Exposition (from Latin’s expositio, meaning “public display”) is a rhetorical mode of discourse used to reveal background information that is important to the plot of a story or an essay. Usually found in the beginning of a written or oral discourse, exposition uses descriptions that appeal to most or all of the reader’s senses by providing information that leads to the development of characters, settings, and themes of the story. Without this background information, it is often difficult for readers to properly understand the complete story because they lack pertinent information that may be important in a later paragraph or chapter.

An excellent example of a story lacking an immediate exposition is seen in the 2000 Nolan brothers film Memento. The movie starts backwards—literally—with blood flowing back into a man's skull and a bullet flying back into the muzzle of a gun. All of a sudden, the movie plays chronologically and the gun is fired. Immediately the film cuts to a black and white scene with a man sitting on his bed. He asks himself questions about who he is, and suddenly the phone rings. There is yet another cut to a scene of the same man, but this time he is in front of a hotel concierge and the film is in color. Right from the beginning, the audience is left to wonder, "Who is this man?" and "Who was killed?" This technique is actually deliberately used in this film to leave the audience in a confused state throughout the movie; the revelation at the end is the key to understanding the entire film. Without an exposition in the beginning, it is almost impossible to deduce what happens in the movie. The same reasoning applies to literature, as well—without an exposition, an essay or a novel may seem to be missing important information and won't be fully understood.

In Works of Fiction
The exposition of a short story or a novel of fiction entails the introduction of major characters and settings to fully develop the premise of the story. It is commonly followed by the rising action, climax (turning point), falling action, and dénouement (resolution) (“Plot”).

A wordy exposition is coined by the term “information dump,” in which an excess of information is literally “dumped” onto the reader right at the beginning (“Exposition”). Many science fiction and fantasy novels tend to begin with lengthy expositions to make a reader believe in worlds and creatures that don't actually exist. J.R.R. Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring uses a detailed exposition in the prologue to describe the history of the hobbits that live on the Shire. Without this description, it may be extremely difficult for readers to fully understand or imagine the world of Middle-Earth and its mythical inhabitants. In the world of film, however, information dumps are often avoided to keep the story flowing. The film version of Tolkien's novel relies heavily on mise-en-scène to "describe" the world of the Shire. By simply showing the audience what Middle-Earth looks like as the action moves forward, director Peter Jackson is able to keep the story flowing without having to waste time to provide more detail about the hobbits' world.

Information dumps are also commonly seen in television series. Before every episode of the television series Glee, a narrator starts the episode with a summary: “Here’s what happened last week.” A montage of images and video clips usually follows to remind the audience of past events that may be important to the events of the current episode. By using a summary as part of the exposition, the rhetor, or speaker, is able to “intrigue potential viewers [or readers] with a condensed understanding of the plot, drawing them into the story” (Eason 107). Therefore, information dumps may also be used to garner a wider audience into watching a television or film series.

By simply providing a description—which The Anteater’s Guide to Writing and Rhetoric defines as “sharing how something looks, smells, sounds, feels, or tastes…” (109)—of the major characters and settings, the author may be able to lure the audience into the story. By forcing the audience to use their senses, the rhetor adds depth and meaning into his work; readers can now vividly sense the world inside the story without actually being a part of it. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novella “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” the omniscient narrator describes the world of John T. Unger before he meets the Washingtons:

John's father had held the amateur golf championship through many a heated contest; Mrs. Unger was known "from hot-box to hot-bed," as the local phrase went, for her political addresses; and young John T. Unger, who had just turned sixteen, had danced all the latest dances from New York before he put on long trousers. And now, for a certain time, he was to be away from home. That respect for a New England education which is the bane of all provincial places, which drains them yearly of their most promising young men, had seized upon his parents. Nothing would suit them but that he should go to St. Midas' School near Boston—Hades was too small to hold their darling and gifted son. (5)

Fitzgerald uses this passage as a part of the exposition to characterize the Ungers as an affluent, influential family that can easily afford to send their “darling and gifted” son to a private boys’ academy to improve his education and perhaps provide him with a brighter future. The words “bane” and “drains” exaggerate Mr. and Mrs. Unger’s urge to endow their son with an education that is only suitable for those who are part of an upper-class family. This exaggeration proves to be exceedingly important as the story moves on to reveal the extravagant lifestyle of the Washingtons. Additionally, these words affect the “feel” of the reader (not physically, but emotionally or spiritually) because of their negative connotations; when reading the word “drains,” readers feel as if emotion is being sucked out of them. The use of such descriptive words successfully allows Fitzgerald to pull readers into his story almost effortlessly.

