Can you write a comment about your essay with a spoiler?
I’m an author writing a literary analysis piece on Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House. How many websites have a warning on their pages if a person doesn’t know he/she read the book yet? Is it really necessary to include a “spoiler” warning on an essay? The format of an essay is MLA.
Please check the formatting (the essay should be completed in 100 words and it should be signed).
If by ‘formal’ you mean that your essay will be academically assessed or published, then it would be inappropriate to include a spoiler warning. What if I made a piece look amateurish?
Spoiler warnings are suitably considerate in the perfectly legitimate realm where enthusiasts discuss a text and people primarily hope to enjoy the plot. When I am chatting about a text in the pub, I am speaking in this way as an amateur or enthusiast, and I strive not to reveal plot points.
When writing academically-oriented material, that would not be an appropriate consideration. Why? I would look amateurishly clumsy if I were to write about Hamlet while coyly skirting the fact that (almost) everyone dies by the end. I expect readers to know the text we are discussing. “If their primary concern is enjoying the plot, then they have simply selected an inappropriate piece to read.”
If some people still read books, we must choose to write as avid fan or academic, depending on circumstance. Different types of material work differently. What
are some examples?
Does “spoiler warning” have a place in a formal essay”? ”
It is courteous and considerate of you to ask this question, but unless you plan to informally publish your essay (online, for instance), you may assume that your favorite reader has already read the book and no “spoiler alert” is required. In short, such a alert would be inappropriate in a formal essay.
