Sample Introductions

The following introductions are all pretty good and are useful as models for learning how to write introductory paragraphs. Please consider the following questions as you read them.

  1. Which introduction do you like best and why? What specific elements make it successful?

  2. Which introduction do you find least successful and why? How could you improve it? Be as specific as possible.

  3. What elements do all these introductions share in common?

#1 Should one be held responsible for her own loneliness? During J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield embarks on a personal quest to find company and end his loneliness. Holden’s cynical character, however, inhibits him from befriending anyone except for a small number of people who meet his exacting standards of how one should behave. After many futile attempts at ending his solitude, Holden finally ends his quest when he discovers that he must put effort into his relationships, and that he does, in fact, miss people.

#2 After first meeting Holden Caulfield, one’s general impression is that he is apathetic and lacking morality. Upon closer inspection, however, Holden’s behaviors are not immoral, but are instead a result of his feeling lost. Rather than not caring, Holden, the main character in the novel The Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger, is searching to find himself. Holden Caulfield has a complicated set of ethical values that are sometimes conflicting, but certainly unlike the phony adult world that he is surrounded by.

#3 In The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Holden Caulfield is compassionately understanding of other people. His consideration is epitomized in episodes with Ernie the piano player, Mr. Antolini (his former English teacher), and Bernice, Laverne, and Marty, the three women Holden meets in the Lavender Room. In each of these separate experiences, Holden exemplifies an understanding for the motivations which corrupt people: ego, sex, and idolatry. Holden’s profound sympathy for the motivations of others expands his understanding of himself and the world.