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When we had a careful look at the Patricia Hautz Letter, we observed that it has a very solid yet
sophisticated structure.
For better illustration, we marked the words, passages and positions that stand out in different colors. While the
image is a reproductions, the position and alignment of words correspond with the original.
The letter’s body text begins as it ends with a reference to a story, embracing the text in between (dark blue). These
references serve as introduction and conclusion of the letter. In the main text, the author presents and contrasts two different
stories in an alternating arrangement. The author even emphasizes the contrasting aspects by placing and aligning words and
passages in the text above and below of each other.
We find it obvious that the words “boy” and “girl” (light blue), “that was killed” and “that killed her” (red), and “the life
of a boy” and “the lives of their own children” (middle green) have been contrasted and opposed through text alignment, for
which the two empty spaces in the first line between the name “Cheri” and “the” could be an additional indication. Taking
this further, we could even add “interesting” and “more rewarding” (orange) as well as “to read of” and
“to think about”(orange) to the list, and the contrasting months with identical day (light green) in proportion to the name of the victim..
The structure of the Patricia Hautz Letter is fully consistent with the structure of an alternating compare and contrast essay, where
the conclusion is very similar to the introduction, and where different ideas, concepts or aspects are presented
and contrasted on a point-by-point basis.
Continue to Patrica Hautz Letter Interpretation
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