How to write a literary response
- 2. WHAT IS A LITERARY RESPONSE? • It is a reflective piece of writing that analyzes a fictional text • There are 5 parts to a response: • Summary (Introduction) • Meaning (Theme/Message) • Connections • Codes and Conventions • Judgment
- 3. WHAT TO DO WHILE READING • First, check the title for clues • Use a highlighter to highlight important information in the text (ex. names of characters) • Ask yourself questions to check for your understanding • If something in the text makes you think of something, write that thought down - it could be a connection! • Look up in a dictionary any words that you don’t know • If possible, read the story TWICE
- 4. BEFORE YOU WRITE • Make sure that you understand the story’s plot (what happens in the story) • If you do not understand, read it again • Use the graphic organizer with the boxes to help you organize your ideas for each part • This should be done in point form
- 5. PART 1: SUMMARY • A summary is a SHORT re-telling of the story. • Imagine your friend asks you what the story was about and you have to explain it to them. • It is important to include the main characters, what happens at the beginning, in the middle and at the end. • Your summary should start with something like “In the story “_____” by ______ ... • DO NOT copy sentences from the story.
- 6. EXAMPLE • In the story “The Greedy Father” there is a greedy man named Nadjo who wants his beautiful daughter, Gbessi, to marry so that he will be paid a high bride-price. • Gbessi ends up marrying a monkey disguised as a man because Nadjo only cares about the riches Monkey gives him.
- 7. • Monkey eventually gets tired of being a man and turns back into a monkey, which terrifies Gbessi. • Gbessi runs away from Monkey back to her village, but just as she sees her father, Monkey turns her into a monkey! • Nadjo feels so guilty and sad that he was blinded by Monkey’s wealth that he dies.
- 8. PART 2: MEANING • Ask yourself what the author may have wanted to teach his or her audience • Think about what message the story’s characters learned at the end • From your brainstorming on these questions, choose a main theme and write a thematic statement • Explain how the theme is shown in the story • Give examples from the story that demonstrate the theme (quotes) • Expand on your ideas about the theme.
- 9. WHAT IS A THEMATIC STATEMENT? • A thematic statement is an opinion about a theme in a story. • The thematic statement should apply to everyone everywhere. • For example, in “The Greedy Father” a theme is greed. • Being greedy leads to negative consequences is a thematic statement.
- 10. EXAMPLE The story’s main message is that being greedy leads to negative consequences. This message is demonstrated in the story when Nadjo suffers the consequences of being greedy when he feels guilty for having given Monkey permission to marry his daughter and dies. Monkey only learns about Gbessi because her father is greedy: “One day, a monkey living in the jungle heard about Gbessi’s great beauty and her father’s enormous greed” (27).
- 11. This quote shows that if Nadjo had not been so greedy and focused on becoming rich, Monkey never would have tricked him in the first place. If he had cared more about the wellbeing of his daughter, she would probably have married someone who had other qualities other than being rich. At the end of the story, the consequences of Nadjo’s greed are that Gbessi turns into a monkey and he “went insane with sadness and the guilt of his own greed. He died soon thereafter” (29). This passage demonstrates that Nadjo realizes that he was greedy and that it is his fault that his beautiful daughter is now a monkey. “The Greedy Father” shows how being greedy leads to negative consequences.
- 12. PART 3: CONNECTIONS • In this section, you need to make at least 2 connections between the text and other texts you have read, current events, or personal connections. • Start by pointing out the section/theme in the text that connects to your idea. Make sure that it is not vague. Repetition is okay!
- 13. EXAMPLE Nadjo’s greed for wealth in “The Greedy Father” can be connected to Scar’s greed for power in “The Lion King”. In both cases, they get what they want: Nadjo gets rich and Scar becomes King of the Pride Lands. In the end, however, both Nadjo and Scar suffer the consequences of their greed: Nadjo dies, and Scar is defeated by Simba and hyenas attack him.
