GAMSAT Essay: The art of writing a good introduction-III

In an earlier article we told you about the personal example hook, which can be an effective way of commencing your GAMSAT essay. But this may not always be the best way to begin your GAMSAT essay, or, alternatively, you may not always be able to think of a relevant personal example for a particular topic. Rest assured that there are many other hooks that you can use for beginning your essay in an effective manner and catch the readers attention. One such hook is the use of an appropriate, relevant quotation or proverb. The GAMSAT writing section, as you well know, consists of two sets of five quotations each. Thus, you are already provided with a group of five quotations, one or more of which you have to choose as a point of departure for your essay. In this scenario, you need to be rather careful in deciding whether it would be prudent to use a new quotation of your own as a hook. Let’s suppose you are given the following set of quotations: [This is taken from ACERs GAMSAT Practice Test- Green Book]

• I can usually judge a fellow by what he laughs at. (Wilson Mizner)
• You grow up the day you have your first real laugh- at yourself. (Ethel Barrymore)
• Perhaps I know why it is man alone who laughs: He alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter. (Nietzsche)
• Against the assault of laughter, nothing can stand. (Mark Twain)
• In the end, everything is a gag. (Charlie Chaplin)

Each of the above quotations is a unique take on laughter, but while laughter is the common theme in all the quotations, it is perhaps better to build your essay on any one of these quotations, because each quotation has a different point of view and you cannot possibly do justice to all the points of view in one essay of about 300 words (We will devote a separate series of writing on the optimum number of words that you should aim to write in the GAMSAT essay). You will realize that while some quotations are realistic (You grow up the day you have your first real laugh- at yourself), some are philosophical (Perhaps I know why it is man alone who laughs: He alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter), others may be judgmental (I can usually judge a fellow by what he laughs at) or even existential (In the end, everything is a gag). It is best for you to choose that quotation which you can relate to the most.

You will usually find yourself agreeing or disagreeing quite strongly to one or more of these quotes. You need to take a minute or two to decide which of these would you like to argue for/against and then embark on your writing task. Let’s suppose that you choose to write on Nietzsche’s quote- “Perhaps I know why it is man alone who laughs: He alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter”. Now, this is a rather philosophical take on laughter. Given below is a probable introduction that develops Nietzsche’s point of view that man’s laughter is prompted by his suffering. [Note how the introduction begins with a quotation (which is the hook in this case) and moves on through the transition to the final thesis-statement which comes at the end of the introduction]:

Noted Physicists and Nobel Prize winner Neils Bohr once said there are some things so serious you have to laugh at them. Laughter has undergone a radical change in meaning and signification over the years. With the advent of the so called modernity, man is increasingly burdened with existential concerns about his very being and this has come to be reflected in the way he sees/reads laughter. From being a social corrective that mocked social/ moral transgressors, the concept of laughter has traveled through time to attain a therapeutic function today. Paradoxical, though, as it may seem, we do realize that the human condition is indeed so full of anguish, so full of suffering that only the power of being able to laugh at our self bails us out, not as an amusement, but as protest, a contemptuous protest registered against the very condition of suffering and sorrow that is fundamental to man’s existence. And this is perhaps why Nietzsche was prompted to declare, “Perhaps I know why it is man alone who laughs: He alone suffers so deeply that he had to invent laughter.

This kind of a potent introduction paves the way for a powerful argument in the body of your GAMSAT essay and ensures a compelling read. So start practicing today and brace yourself for some power-writing in the next GAMSAT!