West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet - Free Essay Example

West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet both revolve around two rival groups and/or gangs. The film Romeo and Juliet (1968) is about two rival families, the Montagues and the Capulets, whose family feuds have gone so far back in their history that they forget the fuel behind their disputes. In West Side Story, the film involves two rival gangs: The Jets, a gang of Caucasian teenagers, and the Sharks, a gang of Puerto Rican immigrants. Their feud begins when the Sharks try to invade the Jets’ territory in Manhattan, New York. In both storylines, a boy and a girl of opposing groups fall in love with each other despite the groups differences; But in return, their love results in their death. Between the two films, a direct comparison between the characters can be clearly observed. Tony, from West Side Story, matches Romeo’s character, while Maria matches the character of Juliet. Bernardo can be portrayed as Tybalt with his temper and need to fight, while Riff is compared to Mercutio’s personality similar to that of a jester. From West Side Story, Anita can be seen as the nurse, watching over Maria/Juliet, and Chino is in direct comparison of Paris; They are supposed to marry the key girl. Maria is set up to marry Chino, exactly like Juliet is supposed to marry Paris. In the films, the meeting of the lovers ultimately starts with a dance in which both Romeo/Tony are convinced by Mercutio/Riff to come, but for different reasons. Mercutio wants Romeo to go and forget about Rosaline by seeing the other women, while Riff needs Tony to go to help with the rivalry of the Sharks. Tony and Maria meet and experience â€Å"love at first sight† just like Romeo and Juliet at the dance. They dance together and share a kiss before they are separated and realize that they are from rival families. In both cases, a balcony scene is present. In West Side Story, T ony actually climbs the balcony and makes physical contact with Maria. Those are the major similarities between West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet. In addition to the plot structures, similar themes are present in West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet. The idea that blinded love can lead to rash decisions is highly present in both storylines. It is present in Romeo and Juliet in a sense that within simply meeting each other, Romeo and Juliet believe they fell in love with one another. Romeo proclaims, â€Å"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I neer saw true beauty till this night,† forgetting all about Rosaline: the very woman he claims to have loved no less than five minutes prior. Juliet tells the nurse, â€Å"Go ask his name. If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed,† showing that she already wants to be married. Because of their love for each other, Romeo and Juliet think they cannot live without one another. Romeo and Juliet both end up killing themselves because they believe that they, themselves, cannot live without each other. Parallelism within the theme of Romeo and Juliet i s present in West Side Story. Tony and Maria kiss each and cannot bear to be without the other immediately preceding having just met. Tony, needing to see her again, goes to her balcony and they end up confessing their love for one another. Maria tells Tony to meet her at the bridal shop where she works the next day. During this time, they practically have their unofficial wedding in that very shop. Tony then goes to find Chino after believing Maria is dead but at the last second, he and Maria find each other and go in for a loving embrace; However, Chino shoots Tony in that very moment. Maria does not end up killing herself but does grieve over Tony’s death and eventually moves on. The demonstration of the thought that blind love can lead to rash decisions is present in both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. On the contrary, West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet have several differences between the two. For example, the actual rivalry is between opposing gangs in West Side Story, not families. The Montagues and Capulets of Romeo and Juliet have been fighting for so many generations that it becomes natural for them to want to fight each other. They have no purpose behind their feud besides family hate. In West Side Story, the feud begins when the Sharks begin to intrude in the Jets’ turf. Another big difference between the two films is the fight scenes. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo acts impulsive when Tybalt kills Mercutio and proceeds to kill Tybalt right after. In West Side Story, Tony doesn’t kill Bernardo after Bernardo stabs Riff with his knife. Tony simply impales Bernardo with the knife and runs off. One of the most critical pieces to the storyline between the two films is that Romeo gets banished, whereas in West Side Story, Tony gets no immediate repercussions for his actions. He is not banished and does not go to jail, ultimately nothing happened to Tony. Without any harsh punishment, Maria does not become quite as depressed and expresses a will to live. Another significant difference is in the death scenes in each film. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo kills himself because he believes Juliet is dead, and Juliet also commits suicide with Romeo’s dagger because she sees that Romeo is dead. In West Side Story, Tony does not commit suicide because, instead, he is shot by Chino right before embracing Maria. Since he is shot he does end up dying, yet this does not lead Maria to take her own life. Maria ends up forgiving the two gangs and moving on with her life. That is ultimately the biggest difference between the two films. In addition, Paris also dies along with Romeo and Juliet. In West Side Story, Chino is the one who kills Tony, yet he himself does not die. As a result, the movies’ twists result in a more interested audience for West Side Story due to the contemporary setting as oppose to Romeo and Juliet. It uses an abundance of modern day words and phrases that people can understand better and faster than Shakespeare’s English. Also, modern-choreographed dances shown in West Side Story are more common than big formal balls as shown in Romeo and Juliet. The dancing and singing is very entertaining to watch, and it is a good tactic for keeping the audience’s attention throughout the film. The fights throughout the dances are humorous and keep the audience’s attention rather well. West Side Story is meant to grasp the attention of young adults the most. All the characters are teenagers in the musical. Being a teenager is a big part of one’s life; One can experience love, danger, and have many opportunities to make huge choices. The characters of West Side Story encounter all those experiences, which hel ps in relating to teenagers the most.