- 14. EXAMPLE 2 Another connection I can make is between Nadjo’s greed for wealth and my friend Max’s greed for wealth. In both cases, they think they get what they want: Nadjo gets rich with the bride-price he is paid and Max gets rich by working all the time, sometimes more than 80 hours a week. In the end, however, both Nadjo and Max suffer the consequences of their greed. Nadjo loses his daughter and dies. Max loses friends because he is never available to hang out, which makes him unhappy.
- 15. CODES AND CONVENTIONS • Choose a code or convention (Characterization, Conflict, Symbolism, Point of view, Imagery, Simile/Metaphor) • Give an example of how it is used in the text • Answer, “How does it enhance the meaning/central message of the story?”
- 16. CHARACTERIZATION EXAMPLE • Characterization is how the author describes a character’s personality and appearance. • In “The Greedy Father” the author uses characterization to demonstrate that the monkey is a trickster. Monkey is “a very ugly monkey, but he was very smart” (27). This quote lets the reader know that Monkey will be able to trick Nadjo, regardless of what he actually looks like. This characterization contributes to the message of the story because it makes Monkey’s deception even worse.
- 17. CONFLICT EXAMPLE • Conflict is a struggle between opposed forces. •In fiction this struggle can be between two characters, between a character and society, between a character and nature or a character’s internal conflict. • In “The Greedy Father” the author shows Nadjo’s internal conflict. Guilt, an internal emotion, is what causes Nadjo to go insane and die.
- 18. SYMBOLISM EXAMPLE • Symbolism is the use of an image or symbol to express an idea. • In “The Greedy Father” the author uses the monkey as a symbol of inferiority. The monkey is a symbol of inferiority because monkeys are considered less evolved than humans. It is therefore particularly devastating that Gbessi turns into a monkey. If the author had used a different animal, for example an elephant, the story would not have the same effect. This symbol contributes to the seriousness of the consequences of Nadjo’s greed.
- 19. POINT OF VIEW EXAMPLE • The point of view is the perspective from which the story is told. • First person - Once upon a time I lived in a small village. • Second person – Once upon a time you lived in a small village. (NOT USED OFTEN) • Third person – Once upon a time in a small village, there lived a man.
- 20. IMAGERY EXAMPLE • Imagery helps the reader to visualize more realistically what the author has written. • In “The Greedy Father” the author uses imagery to help the reader imagine what Nadjo saw when Gbessi turned into a monkey: “Her hair turned coarse and stiff and spread all over her body. Her graceful arms and legs withered. Her monkey face grimaced” (29). This example enhances the theme of greed leading to negative consequences because the reader can visualize what Nadjo’s main consequence was. The author helps the reader understand Nadjo’s sadness through this imagery.
- 21. SIMILE/METAPHOR EXAMPLE • A simile is a comparison between two things using the words like or as. • A metaphor is a comparison between two things without using the word like or as • Simile example (NOT IN THE TEXT) Gbessi’s eyes were big and bright like two diamonds. • Metaphor example (NOT IN THE TEXT) Gbessi had diamonds for eyes.
- 22. JUDGMENT • Write your opinion of the text. Did you like it? Did you not like it? Why? • Did you think that this was good writing? Why or why not? • Did the author communicate his or her message clearly? Why or why not?
- 23. EXAMPLE The story “The Greedy Father” presents a clear message about greed. The father’s consequences are very exaggerated, and also unlikely. I think that it would have been better if Nadjo had had to live with the guilt of his own greed for the rest of his life instead of dying.
- 24. Also, there are many parts of the story that do not make sense. For example, it is very unlikely that Gbessi’s father, greedy as he is, would not question why none of Monkey’s family or friends come to his wedding. Furthermore, it seems strange that Monkey would wait until Gbessi ran away from him to turn her into a monkey. If he could have turned her into a monkey at any time, why wouldn’t he have just turned her into a monkey as soon as they left her village? For these reasons, I do not like the story very much.
Editor's Notes
- #3: Ask for examples of what a response does not look like, remind them that each part should be written in a separate paragraph