Greetings, @acesontop. I liked your post. You got me form the start, I being a lit professor :)
Ironically, I usually tell my students, to lower down their anxiety, that originality (especially in responding to literature) is hard but possible. It may be unavoidable to echo things that have been said before, but there are always ways to, as you put it, be yourself, imbue your writing with some personal touch that will make it unique.