Mrs. Fiorini – English 11
Summer Reading Critical Lens Essay
Write a critical essay in which you discuss one work of fiction that you have read for summer reading and one work of literature from ninth or tenth-grade from the particular perspective of the statement that is provided for you in one of the following critical lenses. In your essay, choose one of the following critical lens statements, provide a valid interpretation of the statement, agree or disagree with the statement, and support your opinion using specific references to appropriate literary elements from the two works.
Text options from tenth-grade include: Animal Farm by George Orwell, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Text options from ninth-grade include: Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, and Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Critical Lens Option:
“…the greater the difficulty, the greater the glory.”
Cicero, Ethical Writings of Cicero, 1887 (June 2013 Regents)
“Whosoever does wrong, wrongs himself...”
Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Antoninus, 1944 (January 2010 Regents)
“Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of overcoming it.”
Helen Keller, Optimism, 1903 (January 2011 Regents)
“…the strongest man upon earth is he who stands most alone.”
Henrik Ibsen, “An Enemy of the People,” from The Wild Duck, 1890 (August 2009 Regents)
Guidelines:
Provide a valid interpretation of the critical lens that clearly establishes the criteria for analysis
Indicate whether you agree or disagree with the statement as you have interpreted it without using “YOU,” “I,” or “ME.”
Choose two works you have read that you believe