For Sec. 2 and 3 ELA

1. Ms. Contreras
January, 2017
1
How to Write A Literary Response
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
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
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
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.

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January, 2017
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• 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 _________ there was…
• DO NOT copy sentences from the story.
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. 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.
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.
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.
Example

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January, 2017
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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). 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.
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!
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 loses his
daughter and dies, and Simba defeats Scar and hyenas attack him.
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

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January, 2017
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his daughter and dies. Max loses friends because he is never available to hang
out, which makes him unhappy.
PART 4: Codes and Conventions
• Choose a code or convention (Characterization, Conflict, Symbolism,
Point of view, Imagery, Simile/Metaphor)
• Identify the code or convention that you will be writing about (Ex. In
“The Greedy Father there is imagery...”)
• Give an example of how it is used in the text. If you can, provide a
quote.
• Answer, “How does it enhance the meaning/central message of the
story?”
CHARACTERIZATION
• Characterization is how the author describes a character’s personality
and appearance.
Example
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.
CONFLICT
• 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.
Example
In “The Greedy Father” the author shows Nadjo’s internal conflict. Guilt,
an internal emotion, is what causes Nadjo to go insane and die “Within days,

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January, 2017
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Nadjo went insane with sadness and the guilt of his own greed” (29). This quote
demonstrates that Nadjo is his own enemy, and created his own sadness.
SYMBOLISM
• Symbolism is the use of an image or symbol to express an idea.
Example
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.
POINT OF VIEW
• The point of view is the perspective from which the story is told.
• First person – The story is told from the perspective of a
character in the story. They are telling the story how they
experienced it. Ex. Once upon a time I lived in a small village.
• Second person – The story is told from the perspective of an
author telling the reader what the reader did. This perspective is
almost never used. – Ex. Once upon a time you lived in a small
village
• Third person – The story is told from the perspective of a
narrator – someone who is not a character in the story. Once
upon a time in a small village, there lived a man.
IMAGERY
• Imagery helps the reader to visualize more realistically what the author
has written.
Example
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

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January, 2017
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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.
SIMILE/METAPHOR
• 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
Examples
• Simile (NOT IN THE TEXT) Gbessi’s eyes were big and bright like two
diamonds.
• Metaphor (NOT IN THE TEXT) Gbessi had diamonds for eyes.
Part 5: 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?
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. 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.