Defining Love: Essay Time by Ereny Elrayis and Brooke Johnson
Ninth graders recently completed an essay assignment focused on defining the meaning of true love, challenging students to support their ideas with evidence and personal interpretation. The assignment required students to create a clear thesis, organize their writing into structured paragraphs, and include quotes that supported their claims.
Students reflected on their recent literary analysis essays, sharing insights about their understanding of love and the writing process. The assignment required students to develop a thesis supported by evidence from Romeo and Juliet and Pyramus and Thisbe, while also connecting those ideas to real-life perspectives. Through interviews, students described both their strengths and challenges when completing the essay.
Emily Crabtree explained that “true love in Romeo and Juliet and Pyramus and Thisbe may be in those stories, but it is also in real life,” connecting literature to modern relationships. She said, “I think I did okay on the essay, but I definitely could have done better,” reflecting on her overall performance. When asked about challenges, Crabtree stated, “The hardest part of writing my essay was finding quotes that matched my thesis.” She also noted that “my point was easy to prove,” showing confidence in her argument despite some difficulties.
Ayaat Albarghuthi presented a clear thesis, stating, “True love is built on commitment, sacrifice, and respect because those qualities help relationships last longer than simple attraction.” She shared, “I think I did good on the essay,” while also acknowledging that “the meaning of love was the hardest part of writing my essay.” Albarghuthi added, “I kind of enjoyed writing the essay,” though she believed she performed better on a previous Odyssey assignment. Her responses demonstrate both engagement with the topic and recognition of its complexity.
Overall, both students described different experiences while working on the same assignment. Their reflections highlight the importance of balancing literary evidence with personal interpretation. The interviews also show that defining love can be challenging, even when supported by well-known texts. These perspectives provide insight into how students approach analytical writing tasks.
For some students, finding the right evidence was one of the more difficult parts. “Finding the quotes that matched my thesis was the hardest part of writing,” said Emily Crabtree. At the same time, she found other parts of the process easier, explaining, “I enjoyed writing my essay, but the easiest part was definitely setting up my paragraphs.” After completing the assignment, Crabtree felt confident in her work, adding, “I think I did better with this essay than my Odyssey essay.”
Other students focused on clearly defining their idea of true love through their thesis statements. “My thesis was that loving someone unconditionally is true love by overcoming challenges with them, loving them regardless of outside factors, and making sacrifices to be with them,” said Madi Toenjes. Like Crabtree, Toenjes also found certain parts of the essay easier than others. “The easiest part for me was writing my introduction paragraph,” she said. She also expressed confidence in her final product, stating, “I think I did very well on my essay.”
Overall, the essay gave ninth graders the opportunity to explore a complex topic while strengthening their writing skills. Through organizing their ideas and supporting them with evidence, students were able to better understand both the concept of true love and the writing process itself.
Captions:
Love in writing: Emily Crabtree types her English essay in the school's computer lab. Crabtree, a student in Monica Tam's English class, worked on her essay about true love in Romeo and Juliet and Pyramus and Thisbe on April 2nd. She felt that setting up the paragraphs was the easiest part of writing the essay. "Yeah, my point was easy to prove," Crabtree said. Photo by: Brooke Johnson
WHAT IS LOVE? Many people have wondered, but the freshman class has to answer the question. They recently read Romeo and Juliet. Emily Crabtree works on her true love essay in English class, typing at a computer in the media center. “For my essay, I mainly used Romeo and Juliet but I also incorporated the articles we were given,” she said. Photo by: Brooke Johnson.