Was Romeo Truly in Love?

As we all know, Romeo and Juliet is a story about two teens from opposing families falling in love with each other, and this love of theirs has a sad, sad ending. However, when Romeo's actions are thought more deeply about, a second perspective on Romeo's love for Juliet arises. While Romeo's fated love for Juliet is seen as true love, his relationship with Juliet might actually have been the result of impulsive thinking and actions, and this intense love may not have been very deep at all. In the end, Romeo's love for Juliet was just rash decision-making.

Romeo's actions suggest that his love for Juliet was simply an impulsive decision. For example, when talking to Friar Lawrence, Romeo says "With Rosaline? No. I have forgot that name and that name's woe."(2.3.48-49) Romeo's love for Juliet was so strong, that he completely forgot about Rosaline and his love for her. However, one day ago, he was so heartbroken by Rosaline that he refused to even consider loving anyone else ever again. The fact that he fell so deeply into love with Juliet immediately after his depression about Rosaline implies that his love for Juliet was a superficial love, since it was so impulsive. Also, during the party, Romeo says to Juliet, "Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again." (1.5.120-121) In this part of the scene, Romeo had just met Juliet, and they launch into a long romantic kiss (or several). However, Romeo doesn't even know Juliet's name yet! The fact that Romeo instantly falls in love with Juliet after seeing her for the first time shows his rash decision-making in his love for Juliet.

To sum up, Romeo's love for Juliet was entirely based on rash-decision making. He never stopped to think about things like being heartbroken by Rosaline just before. His relationship and marriage with Juliet came about from one evening at a party, which is not nearly enough time to develop a real relationship. Romeo fell in love with Juliet's appearance, which is not the way a person should fall in love with someone, and if Juliet had not returned his love, then Romeo would have been just as heartbroken about Juliet as he was about Rosaline. Although fate had marked them as star-crossed lovers, their love was the result of rash decision-making.

Champion Reading Response

Loss is very difficult to deal with, and certain people face loss in different ways. In the Legend trilogy, consisting of the three books Legend, Prodigy, and Champion, loss is one of the most prevalent themes, as the two main characters, Day and June, both encounter loss in many forms throughout the series. Both of them lose people very close to them during the series, and are driven to avenge them, but end up uncovering more and more about their government, and end up getting involved in the problems of the government, like plague outbreaks and war. Day and June face their losses in very different ways. Day becomes more caring towards those he loves, while June becomes more distrustful of those around her, and more serious and aggressive.

During the events of the Legend trilogy, Day grows into a more thoughtful and caring character, particularly towards his brother Eden and his close friend Tess. For example, during the beginning of Champion, the fate of the Republic, the country that the story takes place in, possibly depends on whether or not Eden can help to create a cure for a plague outbreak sweeping across a neighboring country. However, Day is completely unwilling to allow anyone to borrow his brother, to the point where he immediately refuses at the mention of his brother's name. Day obviously cares about his brother, and is willing to sacrifice a lot in order to protect him. Also, when talking with Tess, Day becomes more remorseful over the things he says to Tess, as he is trying to make up for leaving her to help June. This shows that he truly cares for Tess, and wants to do everything in his power to help her.

On the contrary, June grows more aggressive and distrustful of people. Unlike Day, June lost her parents at a young age, and the loss of Metias, her older brother, drove her to become more aggressive since June had no one left who was close to her after the death of her brother. First, when Thomas, her old friend, is being sentenced to death for killing Metias, June thinks to herself, "I could be compassionate. I could ask Anden to spare his life and let him live out his years in prison, and give him a chance to redeem himself. But instead I just stand there with my closed lips and unwavering posture, my heart hard as stone."(Pg.30) This shows that even though June was good friends with Thomas in the past, she still can't forgive him for the fact that he killed Metias, even though she wants to help him. Second, when June is around Commander Jameson, the person who was primarily the cause behind the murder of Metias, she is completely on edge and has an intense hatred for her. This shows that June has no compassion for her and just wants to see her dead, and doesn't care about what Commander Jameson has to say.

