When I think back on the literary papers I wrote in high school and college, I realize how much my writing has changed over time. In high school, most of my essays followed a very strict set of directions. Almost every paper was the classic five paragraph essay which icldues introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. At the time it helped me stay organized and focused on the task at hand, but it also made writing feel boring. Sometimes it felt like I was just filling in a template instead of actually exploring ideas and arguments.
My favorite papers to write in high school were the ones where I could dig into characters or themes that interested me. I liked figuring out why a character acted a certain way or what certain symbols in the story might represent. Those assignments felt more interesting because they were less about repeating what happened in the story and more about interpreting it in my own way. Looking back, I think my strongest papers were the ones where I had a clear point and backed it up with examples from the text. When I could point to a certain quote or moment and explain why it mattered, the whole essay felt stronger. My weaker papers were usually the ones where I relied too much on summary. Instead of analyzing what something meant, I would end up just explaining the plot, which doesn’t really add much to the discussion.
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