When you read a piece of literature, it conveys certain meanings to you. Only you are aware of this subtext of the work. Based on your personality and events that might have happened to you, you will interpret the work in a certain way. Thus, a responsive essay is a way of explaining what sort of subtext plays out in your mind as you read a work of literature.
A response essay also frees you to draw your own conclusions as you read a book, rather than merely trying to interpret what the writer had in mind. Considering that the author is unlikely to be nearby to help you interpret the work, it helps to analyze it using your own input. Of course, drawing your own conclusions doesn’t mean that the work is wide open to any sort of conclusion. You will still have to pay attention to what you read and come up with intelligent conclusions.
The essay helps you put together the associations you make as you read the work. You can think about why you reacted to a book or film as you did. For instance, you may have reacted in a certain way based on your values, or because you come from a certain religious background.
A classroom assignment could involve students in writing a response essay based on the film “Freedom Writers.” One aspect of this assignment could be about the relationships in the movie. For example, a student could talk about what she believes is the reason for the breakup of Erin Gruwell’s marriage. The essay could go into how the character could have saved the marriage and what the essay writer would have done in the same situation.