To sum up, Day and June face their losses in completely different ways. Day becomes more compassionate, while June becomes more hateful towards those around her. This is an example of how people can interpret similar situations in different ways. Day and June saw very similar things throughout the story, but they both change in completely opposite ways. While other factors still affect this change, it is ultimately up to the person to decide how they will interpret certain situations.

Invasion of the Drones Reading Response

The article "Invasion of the Drones" by Patricia Smith is about the use of drones in society. These drones are used in things such as surveillance, law enforcement or warfare. However, they can intrude on the privacy of people, or even endanger people by crashing or causing plane crashes. It is also debatable whether or not the use of drones could even be considered unconstitutional. All of these factors raise questions about how the use of drones could impact our society and whether or not their use is truly moral.

Patricia Smith shows that she believes that the use of drones, although with some benefits, could be considered unethical due to some of the drawbacks of their use. In the beginning of the article, she talks about a story from a person who experienced one of the drawbacks of the use of drones. By doing so, she gives a real-life example of how the use of drones has actually impacted someone in a negative way. She also quotes certain historical documents, and how the use of drones may conflict with them. She uses the Fourth Amendment, which protects American citizens from unreasonable searches or seizures. By mentioning this, she raises the question of whether the use of drones could be considered as unreasonable searches or seizures. Patricia Smith uses these things to help the reader connect more with what they are reading, and as a result, the reader may feel more passionate about what they are reading.

From this article, I learned that although new technology like these drones can have great benefits for society, they can have some serious moral drawbacks. It was surprising to see how dangerous or intrusive these drones could be towards people. The fact that these drones can spy on people or even cause plane crashes due to things such as software glitches is quite shocking. The use of drones is also jeopardizing the distribution of the roles of the three branches of the government by giving presidents the ability to wage remote wars if they want to, even though only the legislative branch is able to declare war, which means that the use of drones could even disrupt the government. These drones could change many things in our society, though at this point, it is hard to tell if these drones will affect us in a good or a bad way.

Nineteen Minutes Reading Response

It's a typical day in school. Everything is peaceful, and the next moment, loud gunshots echo off the walls of the narrow hallways. In this moment, everything is in chaos. Eventually, it ends, and things begin to calm down. However, the question remains. How did this event affect you? Do you go about your day, watching others fall apart from the devastation? Or are you the one falling apart? In the story Nineteen Minutes by Jody Picoult, a local high school is ravaged by a shooting, leaving 10 dead and many others scarred for life, both physically and emotionally. The one responsible for these deaths, a student by the name of Peter Houghton, is forced through the law system while everyone else is left to face the harsh reality of what has happened. The different characters in the story all go through the same event, but they react in ways completely different from others. Some are devastated, while others are left relatively unfazed. However, the way different people interpret this situation has a lot to do with the relationships between other characters.

One emotion that characters have been left with is guilt. Two of the main characters, Josie and Lacy, end up feeling more and more guilty as the story progresses. Lacy, Peter's mother, feels guilty after the shooting because she feels as if she was the driving force behind what led Peter to commit such a crime. "Lacy nodded, afraid that even the sound of her voice would ruin her anonymity. It was almost too easy to agree: had there ever been a more awful child? A worse mother?" (pg. 166) In other words, Lacy is almost completely convinced that she was the reason why Peter is such an "awful" child. However, she, unlike many people, still believes in Peter, so she may not be saying anything to counter what people say about her because she's trying to put more of the blame on herself rather than Peter. Towards the end of the story, it is discovered that Josie played a part in one of the victims' death. Josie is completely haunted by the guilt, and as a result, she cannot bring herself to talk about what she witnessed at the shooting. Unlike Lacy, this guilt completely controlled Josie, making her break into tears the moment someone asked her about the shooting. It struck fear in her when the guilt in Lacy was more controlled. This shows how Josie and Lacy reacted to this experience with guilt, and how the guilt affected them.

