The Greedy Python literary summary with analysis
In the story, The Greedy Python, a rhyming picture book by Richard Buckley, the
author demonstrates how being overly-greedy can be a bad thing.
The selection is about a hungry python slithering through the forest looking for a
meal. He winds up eating ten different creatures, from a mouse all the way up to an
elephant! As the snake lies resting in the sun, the animals begin to kick, making the
greedy python feel sick. He “coughs” up his meal and finds that he’s now more hungry
than ever. When he spies his tail, he mistakes if for food and eats himself in one swallow.
On one level, the story is about a hungry snake. But what the author really wants
us to know is that greed is a bad character trait to have. When we are greedy, our
judgment becomes clouded. We act in ways that don’t always make sense. For example,
some people are so greedy and want money so badly, they steal or kill to get it. For a
snake to eat itself, that’s a pretty bad decision.
The Greedy Python is a fun, rhyming picture book to read with little kids. But big
kids and adults can also enjoy it and learn something: bad things happen to greedy
pythons…and people, too.