Exposition teaches.
All forms of exposition are essentially didactic; that is to say, they convey information or instruction. A textbook would be expository, as would a newspaper, lecture, or documentary film.
Other subgenres might include the critical essay, the movie review, or the political biography. High school students must write quite a bit in this genre in order to graduate—an oral presentation in a history class or a critical essay in an English class, for a pair of examples.
Exposition Teaches, but It Should Not Be Dull
Exposition should be rich in the literary elements, or it risks becoming dull rather quickly. Nobody wants to listen to a know-it-all.
On the other hand, everyone wants to listen to a beautiful speaker.
Perhaps this is why the most successful writers know to smuggle it in under the guise of another genre.
A colleague of mine used to tell wonderful stories. I walked into his classroom once, and he had the students all leaning in to hear him talk about the cookies they used to serve at his old school (from which he had retired), and about how one of the kids used to tease him about stuffing one or two extra into his pockets (as he always did, even when I knew him) on his way back to his classroom.
“One day,” said Bob, “Charlie was razzing me once again for the extra chocolate chip cookie I stuck in my blazer pocket. ‘Charlie,’ I said, as I opened the door, about ten yards from the table where he sat with his friends, ‘You should try one with milk.’ And I pulled the cookie from my pocket and sky-hooked it toward his distant glass. As the lunchroom door shut behind me, I heard all the students roar, and I knew I’d dunked that cookie from the three-point line. I never turned around. I just kept going.”
Apparently, one of the students had been gloating before I walked in on the story. He wanted to teach them about playing it cool.
A college admissions essay about tutoring kids in precalculus may be better than simply stating, “I am good at math.” One conveys the point better than the other, though both are expository.
Click to read on about the next genre, Drama.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Alexander Pope
