True Love or A Rash Decision?

Romeo And Juliet, A play that has been talked about since it first appeared, is said to be one of the most romantic plays ever written. Romeo And Juliet is a play about how the children of two feuding families fall in love with each other, and cause their ultimate demise. While most people believe it to be a truly romantic tale about true love, others think its about the effects youthful rashness has on others. The debate between whether the main characters in this play were in love or acted rashly was very interesting to me.

The debate between whether the main characters in this play were in love or acted rashly was very interesting to me because it has many valid points on both sides of the argument. For example, in act 2.3 lines 48-49 Romeo says, “With Rosaline? No. I have forgot that name and that name’s woe.” Although this can be argued, this line brings up a point for youthful rashness because in act 1.4 Romeo promises his best friend Mercutio that he would try to get over Rosaline and find a distraction, and about 10 minutes later he claims he is in love with Juliet. Romeo may have latched onto the first beautiful girl he saw and said he was in love with her when they just met. The fact that Romeo was obsessing over unrequited love but after he meets a new girl forgets his past loves name shows that Romeo is impulsive and isn’t understanding that he’s making his decisions a lot faster than normal, which proves that he is making a rash decision of proclaiming his love to her and proposing to her. Another example is that in act 1.5 both, Romeo and Juliet find out that they’re in rival houses but still announce that they love each other no matter what. Although this can be shown as teenage rebellion, it can also bring up a point for the ‘true love’ side of the argument because many people think that it shows that these two characters will do anything to be together no matter what the repercussions are. Although both Romeo and Juliet knew that being together was dangerous they sacrificed a lot just to be together. The fact that both Romeo and Juliet showed that they would sacrifice anything for each other can prove that they were truly in love.

In conclusion, I found this debate interesting because all the evidence used can easily be used for both sides of the argument. In the end I have decided to support the side that says that Romeo and Juliet were making rash decisions instead of the side that proclaims that Romeo and Juliet were truly in love. Although both may harbor feelings for each other, they are way too young to comprehend them. When young, people tend to make rash decisions and don’t even know what true love really is. Romeo is still young and reckless, so when he made the decision to marry the daughter of his family’s rival it wasn’t out of true love, it was out of confusion.

(P.S. Ms. DePalma gave the dance students of 806 and I an extension to Saturday night, so its technically not late.)

 

🌠✴Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare✴🌠

     Have you ever seen a demon? Do you even know what a demon is? Clary Fray and the Shadow Hunters do. Fifteen-year-old Clary Fray is partying hard at the Pandemonium Club with her best friend, Simon. There, she sees a crowd of strangely behaving, but incredibly attractive teens sneak into a storeroom. She follows them, and discovers that they're demon hunters when they kill a demon in front of her, which dissolves into the floor. Yuck! Clary, determined not to think about any demons or demon hunters, gets a cryptic phone call from her mother, and Clary's life spirals out of control and becomes even more involved with people she shouldn't be able to see. In the City of Bones Clary's interactions with other characters changes the way she acts.

