Response Essay: Example and Tips
Writing response essay seems more difficult than other types of essay, because response essays are usually dry and not interesting. But we will try to change that and give you some tips of how to write an interesting response essay. There are several way of doing so. One of them is to use and interesting non-standard composition.
Contents
Different Composition Types to Make Response Essay Interesting + Examples
One of the most interesting techniques for writing a good essay is the use of non-standard composition. The composition is a construction work. Typically, students use the formula: the outset-the main part-outcome, nothing superfluous. Wise people claim that it is composition that can become the literary device that will distinguish your work from hundreds of others.
Circle composition
Circle composition is a very interesting trick when the end of an essay duplicates its beginning. If you use this technique correctly, you can intrigue the reader: give a riddle at the very beginning, and slowly unwind the tangled ball in the course of the story. And in the end it turns out that the solution was at the very beginning. You could see the use of this technique in movies.
Question-answer and dialogue form
Using this technique, the author himself asks questions and answers them himself. Possible topics:
- Dialogue with the book hero.
- The main character at the end of the book asks his enemy why he did it.
- Dialogue with the writer.
Examples:
In the dream, a good helper comes to the hero, who always talks about what will happen tomorrow and how best to live this day. Then the assistant disappears. How will a person who has become accustomed to eternal care live without the help of others?
Interview with your favorite thing. What can it tell about you?
Teddy bear tells his owner how in childhood he protected her at night from monsters.
It is believed that the mirror reflects the soul of man. What then can tell a mirror about what you do not want to show people?
View from the outside
Using this technique, in the essay you give a word to someone who is not supposed to have it.
- In any book there are major and minor heroes. What can minor characters tell about the main ones?
- Our parents’ look at us.
- What do our grandparents think about the new generation and why?
Open ending
This is a technique where the author leaves the reader to think about what happens next, and he does not tell about it.
Examples:
A schoolboy has always dreamed of adventures. Suddenly he finds himself in any book / film / other world. He goes a long way, realizes that adventure is most often scary, that man is created for happiness, not for monsters. Suddenly he wakes up. Was it a dream, or a schoolboy in fact experienced it all? Let the reader think out.
The story of the man’s dream. The sea captain wants to open a new land. He does not think that it is dangerous, and he is not afraid to die there. He goes to his dream. The story ends with how he gets to the land, not marked on the map.
You will soon leave school. You worry – ahead are the exams and admission, a completely new and unknown life. Adult life, about which they talk so much. You go to the exam. Fearfully. That’s the end of it. Let the reader believe that the fears were in vain.
As you can see, non-standard composition often provides many options for a non-standard theme. Therefore, you can not think about what to write. Think how you will write it.
Finding Topic for Interesting Essay
If you don’t want to think about the composition, you can try to find the theme yourself. I do not advise you to hope for Inspiration. It does not always come. And waiting it to come on time is totally useless. It’s much easier to try playing with themes.
Method one
Take two standard themes from those offered on the Internet and mix them. For example:
A new look at the children’s fairy tale. Cinderella doesn’t lose her shoe. How will the Prince find her?
The main hero of The Catcher in the Rye, preaching the ideas of nihilism, got into the future, to the lesson of literature. At that time your teacher just described his mistakes and explained that all countries of the world were destroying just such an attitude to the heritage of their ancestors.
Describe your favorite animal with humor. You love geese because they saved Rome. Or do not trust the horses – the Trojans may be inside?
The second way
Take a look around you. Try to combine the first two items that you saw.
How did the printer bit the pen? Write about this tragic tale in terms of pen.
Is it difficult for a bookshelf to hold such a baggage of knowledge?
What if posters on your walls talk at night? About what?
The third way
Associative chains. Choose any item and think about what it looks like.
Orange. Orange orange. Round as a planet. Would it be good to live on the planet of oranges?
Phone. Smart device. In children’s hands. Why knowledge is power only if you know how to use it?
Schedule. Plan. Why do people distribute their day?
Piggy bank. Putting aside money. Future. Why do people tend to care about their future?
Fourth way
Old plots. Anything can be remade in a new way. There is even such a trend in the literature. Let’s look at examples.
