![]() ![]() In Hawthorne’s day it was quite common for the early parts of novels to contain a good deal of exposition. This excerpt is from the very beginning of The Scarlet Letter. ( The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne) In accordance with this rule, it may safely be assumed that the forefathers of Boston had built the first prison-house, somewhere in the vicinity of Cornhill, almost as seasonably as they marked out the first burial-ground, on Isaac Johnson’s lot, and round about his grave, which subsequently became the nucleus of all the congregated sepulchers in the old church-yard of King’s Chapel. The founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human virtue and happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized it among their earliest practical necessities to allot a portion of the virgin soil as a cemetery, and another portion as the site of a prison. Examples of Exposition in Literature Example #1 Exposition is also an important aspect of mysteries and thrillers when the denouement comes and the author must quickly fill in the reader about what exactly happened. In fact, if a story contained no exposition and only sensory details then the reader may not know which of the dramatized moments are more and less important. One key reason to use it is to skim over information that the reader needs to know to understand the plot but does not need to experience “first-hand.” Exposition is also important to fill in backstory and setting without dwelling on them too much. As the definition of exposition states, exposition is important for imparting key information. It is not necessary in poetry, and is very infrequently found there, though sometimes a writer of a longer poem includes some moments of exposition.Īuthors use exposition for many reasons. Though authors often try to limit the amount of exposition in a story, nevertheless exposition is very important in almost every novel and play ever written. ♦ Significance of Exposition in Literature For example, newspaper articles, academic papers, and business reports are written almost exclusively in exposition. Some forms of writing that we encounter frequently, yet are not literary, are told completely in exposition. Archaeologists still aren’t completely sure how they were built.” They’re just so big and strange against the rest of the landscape. “It was incredible visiting the pyramids in Egypt.Then I forgot to save my report before closing my computer and lost a full day’s work.” Then I was late to my meeting and my boss yelled at me. First some guy spilled coffee at me at Starbucks. “You know who I’m talking about: Betty, the one who used to work at the library and always wears her hair in a bun.”.The following sentences, which can be found in everyday language, are examples of exposition: Exposition has a feeling of “this happened, then this happened, then this,” and so forth. We often use exposition when we tell friends and family about our days. In short, the author must do some telling in a story, i.e., use some exposition. It is important that a writer knows exactly what to show and summarizes other parts that the reader doesn’t have to know every detail about. While the phrase “show, don’t tell” is perhaps the most repeated piece of advice given to writers, there is some backlash against this. In the first example, the author presents sensory details that draw the reader in, whereas in the second example the author tells the reader all the pertinent information and the reader doesn’t experience any of the fear for him or herself. One day when he was in the jungle he saw a tiger, and he was very scared.” ![]() “Peter was always scared of tigers, and it was a well-known fact that there were many tigers in the jungle where he was traveling.For a brief moment, two golden eyes shine back out at him, and he hears the whisper of paws against decaying leaves. Shivering in the damp air, he strains his eyes against the fading of the light. ![]()
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