Similarly, Alice Walker uses a descriptive exposition in her short story "Am I Blue?" to appeal to her reader’s senses:

We were soon in the habit of feeding him apples, which he relished, especially because by the middle of the summer the meadow grasses—so green and succulent since January—had dried out from lack of rain, and Blue stumbled about munching the dried stalks half-heartedly. Sometimes he would stand very still just by the apple tree, and when one of us came out he would whinny, snort loudly, or stamp the ground. (4)

Walker relies heavily on imagery in this passage; readers can easily “see” the green and succulent grasses and “hear” Blue munching on the apples. She chooses the onomatopoeias “whinny,” “snort,” and “stamp” to engage the reader into Blue’s story and to remind readers that Blue is indeed an animal, despite all of the human attributes Walker uses to describe him (she mentions that he “stumbled…half-heartedly”—hardly a characteristic of a horse). The use of imagery in the exposition allows readers to anticipate the later descriptions that make it difficult for readers to distinguish whether Blue's characteristics are human or animal. As the story progresses, Walker is able to argue that though Blue is an animal, he still possess feelings and thoughts like a human being and therefore should be treated with just as much respect.

In Works of Non-Fiction
The use of exposition in non-fiction writing, also known as expository writing, comprises of four modes of development: classification, summary or narrative, compare and contrast, and cause and effect (Eason 106). These modes of development define concepts and ideas to add depth and context in the work: classification writing groups similar ideas together; summaries and narratives describe the subject with the senses, much like exposition used in fiction; comparison writing reveals the similarities and differences between subjects; and cause-and-effect writing examines why an event happened using analysis (“Exposition”).

Jonathan Swift uses narrative writing in the exposition (and causal writing immediately after) of his 1729 essay A Modest Proposal to "show" his readers the extent of Ireland's poverty:

It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants: who as they grow up either turn thieves for want of work, or leave their dear native country to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the Barbadoes. (89)

Like a tale of fiction, A Modest Proposal begins with numerous descriptions and vivid images to come alive in the mind of the reader. By elaborating on the impoverished mothers and their children, Swift is able to capture the interest, as well as pity, of his readers and later persuade them that his solution is actually feasible and, in a way, necessary. He describes the mothers as useless and powerless—they can work and earn money, but instead they are "forced," perhaps by their husbands, to beg on the street as a means of supporting their "helpless" children. Though the words sound sincere, they are actually written with disgust. Swift uses the words "melancholy" and "thieves," words that carry belittling connotations, as a sign that he actually looks down on the women who waste their days begging for food on the street. He offers judgment and criticism, rather than compassion, about the beggars' actions to let his readers know right from the beginning of his essay that the Irish are to blame for their own misery, and only they are able to reverse the damages they have caused unto themselves.

Works Cited

Eason, Kat., ed. The Anteater's Guide to Writing and Rhetoric. 1st ed. Plymouth: Hayden McNeil Publishing,
         2010. 107-109. Print.

"Exposition (Literary Technique)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 9 Oct. 2009.
         Web. 15 Oct. 2009.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz." The Smart Set June 1922: 5-29. Print.

"Plot (Narrative)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 8 Oct. 2009. Web. 15 Oct.
         2009. 

Swift, Jonathan. A Modest Proposal and Other Stories. Massachusetts: Digireads.com, 2007. 89-103. Print.

Walker, Alice. "Am I Blue?" Living by the Word. New York: Harvest Books, 1989. 3-8. Print.