The girl enters the underworld and meets there Aid and his grandson. Grandson is unhappy that his grandfather still adheres to the cruel traditions of antiquity, and escapes with this girl.
The Minotaur had a very long life. Wounded, he left Crete and managed to recover. Good people helped him. The Minotaur travels the globe and meets the monster of Frankenstein. Can he convince himself that appearance is not the most important thing?
The evil wolf Fenrir is eager and no longer wants to swallow the sun. Now he lives in the reserve and monitors the environment.
You can find the beliefs of ancestors about different animals, and write a story about it. For example, dolphins were associated with the souls of dead sailors. You can do the same with plants. To tell about the fact that red poppies are the blood of fallen soldiers for the just cause, and that they are blooming in order to avoid war.
Examples of Topics for Response Essay
- The role of secondary characters in The Catcher in the Rye
- What would I do if I were one of the heroes of The Lord of the Flies?
- My impression after reading The Yellow Wallpaper
- The greatest play by William Shakespeare
- What would I answer to Mephistopheles’ question?
Response Essay Example. My Impression From Reading the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
Each literary work can make a strong impression. It is quite clear that the work of Dante called “The Divine Comedy” can by no means be an exception to this rule. Moreover, personally on me it made a very strong impression. I think that I will remember this work for a very long time. One day I even want to reread it again. What is so interesting about the Divine Comedy?
Dante Alighieri is an Italian poet, writer, scholar and philosopher, creator of the Italian literary language, author of The Divine Comedy, which is still read and commented on. Dante is known throughout the world not only for his creativity, but also for his great love for Beatrice Portinari. His “Divine Comedy” is dictated to this love, which filled Dante’s whole life with meaning.
This is really the main work of all creativity and the whole life of Dante. So Dante himself and his contemporaries and descendants believed. The epithet “divine”, which Comedy only acquired many years after the poet’s death, speaks of the high appreciation of this work. The Divine Comedy reflects the whole era of the early Renaissance in Italy. The plot of the Divine Comedy is simple, but you can read it in different ways.
Dante Alighieri after the death of her beloved Beatrice found himself in a “dark forest” of doubt, anguish and grief. Beatrice’s purity and love kept him from sins, but now sins are winning. Dante portrays it as her own with three wild and terrible beasts, a lion, a panther and a wolf. And only Beatrice can save Dante from death in the mouth of these animals. She asks God that Dante is shown during his lifetime how sinners suffer in hell, and then he will stop sinning.
In the poem we find a very real and colorful description of hell. This is the brightest part of the Divine Comedy. From the surface to the center of the Earth leads a deep funnel, the walls of which form nine circles of hell-the kingdom of the devil and demons. The Ada crater is formed by Lucifer falling to the Earth when in punishment for the sin of pride and rebellion against the authority of God, he was cast from heaven.
And Dante, following Virgil, is transported across the underground river to the boat of Charon’s imp along with the souls of dead sinners and descends to the bottom of hell, where Lucifer himself is.
First of all, I would like to point out how brightly Dante describes hell. He tells the reader about the structure of hell, how it works, how people get there. It is quite natural that he describes the inhabitants of hell with all their features and characteristics. Not only the content itself amazed and interested me, but also the way Dante describes everything there. This style can be called very successful, because during reading it seemed that I have been there myself, I felt all of its features. Speaking as a whole, it can be noted that all descriptions have been a success for Dante. Among others, I can single out the way he described those demons who were there.
When I read Divine Comedy, it seemed to me that I saw all this with my own eyes, along with Dante. I was afraid of terrible demons. But I worried about sinners because their torment, in my opinion, does not correspond to their sins in life.
Dante makes the story of the sinners of hell very realistic. He uses ordinary words that describe his fear or anger, and comparing the afterlife scenes with real, everyday ones make his poem more terrible and clearer. So, for example, demons drowning sinners in molten resin boilers, Dante compares with the chefs who deftly act as cooks.
