A compare and contrast essay using two books: The Story of a New Name by Elena Ferrante and The Aeneid of Virgil (book1 and book4). In The Story of a New Name (as well as in My Brilliant Friend) Lenu and Lila are obsessed with Dido. Lenu writes her thesis on Dido. For one long essay, the structure should look like this: (I’ve used Lenu as an example, but if you’re more interested in Lila being like and unlike Dido or Lenu being like and unlike Aeneas, or the novel being an retelling and an interrogation of The Aeneid any of these can work.

1AOn the one hand the Lenu of The Story of New Name is reminiscent of Dido in that…[define the similarity]

1A1 quote from The Story of New Name

1A2 quote from The Aeneid

1B On the one hand the Lenu of The Story of New Name differs from Dido in that..{define the opposition]

1B1 quote from The Story of New Name

1B2 quote from The Aeneid

1C The questions this raises are 1) On balance is Lenu more like or unlike Dido 2) What argument is Ferrante making through the juxtaposition of the similar and dissimilar elements?

The body of the paper should look like this

II On the one hand the Lenu of The Story of New Name is reminiscent of Dido in that…[define the similarity] (elaborate with all the relevant quotes)

III On the one hand the Lenu of The Story of New Name differs from Dido in that..{define the opposition] elaborate with all the relevant quotes)

IV On balance is Lenu more like or unlike Dido? (answer the question: more like, more unlike, exactly divided, it’s impossible to know..)

V. What argument is Ferrante making through the juxtaposition of the similar and dissimilar elements?