The World Of Jane Austen s Sense And Sensibility Essay

Society, courtship and communication in Sense and Sensibility In the world of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, sense is given such a high social governance on all expression, both emotionally and simply conversationally. This occurs even to the point where it is found widely in courtship, which is also heavily regulated and controlled by tradition and the possible stigmatized backlash from not following convention. It can also be found that conversation has a distinction on what is acceptable vs not acceptable to be verbalized or expressed. In order to thrive and operate in this environment, individuals learn to use the polite ritual of conversation to their advantage on a regular basis. In particular, the use of emotion in society when it comes to courtships and relationships is interesting to explore. Women become the gatekeeper of their relationships, in this sense. The social expectations can operate as a double-edged sword in the safeguarding of an individual’s reputation, and by extension in this time, their future, whi le still being extremely restrictive and ultimately limiting their freedoms and choices. Elinor is a character who we see meeting and falling into these expectations from the start of the novel and after much patience and diligence, she ends the novel happily. Her sister, Marianne, eventually does as well, after a rocky journey to that point along the way. It is easy to see in the novel that there are certain ways that one must simply operate inShow MoreRelatedSense And Sensibility By Jane Austen1123 Words   |  5 PagesSense and Sensibility was written by Jane Austen in 1811, the novel describes the life of three young sisters after the death of their father. 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The Mexican American War By Daniel Timi - 1492 Words

Union County College Mexican War Daniel Timi His. 201-United States History to 1865 Professor Margiotta The Mexican American War began on April 25, 1846. This placed the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It marked politically dividend and militarily unprepared Mexico against its expansionists-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk. Polk strongly believed the United States had an evident future to go across the continent in the Pacific Ocean. The border encountered along the Rio Grande, which began with a fight, followed by a series of numerous victories the United States. When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost roughly one-third of its region. The regions included all the states such as Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Utah. At the end of the U.S. Mexican War, historians have divided into their explanations. Some historians hold United States accountable while others put the blame on Mexico. The studies of the literature show majority of writers have taken into consideration that neither country entirely unimpeachable. Throughout the Mexican War there are several of causes, some which were minor and others of