As for the specific episodes of Dante’s literary work, the tragic development of the history of such heroes of the Divine Comedy as Paolo and Francesca can be noted. I felt sorry for them, but at the same time I understood that in their unenviable position there are certain, expressive and very specific reasons. At the same time, Ullis also made a strong impression on me, he struck me as a person and as a strong personality. In general, the description of Dante looks quite realistic, especially when it comes to specific sinners. He does not disdain to frighten his own readers, to make their impression of reading even more difficult. For example, for this Dante resorts to describing how demons stoked sinners. In general, I think that the description of the sufferings of sinners should benefit the reader, because he will be able to force himself to refrain from sin and become better.
Dante is an impartial person, and he places all his political opponents in hell, some of whom were even alive at that time! For example, Dante Farinat degli Uberti’s enemy, whose powerful and tormented soul inspires respect for Dante and all readers .
It seemed to me that people have not changed too much over the past centuries: we still love and hurt, fight, betray, people commit suicide, envy, drink and eat a lot. We all have our weaknesses and flaws. But we can see reflected in the old “Comedy” of the Italian Dante Alighieri helps to draw conclusions and try to become a little bit better.
Considering how deeply impressed I was by the “Divine Comedy” by Dante Alighieri, I can recommend it to everyone else to read. As for me, I will remember the content of this outstanding work for a very long time. And if even once I forget some interesting details and features, I will definitely refresh all this by reading the work again.
Response Essay on the Story the Little Prince
This summer I have read a wonderful book by the famous French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince. I really liked it because it was written in the genre of fairy tale. On the one hand, the reader is immersed in the fabulous adventures of the Little Prince, travels with him to the Universe, meets with amazing planets and heroes. On the other hand, the author makes one ponder over his reflections on the spirituality of a person and his valuable gift – communication.
The tale is very interesting and instructive. It contains many wise sayings, describes the characters of different heroes, their behavior, attitude of people to various phenomena of nature and animals. In the fairy tale, the main theme is the lack of spirituality of people and their callousness and neglect of children’s dreams, aspirations and a special vision of the surrounding world.
When do adults take into account that their point of view on this world is different from the children’s? Almost never. That is why Antoine de Saint-Exupéry chose the child as the main character of the fairy tale. Only children can truly love this world, appreciate it and even see indescribable beauty in a chewed piece of paper. Therefore, the Little Prince is my favorite hero not only of this fairy tale, but in general. Because he is a child like me in heart: a big visionary. And what about adults? They only despise children for their vision of the world and make them learn and obey more. But maybe our parents are right about something? Today it is very difficult for people with a pure childish soul to survive in this cruel world.
This can be seen in the episode that I liked the most – when the Little Prince became friends with the fox. Fox taught him to see with his heart, not with his eyes. For only the heart can feel real happiness, the joy of meeting and chatting with friends. And only in separation from loved ones pain will show us whom we love. That is why a good fox with a pure childish soul was so hard to say goodbye to the Little Prince.
But the boy was even harder at the thought that he had left his fox alone. And though it is not very good, and even capricious, but, nevertheless, he loves it. Therefore, having forgotten about his spiritual aspirations, he returned to it.
This work taught me to treat responsibly my actions, the people who live around me. I realized that I must take care and be responsible for the life of a cat, dog or rabbit who live with me, because they fully trust me and are waiting for my help and love. And this story-tale has taught me mercy, pure trusting friendship and sincere relations in communication with friends and relatives. Do not be hostile to the aspirations and thoughts of adults, moving away from them, but on the contrary – try to understand them. Try your love, respect and good attitude to change their opinion and draw attention to their aspirations. Because without those whom we love, it is very difficult to live.
The Little Prince is a book, which is familiar to almost everyone. It is a unique children’s book about adults who forget their childhood dreams and hopes. Growing up, or rather the desire to be like others, makes people callous and of the same type living in a world of facts. The little prince is a little man who lives for the rose, which he loves, and for which he is worried, he is a bright image of good. The prince always sees something good in people that even they do not see in themselves.
I often think about this book, when it seems that your world is collapsing and it is already impossible to change anything, then the “Little Prince” helps to remember all the bright and good things in our world. You don’t have to live in order to make a career or something unprecedented, but in order to dream, love and become better.