for Sec 2. and 3 ELA class

1. Ms. Contreras
January, 2017
1
Example Response to “The Greedy Father”
Summary
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.
Meaning
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

2. Ms. Contreras
January, 2017
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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.
Connections
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 his daughter

3. Ms. Contreras
January, 2017
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and dies. Max loses friends because he is never available to hang out,
which makes him unhappy.
Codes and Conventions
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.
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, 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.
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.

4. Ms. Contreras
January, 2017
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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 enhaces 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.
Judgment
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.