Jessica Castellanos
2nd Hour Honors English III
May 22, 2013
Reflection Essay
I started the Mega Essay planning to read a book from the ‘90s and write about my favorite
family, the Clintons. After having my book stolen by someone who wasn’t too lazy to get to school at six
in the morning, I had no idea what my literary criticism essay would be on. I had a few other books that I
wanted to read but they were all by foreign authors. A quick Google search for “f****d up books”
brought me my answer. I read a book called “The Collector” about a creepy man (with a striking
resemblance to my best friend’s father*) who kidnaps a girl and keeps her prisoner in his basement,
leading to her eventual death. I had no idea how I was going to relate this plot to the 1960’s, but it made
the literary analysis intriguing to write nonetheless.
My history essay was probably the worst I’ve ever written in my life. The concept seemed easy
enough, but there was so much information to fit into one essay that I felt overwhelmed. This was the
first essay that actually caused me to sit down and study from the huge reference books in the library
the way I used to think that all high schoolers did every day. I found lots of helpful websites but had
trouble with databases, which is unfortunate for someone who knows they are horrible at citing
sources. I managed to put my essay together but still cringe every time I think about it.
My synthesis essay could’ve been a lot better had I spent more time on it. At first I didn’t know
how I would relate kidnapping to the 1960’s, but when I was forced to come up with something the
connections seemed obvious. The division of ideas in the 1960’s was clearly mirrored by the opposite
personalities of Miranda and Ferdinand in “The Collector.” I had been skeptical that history and
literature were always intertwined, but this essay proved it to me. This essay also felt overwhelming
because I had so much to say that it was challenging to get all my ideas onto paper. I feel like I should
have spent more time organizing my ideas. Even so, the light bulb moment about the connection
between the book and the decade made this paper worthwhile.
All in all, this essay drastically lowered my quality of life while I was writing it but I’m glad I had
the experience of doing hellish college level work. It taught me the relation of history and literature and
in a way, I feel like it was my first real research paper.
*My friend would like me to add that her dad hasn’t actually kidnapped or killed anyone