An essay on man is one of the most common topics for writing an essay on. It can be written and presented in many forms. In the junior levels, this essay topic used to be very popular. Children were given such assignments to observe their surroundings, like animals, objects, people, various groups and associations, family etc and then write on them on the basis of their observation. Thus an essay on man would mainly include the description about the physical characteristics of man that can be observed by children. They write about the beards, moustache and the two legged creature called man. But essays on this topic become more complex and difficult on the higher levels, like when in college, as the stress is given on the beliefs, attitude, and psychological aspect of man. It no longer remains an easy job but a difficult one involving a lot of thought and effort.
When given as an assignment, this essay is quite illustrative and descriptive. The essay would contain some basic points relating to physical traits of man and woman. It brings out the difference between the two on the biological grounds, their different features like hair, beard, etc and the kind of jobs they do, their societal presence and state, like men are originally the bread winners etc.
But with time the man in essay also has to grow up like the one writing about him. When you write essay on man in your college level, there has to be a shift in the understanding of man. The physical aspect of man is no longer the main points to write on, as there are other dimensions that are added as a result of better understanding of man than was possible when in school. At this level various other things talked about man include – what have the holy scriptures like the bible written about man, his history, evolution, position in universe and relation with the world and other creatures, his strengths and weakness, his virtues, qualities, ideas, philosophy etc. His emotional nature, even as a part of woman cannot be ignored.
These ideas can be used in any way for a good essay. Also those ideas and concepts which interests and fascinates you the most could be chosen to write on. But thought should be given to the difference in the style and content of writing when writing a school essay or for a college assignment, though it is the same topic. The college essays are more advanced in their thought and writing than the school ones, which is quite obvious considering the level of knowledge, experience and skills possessed by a college student and one going to school.
Essay on man can be said to be in vogue among the intellectuals. Many writing can be found on this topic by various writers, philosophers and other great men like Alexander Pope. But the school level essays do not equal the complexity of these essays and remain very basic and simple in their approach which is very easily discernible by others without any efforts to understand it.