The ending that does not explain itself
By Ryan Jaffe ·
The last paragraph is where good essays go to get worse. Having written something specific and alive, the student panics and adds a summary to make sure the reader got it.
Trust the reader. If the essay worked, they arrived at the meaning before you stated it, and stating it tells them you did not think they would.
Strong endings tend to do one of two things: return to a small concrete detail from earlier, or land on an image and stop. Neither announces anything.
Try deleting your final paragraph. Read what is left. Most of the time the essay ends better one paragraph sooner than you thought.