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What does "what is the context of the essay" mean?

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  • 1 decade ago
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    letting readers know what your essay is about means establishing the essay's context

  • 1 decade ago

    What was going on in the world and in the author's life when it was written? What is the audience? What background information informs your understanding of the essay?

    For example, from the 1860's to the 1960's an essay supporting interracial marriage would have been dangerous (as in risk of bodily harm) to write because popular opinion was that the races should stick to their own kind.

    From the 1970's until the early 1990's (and even today, in some circles) it would have been controversial, but not so much dangerous.

    Nowadays, a lot of people wouldn't care one way or the other.

    The things going on in the world and in the author's life have a lot to do with how it will be received.

    An essay on slavery will have a very different context depending on whether it is written by a slave, a slave owner, or a free person who does not own slaves and whether it is written in a time and place where it is legal or illegal.

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