AP Literature 2016

Wallace believes that a strong opener is crucial to a good paper as it draws the reader in completely. He also focuses making sure that the reader understands the paper and does not struggle reading it. He says, "One of the things that really good writing does is that it’s able to get across massive amounts of information and various favorable impressions of the communicator with minimal effort on the part of the reader." This is important as good writing has complex ideas conveyed eloquently and not jumbled together. This is crucial to our writing because we should always keep the main message of the paper present and not get sidetracked by small details. He adds onto this saying, "An argumentative writer [should] spend one draft on just the freaking argument, ticking it off like a checklist, and then the real writing part would be weaving it and making the transitions between the parts of the argument — and probably never abandoning the opening, never letting the reader forget what the stakes are here… Never letting the reader think that I’ve lapsed into argument for argument’s sake, but that there’s always a larger, overriding purpose." Wallace focuses on a strong opener, elegantly wording a complex idea, and making sure to stay focused on the message of the paper.