Senior Honors Essay Project
Mrs. Sutter/Dr. Loprete/Senior Team
“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather
how many can get through to you.”
― Mortimer J. Adler
“What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that
wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like
it.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Most of your English classes have privileged a certain type of reading, usually called New
Criticism, which asks: “What are the themes developed by the author? What symbols are present
in the text, and what are their meanings?” These are the basics, and they’re important questions.
For this essay, however, we will ask you to move beyond those restrictions and read and analyze
through the lens of your choice.
Here’s what that will look like: for your last paper of the course, you will write an essay
focusing on the perspective of a critical lens that truly interests you about the literature we’ve
read. You will choose three or four works from the semester, pose a question or create a
statement, and explore/develop your position using one of the lenses below.
Now, let’s be clear. People spend years doing graduate work in order to disseminate different
schools of literary criticism. We do not expect you to become any kind of master of literary
theory. However, using one of these lenses, even in a very elementary way, will help you to take
your argument past the basic questions that have been so important to your literary foundation.
New Historical Criticism: The reader asks: what was happening during the time period when
the book was written and/or when it takes place that particularly informs the content?
In The Great Gatsby, readers could look Fitzgerald’s treatment of the Jazz Age, and ask,
what is Fitzgerald’s message about this time period, its values and struggles, and how are
the characters’ actions affected by the age itself?
Marxist Criticism: “Marxist critics would ask: how is power distributed and exercised in the
story?” (Penniman).
In Of Mice and Men, what are we learning about the distribution of wealth and power and
about the clash between the classes? How is this reflected through depictions of
characters and locations? What is Steinbeck saying about class structure in 1930’s
America?
Psychological Criticism: Psychological critics would ask: what elements of human nature are
most important in the characters? How can characters' behavior, narrative events, and/or images
be explained in terms of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind (for example, fear or fascination
with death or sex [Tyson 29]).
In Song of Solomon, how does Morrison use characters’ personality traits—greed, rage,
sorrow, love—to inform human nature and drive the story?
Feminist Criticism: Feminist critics would ask: how are the events in the story related to how
women are positioned in it?
When reading Pride and Prejudice or Romeo and Juliet, think about the roles of
Elizabeth and Lydia Bennett and their mother or Juliet, her mother, and her nurse; what
are the authors’ messages about the role of women in these time periods?
Gender Studies/Queer Theory: Critics would ask: how does the text support the traditional
power structure that comes with gender roles, and how does the text subvert it? And/or is there a
gay experience encoded in the text?
In A Streetcar Named Desire to what degree is male dominance both empowered and
subverted by the story? How is Alan Gray’s homosexuality and suicide a catalyst for the
subsequent drama?
Some basics:
• Your essay is due to Turnitin.com by 8am, January 28, 2014.
• Your essay must be 2200 – 2800 words long (word count must be posted at the end) and made
up of your most sophisticated, carefully organized, and thoughtful writing.
• Your ideas should be fully supported by the texts. Be sure to use open-source copies online or
ask for class copies in order to use quotations.
• Offer interesting, insightful ideas. This is the last essay you will ever write for me; don’t be
content to regurgitate things from class, or stick to the safe and the obvious. Take a risk.
Questions? Email me! rloprete@colonial.net