Unlike most people, Peter was left mostly unchanged by the shooting. This is because as the shooter, Peter had control of the entire situation, and as a result, no one that Peter cared for was affected in the shooting. In fact, the victims of the shooting were the people that he hated the most. When he was in kindergarten, other kids would always throw his lunchbox out of the window, and after multiple instances of this happening, Peter's parents stopped giving him the support he needed, saying that he had to stand up for himself. This was clearly not an option for him, as anything he said or did was instantly punished by the bullies doing something to hurt him. Josie would always be the one to stand by Peter when no one else would even dare, which led to Peter never learning how to stand up for himself. Also, sometime before the shooting, Peter wrote a very private email to Josie about how much he liked her, and unfortunately, his letter was sent out to the entire school. Peter's love for Josie was a small beacon of hope within all of the horrendous things that he was forced to endure, and suddenly, everyone was stomping on that hope, leaving Peter with nothing. Peter had nothing left for him in the world that he cared about, and as a result, he didn't lose anything in the shooting, which is why he was not affected at all by the effects of it.

To sum up, a big part of determining how someone is affected by a certain event has a lot to do with how if affects the people that they care about. It was surprising to see how Peter's lack of anything that he cared about eventually led to almost a complete apathy for everything in the world. It shows that since Peter had nothing to care for, he had nothing to lose. I learned from this that it's important for people to have something to care about because that is what keeps life colorful. Without anything to care for, we fall into a life like Peter's where there is nothing to make any kind of difference, and without it, nothing would happen in the world.

Every Day Reading Response (New and Possibly Improved!)

Imagine living a life where you change bodies every day, and you can't hold onto anything precious in your life. The problem is that there are things you want to keep with you, but as you cling to them in the impossible hope that this time, you might stay, you're ripped from the life that you live at that moment, and soon, that life becomes a distant memory. In the story Every Day by David Levithan, the main character A struggles with this in every waking moment of his existence. The story begins when he first meets a girl called Rhiannon, and from the moment he sees her for the first time, he can't imagine the idea that he would have to let go of her, just like he had to do for all of his previous lives. As a result, A keeps trying to be with her, without any regard to the lives of the people that he takes over for a day. A's love for Rhiannon is so strong that it controls him, which ultimately puts the power in their relationship into Rhiannon's hands, and because A loves her so much, he does not try to fight back against her.

Rhiannon's power over A is shown multiple times in the story. For example, on pages 27-28 of the story, A thinks to himself, "This is hard for me. I have gotten so used to what I am, and how my life works. I never want to stay. I'm always ready to leave. But not tonight. Tonight I'm haunted by the fact that tomorrow he'll (the boy who's life is taken over by A at that moment) be here and I won't be. I want to stay. I pray to stay. I close my eyes and wish to stay." This quote is saying that A feels as if it's unfair that he has to leave and he can't stand the fact that he cannot be with Rhiannon. Also, the word haunted means disturbed or distressed, which shows just how emotionally troubling the idea of leaving Rhiannon is to A. Similarly, at the end of the story, Rhiannon tells A that they can't be together. This devastates A, since although he knows it's true, A doesn't want to believe her. This shows that in the relationship between Rhiannon and A, Rhiannon has the power to either enrapture A, or completely destroy him.