     Clary's interactions with other characters changes the way she acts. For example, When Clary's 'uncle' Luke and her mother, Jocelyn, finished bringing up boxes, Clary asks what they're for. On page 26, when Clary receives an answer she gets annoyed and a little bit angry at her mother and says, "Tell her! Tell her it isn't fair!" to Luke and when her mother says an excuse, "So sell some more of Dad's stocks," Clary said angrily. "That's what you usually do, isn't it?" Usually Clary is a calm, collected person, but when faced with the news from her mother she is confused which cases her to put up defenses to hide her confusion and to try and find out why Jocelyn wants to leave. Although, when Clary's defenses are up she comes off as annoyed and snarky. Clary's interaction with Jocelyn and Luke causes her to become the snarky Clary that she is on page 26 instead of the laidback Clary on page 1. Another example is, on page 298, after rescuing Simon, Clary's best friend, from the clutches of the night children, Vampires, Alec Lightwood, Jace's best friend, pulls her aside. When out of view, Alec tells Clary that she needs to leave because she's endangering Jace's life with her 'selfishness.' Enraged, Clary lashes out at Alec saying, "News flash," Clary snapped. "I don't make Jace do anything. He does what he wants. You ought to know that." ...Clary recoiled. Rage rose up in her like a black wave —rage against Alec, because he was partly right, and rage against
everything and everyone else: against the icy road that had taken her father away from her before she was born, against Simon for nearly getting himself killed, against Jace for being a martyr and for not caring whether he lived or died. Against Luke for pretending  he cared about her when it was all a lie. And against her mother for not being the boring, normal, haphazard mother she'd always  pretended to be, but someone else entirely: someone heroic and spectacular and brave whom Clary didn't know at all. Someone who wasn't there now, when Clary needed her desperately. "You should talk about selfish," she hissed, so viciously that he took a step back. "You couldn't care less about anyone in
this world except yourself, Alec Lightwood. No wonder you've never killed a single demon, because you're too afraid."...She could see how she was hurting him, and it made her glad. Someone else ought to be in pain for a change." Clary's emotions are usually held together in a small space at the back of Clary's mind, the result of that is her emotions getting mixed together, burning underneath her skin. Because Alec said something that got her angry, all of her other emotions towards different people fuel the fire behind her rage keeping it going until Alec gets angry enough to snuff it out and replace it with fear. This shows how Clary's interactions with other characters changes the way she acts.
     In conclusion, Clary's interactions with different characters affect the way she acts towards them and others. I hope that people can relate to Clary because I fell that Clary represents the teenage spirit with different emotions changing how she acts constantly. Clary uses these emotions to her advantage, but sometimes it may get out of control. Clary along with other characters in City of Bones represent different emotions and different traits, good or bad.

Invasion of The Drones (Non-Fiction Reading Response)

You’ve probably heard about Domino’s testing drones as a faster way to get pizza from your door. Drones have been used more frequently from farmers and scientist to Hollywood directors, but the amount of these unmanned vehicles in the sky are starting to raise questions. The article “Invasion of The Drones” by Patricia Smith is about the concerns people have with drones. In the beginning of the article the author tells the story of Mandy Lingard and how her privacy was invaded by drones. Then the article talks about warfare and safety issues people have with drones. The author is trying to say that drones are dangerous and are violating laws.

The author, Patricia Smith, is trying to say that drones are dangerous and are violating laws. For example, the author says, “Sunbathing topless in the privacy of her secluded backyard, Mandy Lingard dismissed the buzzing she heard overhead as coming from some kind of toy, In fact, it was a drone hired by a real estate agent to take aerial photos of the property next door to her house. Lingard was later horrified to discover a picture the drone had taken showing her mostly naked body in billboard real estate ads.” This is a major privacy concern because it shows that drones can hover over our cities and towns 24/7 and track where everybody travels. Many people think this is illegal because the Fourth Amendment protects Americans from “unreasonable searches and seizures,” but does it stop the police from hovering over us?  Does the use of these drones to spy on us count as an unreasonable search. In 20 states lawmakers have passed regulations on drones with most laws addressing privacy concerns. Another example is, the author said, “Last Spring, a 375-pound drone operated by the Pennsylvania Army National Guard crashed outside an elementary school near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.” If school was in session many people would be hurt. Recently there have been many near misses between drones and airplanes because either the drones have escaped their controllers’ command, they got software glitches, or gusts of wind knocked them into trees, buildings, or the ground. Another example is, the author said, “Drones have, in essence, given presidents leeway to wage remote control war.” Although it may sound like a good idea because it prevents a lot of death, one, the drones can miss targets and end up killing innocent people, and two, it is illegal for the president to wage war without congressional approval. If the president does get permission though there are a lot more risks that aren’t worth taking. This shows that the author is trying to say that drones are dangerous and are violating laws.

In conclusion, the author showed how drones are a danger to us and that they violate our laws. I realized that although drones may look cool and do cool things, drones break many laws and are a danger to our community. I don’t think we should use drones in our life because of all the problems they cause. One problem is that there is a major security issue. Another is that there is a major safety issue, and finally the last problem is that using drones in war can cause more harm than help.