Catcher In The Rye Essay Voice Example For Students

Catcher In The Rye Essay Voice The novel has long ignited disapproval, and it was the most frequently banned book in schools between 1966 and 1975. Even before that time,however, the work was a favorite target of sensors. In 1957, Australian Customs seized a shipment of the novels that had been presented as agift to the government by the U. S. ambassador. The books were later released, but Customs had made its point that the book containedobscene language and actions that were not appropriate behavior for an adolescent. In 1960, a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was fired forassigning the book to an eleventh-grade English class. The teacher was appealed and was reinstated by the school board, but the book wasremoved from use in the school. The following year in Oklahoma City, the novel became the focus of a legislative hearing in which a locally organized censorship group soughtto stop the Mid-Continent News Company, a book wholesaler, from carrying the novel. Members of the group parked a Smutmobile outsidethe capital building during the hearing and displayed the novel with others. As a result of public pressure, the wholesaler dropped the critcizedbooks from its inventory. In 1963 a delegation of parents of high school students in Columbus, Ohio, asked the school board to ban Catcher inthe Rye, BRAVE NEW WORLD and TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD for being anti-white and obscene. After a decade of quiet, objections arose again in 1975 in Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, and the novel was removed from the suggested readinglist for an elective course entitled Searching for Values and Identity Through Literature. Based on parents objections to the language andcontent of the book, the school board voted 5-4 to ban the book. The book was later reinstated in the curriculum when the board learned thatthe vote was illegal because they needed a two-thirds vote for removal of the text. In 1977 parents in Pittsgrove Township, New Jersey, challenged the assignment of the novel in an American literature class. They charged thatthe book included considerable profanity and filthy and profane language that premoted premarital sex, homosexuality, and perversion, aswell as claiming that it was explicitly pornographic and immoral. After months of controversy, the board ruled that the novel could be readin the advanced placement class for its universal message, not for its profanity, but they gave parents the right to decide whether or not theirchildren would read it. In 1978 parents in Issaquah, Washington, became upset with the rebellious views expressed in the novel by Holden Caulfield and with theprofanity he uses. The woman who led the parents group asserted that she had counted 785 uses of profanity, and she alleged that thephilosophy of the book marked it as part of a Communist plot that was gaining a foothold in the schools, in which a lot of people are used andmay not even be aware of it. The school board voted to ban the book, but the decision was later reversed when the three members who hadvoted against the book were recalled due to illegal deal-making. In 1979, the Middleville, Michigan, school district removed the novel from therequired reading list after parents objected to the content. Objections in the novel have been numerous throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. In 1980, the Jacksonville-Milton School libraries in NorthJackson, Ohio, removed the book, as did two high school libraries in Anniston, Alabama. In 1982, school officials removed the book from allschool libraries because it contained excess vulgar language, sexual scenes, and things concerning moral issues. In 1983, parents in Libby,Montana, challenged the assignment of the book in the high school due to the books contents. Deemed unacceptable and obscene, thenovel was banned from use in English classes at Freeport High School in De Funiak Springs, Florida, in 1985, and it was removed from therequired reading list in 1986 in Medicine Bow, Wyoming, Senior High School because of sexual references and profanity. .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d , .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .postImageUrl , .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d , .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d:hover , .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d:visited , .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d:active { border:0!important; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d:active , .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .u61383d4b37dcb1be05937c5eee52210d:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: An Analysis: Traditional Malay Architecture in Kedah Essay In 1987, parents andthe local Knights of Columbus chapter in Napoleon, North Dakota, complained about profanity and sexual references in the book, which wasbanned from a required sophomore English reading list. Parents of students attending Linton-Stockton (Indiana) High School challenged thebook in 1988 because it undermines morality, and profanity was the reason for which the book was banned from classrooms in the Boron,California, high school in 1989. The challenges to the novel have continued well into the 1990s. In 1991, the novel was challenged at Grayslake (Illinois) Community HighSchool for profanity, and s tudents in Jamaica High School in Sidell, Illinois, cited profanities and the depiction of premarital sex, alcohol abuseand prostitution as the basis for their 1992 challenge. Three other major challenges to the novel occurred in 1992. The novel was challenged andremoved from the Waterloo, Iowa, public schools and the Duval County, Florida, public school libraries because of the lurid passages aboutsex and profanity, while a parent in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, objected to the book because it was immoral and contained profanity. In 1993,parents in the Corona-Norco (California) School District protested the use of the novel as a required reading, because it was centered aroundnegative activity. The school board voted to retain the novel but instructed teachers to select alternative readings if students objected to it.The novel was challenged but retained for use in select English classes at New Richmond (Wisconsin) High School in 1994, but it was removedas mandatory reading from the Goffstown, New Hampshire, schools the same year because parents charged that it contained vulgar wordsand presented the main characters sexual exploits. Sociology