Effectively Responding
to a Narrative Prompt
Analyze the prompt
O What is the prompt asking you to do?
O Underline key components in the prompt.
O You may want to rewrite the prompt in your
own language so you’re able to better
understand the question.
Introduction
O Restate the prompt and answer the
question. This will form your topic sentence.
O Let’s look at the example!
O In her short story “Fish Cheeks,” Amy Tan
describes an embarrassing childhood
memory to explain that people should strive
to be proud of what makes them different,
rather than ashamed.
O RED—restated prompt
O GREEN—stated the THEME of the story
Introduction
O The second part of the question asks you to
identify the narrative techniques that help to
establish the message.
O What this means is that you need to identify
the techniques that were used to ENHANCE
the story. In other words, how did the author
bring the story to life
O Literary Elements
O Tone
Introduction
O Lets analyze the second part of the topic
sentence.
O Tan’s use of imagery when describing her
mother’s “strange menu” indicates the
shame she felt as a young, insecure fourteenyear-old (8).
O BLUE- technique used to establish the
message.
O ORANGE-this is in quotations because it
borrows the language directly from the text.
Supporting Details
O Your details must ACTUALLY SUPPORT your
topic sentence. In other words, You need to
ELABORATE on the specifics of your topic.
O In this case, you want to describe HOW the
techniques establish the message.
O You need to give SPECIFIC EXAMPLES from
the text.
Supporting Details
All of the food is described in disgusting ways. “The
kitchen,” she states, “was littered with appalling
mounds of raw food.” For instance, she refers to the
shrimp as “fleshy prawns” with “black veins”, and she
describes a squid dish that looks like “bicycle tires” (810). Amy Tan’s unappetizing description of the food
allows the reader to feel just how disgusted and
ashamed Amy was of her own family and culture.
Red- textual evidence directly from the story
Orange- borrowed language from story
Blue-describing the textual evidence as it relates to the
message (FOLLOW UP or ELABORATION)
-See how the MESSAGE is restating the THEME
Supporting Details
O The supporting details in this essay continue to give
elaboration. Notice how the writer uses the language from
the text; thus, it’s highlighted in ORANGE.
These gross food descriptions are especially interesting
because Amy indicates at the end of the story that all of the
items her mother cooked for dinner that Christmas Eve were
actually her “favorite foods” (31). This means that the food
Amy describes only looked disgusting to her when she was
worrying too much about what people with “proper American
manners” thought of her (6).
The Conclusion
O The conclusion paragraph provides the
reader with the theme. Remember the point
of the essay is to provide the overall
message and the vehicle in which the
message was delivered.
O Remember to bring your essay full circle and
conclude it with final thoughts, do not
restate the introduction.
The Conclusion
O However, when Tan learns to embrace and
appreciate her unique Chinese culture, she is
able to realize that her Mother purposely
selected all her favorite foods. The foods were
not disgusting; in fact, they were unique—just
like Amy Tan. The reader understands at the end
of the story to celebrate differences, not be
ashamed of them.