For Sec. 2 and 3 ELA

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.