrity gossip so present in the media
today?”Natalie talks about the importance of the press and gossip in extramarital
affairs since the 18th century. He notes that newspapers began to be able to
entertain, as well as instruct. In some cases, the protagonists of the "paragraphs"
suffered concern; but in others, they were the ones who ordered it published.
Hanley ends up asking another question: what is the relationship between print
culture, attitudes towards sexual customs and social class concepts today? Finally,
he notes that now the gossip that is printed in newspapers and magazines has a role
much closer to that of the scandal pamphlets that flourished several decades after the
paragraphs first appeared.
2. How are these texts similar, connected or related? How are ther alike,
whether in terms of subject, matter, theme, purpose, tone, etc? What specific
lines and details echo each other or connect?
The first thing we can highlight is that both point out that newspapers serve to
instruct, but from this moment, also to entertain. In one, Hanley talks about the
problem of gossip and its evolution since the 18th century, and in another
Fowler, he is the writer of those paragraphs that Hanley talks about, evidencing
what she says.
 The way they address the reader is very direct, and they both use everyday
language, since it has to be a writing that attracts attention and engages, which is
only achieved if you put yourself in the place of your readers, and of what they
would like to hear.
The issue in both is the same: the press and its importance. Seen from two
different perspectives, that of the writer and that of a reader.

Evidences:
Both texts indicate that the paragraphs speak of the upper class:
“I would therefore in a very particular manner recommend these my speculations to
all well-regulated families that set apart an hour in every morning for tea and bread
and butter” Fowler
“Sex scandals highlighted the elite’s sexual incontinence and disregard for the
sanctity of marriage; thus they could be used as political weapons to evidence
elite private corruption” Hanley
Evidence the rise of the press:
“The number of different newspaper titles that audiences could choose from
dramatically increased, as did the numbers of magazines and journals” Hanley
“Since I have raised to myself so great an audience.” Fowler
Evidence of the importance of sex in the press:
“I shall endeavour to point out all those imperfections that are the blemishes, as well
as those virtues which are the embellishments, of the sex.” Fowler
“Our media culture takes advantage of the fact that sex sells, and audiences from
a variety of social backgrounds happily pay to be both entertained and outraged
by the sex lives of those who are, in reality, total strangers to them.” Hanley
3. How are the two different -again, in terms of subject matter, theme,
purpose, tone, or anything else? Where do they “disagree”?

Natalie speaks of the press as something that corrupts the integrity of a person;
A writer, often without a name, talks about your problems and your love affairs,
in a newspaper that will see thousands of people, exposing the most vulnerable
part of a person.
Fowler, on the other hand, speaks of the press as something necessary in the
lives of many who have no other purpose in life than to be aware of the lives of
others. Talk about the importance of his role as a writer in society.
Both talk that the female sex has an important role in the press, but Fowler adds
his contempt to this group.
Natalie notes that newspapers have made a profit from the exchange of
information of the time, thanks to the rise of the press and the paragraphs.
The perspectives from which both writers see the press are totally different.
Fowler, sees the press as necessary for society and Natalie as a way to embarrass
other people.

4. How does Reading the two together make you see or understand things you
might not if you read them separately? If the creators or subjects of these
texts were to have a conversation, what is one thing they might say to each
other?
 If we read the texts separately, with Fowler we could understand that the press
was something desired by all, by those who read it because it is indispensable
for them, and by those who are protagonists of those writings.
But Natalie points out how often these upper classes were embarrassed, for the
entertainment of the middle classes. In addition, the author exposes the idea of
the evolution that the press has undergone since the eighteenth century, raising
the question of whether that is where the origin of that interest in the alien is.
I think Natalie has many things to add to Fowler, in addition to trying to show
her that what she thinks about women is meaningless. You should let him know
that there will be times, when a person's dignity will be more important than the
public's entertainment. Since Fowler promises to instill "good feelings."

5. What questions do these texts and their content raise for you? What
reactions do you have to them, either individually or together?

It is interesting to know where the power of the current press lies, and how
writers treat it from two very different points of view of its time, from the 18th
century. But I would like to know from what moment people's lives are so empty
to have to focus on each other's problems and have fun with them. In addition, I
would like to read Fowler's other essays, and see how his treatment towards
women evolved or if it does not evolve, how he treats women in his gossip, and
what he will talk about so it is so important that what to talk about 12 hours…