English ISU
A Smore by David Ha
NOVEL
Swim The Fly
Passion Vs Reason
In the novel, Matt makes many of his decisions because of passion rather than choosing a smarter decision based on reason. An example is the start of the book when Ms. Luntz, the swim teacher asks for volunteers to swim the 100 yard butterfly (the hardest stroke in swimming), because of Matt's passion to impress Kelly, he decided to volunteer to swim the butterfly when he knew he couldn't even finish 1 lap. Matt continues to make decisions like this throughout the book which puts him in many tough situations but is rewarded for some of these choices towards the end of the book.
Connections
Teenagers can learn from some of the decisions Matt made in "Swim The Fly" because he made a lot of choices from problems that a lot of teenagers actually face. I think this book puts this theme in a unique way because a lot of books portray this theme in a serious and dramatic manner. This book shows the theme in a comedic way with a context that is easy to relate to. It really shows you to think about your choices before you make them, you need to not let your emotions sway you to do something you are going to regret.
MOVIE
Romeo + Juliet (1996)
After the party, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet mansion to talk to Juliet. The two talk by Juliet's balcony and they decide to get married the next day. Romeo goes to see Father Lawrence who agrees to marry the pair, he passes the word on to Juliet's nurse and they get married.
Later into the movie, there is an altercation that results in the death of Romeo's best friend Mercutio and Juliet's cousin Tybalt. Tybalt kills Mercutio in a fight and Romeo decides to avenge his best friend by killing Tybalt which gets him banished from the city. Romeo goes into hiding with Father Lawrence who helps to get Romeo back into the city to reconcile with family and friends, he goes to visit Juliet and spends the night there.
The next morning, Romeo leaves Juliet's room and she is informed by her mother that they promised she will marry Paris, the governor's son. She refuses to marry Paris but her family insist on her marrying him threatening to disown her. Juliet visits Father Lawrence where he had the idea of drinking a potion, faking her death to avoid the marriage and reunite with Romeo to escape to Mantua together.
After saying goodnight to her mother, Juliet drinks the potion and is declared dead the next morning, She is placed in the Capulet vault. Romeo's cousin inform's him about Juliet's "death" before the messenger could have got a hold of him to tell him about the plan. Romeo returns to Verona and heads to the Capulet vault to see Juliet, he buys poison as he intends to end his life because he doesn't want to live without her. When Romeo arrives at the vault, he says his final goodbye to Juliet and drinks the poison. Juliet wakes up just as he takes the poison and watches him die before her eyes. After he dies, Juliet picks up Romeo's gun and ends her life.
Passion Vs Reason
An example of when "passion vs. reason" is demonstrated happens near the start of the movie when Romeo and Juliet decide to marry each other after knowing each other for a day. This decision happened because they were thinking so hard about how in love they were with each other when they did not even think about how they only knew each other for a day, you would not really know someone for talking to them for only a day.
Many of these decisions decided from passion instead of reason put Romeo and Juliet in bad situations. In fact, at the end of the movie, these poor decisions ultimately result in their death. I think this movie does a good job of really showing the dark side of letting your heart make decisions and not thinking about them with your mind. It shows you that poor decisions can put you in really grim situations as the movie shows the loss of friends and problems with family because of these decisions.
WEBSITE
William-Shakespeare.info
This website provides a lot of information about William Shakespeare himself, his works and also containing full scripts of his plays and other works. This is a great place to learn everything about Shakespeare, it provides a lot of information and is all organized well into many sections on the website.
Many of William Shakespeare's works include the theme of "passion vs. reason". Shakespeare uses this theme in many different ways and does it very well. He can make stories about this theme that really have you think and can help you learn a lesson. His stories put this theme in a more serious manner and can teach you the harsh consequences of putting over reason. He put a nice perspective on this theme that provides a nice examples for other writer to follow.