A's love for Rhiannon keeps him from opposing her actions. First, on page 4 of the story, A thinks "I turn, and the girl standing there is transparent in her emotions- tentative and expectant, nervous and adoring." This line shows the beauty that A sees in Rhiannon, and explains how captivated he was from the moment he saw her. Also, the way that he sees Rhiannon as tentative and expectant shows that he believes that he can give her what she wants, which sadly for A, led to him giving her many things. Second, throughout the story, A feels more hatred towards Justin (Rhiannon's commanding boyfriend), and as much as he wants to do something about him, he doesn't do anything because he doesn't risk ruining his relationship with Rhiannon. This shows that A is willing to give up his desires just so that he can attempt to continue his already forsaken relationship with Rhiannon. He also doesn't do anything because he knows that Rhiannon still has hope for Justin, and A is willing to do whatever he can to appease her. Throughout the story, A is too afraid to risk hurting his relationship with Rhiannon, and as a result, he does not voice his opinion against anything Rhiannon might say.

To sum up, A's love for Rhiannon is what controls the power and resistance in their relationship. Because A loves Rhiannon so much, he is unwilling to do anything that might make Rhiannon dislike him. His love also gives Rhiannon the ability to control A's emotions, as she can end the relationship when she realizes that it would be impossible for them to be together for the rest as their lives, which affects A greatly. This story is an example of the fact that love can be a very controlling factor in relationships in the world. This is especially true for teens, since love can be a huge stressor for them.
Love can dictate the actions of people, and this can happen without the person ever even realizing it.

"No Job? Get Lost!" Reading Response

The article "No Job? Get Lost!" by Andrew Higgins is about an area of Sweden called Svalbard, where unemployment and homelessness is illegal. People who suffer from either of these are deported. Svalbard is a quiet area, with about 100 cases per year that the police have to handle. Instead, polar bears are the big threat, and a rule was created saying that anyone going outside of the city limits of Longyearbyen (a city in Svalbard) must carry a weapon that they know how to use. I believe that the author of this article intended to show the world how different Svalbard was from the rest of the world.

In the article, the author uses imagery to describe Svalbard by saying it is an archipelago located 800 miles from the North Pole. He also says it is shrouded in near-total darkness for six months. The author wants you to imagine how isolated and dark it is in Svalbard compared to the rest of the world. He supports his opinion by not quoting any residents who might enjoy living in Svalbard. He includes the perspectives of people who say that it's very different from the rest of Norway, and also, the last line of the article quotes someone who says that if you wanted to live in Svalbard, you were slightly warped.

From the article, I realized that although Svalbard has such a different way of life compared to other parts of the world, the people there function in their own way. The people there have adapted to the way that they have to live because of their geographic location, and the way that they live is normal to them. In Svalbard, people can trust each other, so much so that people there leave their car keys in the ignition, and yet it's perfectly safe to do that. The region of Svalbard may be a harsher condition to live in, but because of that, the people there are more connected, and their way of life may seem foreign to us, but that's the way that they choose to live.

"Darkness Too Visible" Response

The article "Darkness Too Visible" by Megan Cox Gurdon talks about how some young adult books contain very dark stories. Topics that are covered in these stories include murder, drug use, and self-mutilation. Some people believe that teenagers should be allowed to read books like these, while other people are trying to prevent teens from reading them. The large controversy about this topic shows just how strongly people feel about it. Likewise, the author of this article feels that teens should not be allowed to read young adult fiction.

In this article, the author used strong imagery to show readers how disturbing some books can be. She mentions the book "Scars", and goes on to say that the cover depicts a horribly scarred forearm. Also, at the beginning of the article, she states a narrative from Amy Freeman. The narrative is used to give an example of one person's experience with these darker stories. The author only includes one opinion from a parent, which is the narrative in the beginning. This is most likely because a fair number of parents would say that kids need to be exposed to young adult books.

I disagree with Megan Cox Gurdon about whether or not young adult books are appropriate for children. The article says "teen fiction can be like a hall of fun-house mirrors, constantly reflecting back hideously distorted portrayals of what life is". In reality however, the "dark" things that young adult novels talk about are things that can happen to children, and reading about them can help expose kids to these issues. By learning about these things, children can try to avoid these things, and also defend themselves. Also, like the author says, reading about things like drugs and murder won't necessarily make kids do things like these.