Sunday, May 11, 2014

What It All Means

Based on our reading of Romeo and Juliet, I would like us to have a real world discussion based on the text's ideals and messages.  Once you you write your own response, begin responding to other people, challenging each other's thoughts and questions and keep the line of questioning going as you progress.

First, I would like each of you, individually, to reflect, in at least a solid paragraph, on how this text speaks to you.  What did it make you wonder, see, think about, etc.?  When you are done, end with a strong critical question that you would want others to ponder and answer.  Begin the line of discussion from there.

14 comments:

  1. "Romeo and Juliet" made me think about how much love can affect someone. Sometimes it's for the worst and other times for the best. With Romeo and Juliet it wasn't exactly clear about how it affected the both of them. Clearly they ended up killing themselves which negatively affected them, but they were very happy with each others love. This made me wonder, would Romeo and Juliet have stayed together if they knew it would end in such tragedy? This text also made me curious about how one could fall so deeply in love with another and completely forget their families. Having a family that loves you unconditionally should not be ignored all because you meet someone that you love. When love is right, you will treat not only your spouse with unconditional love, but your family and friends as well. How can someone get so blinded by love as to forget their families feelings?

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  2. Romeo and Juliet made me realize that those around you really can dictate weather you have a good life or not. Because of the argument between the two families, over who knows what, it cost the lives of many people. Out of those people who died in the story 2 were voluntary. This goes to show that they would rather not be on this planet any longer then to let their parents tell them what to do and live an unfulfilled life of hate. This book has made me realize that true love can be felt by people who are my age, and that will always stick with me. Overall this book was pretty good, and it made it even more fun acting out. Although it was hard at first (and still is) to understand the language of the time. The complete meaning of the book sent a good message. This book made me think; Can others really decide your fate? And if they can, why do we let them?

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    1. I believe others can't decide your fate, I think you are the only one who can control your fate. Fate is controlled by what you do in your life and what you bring your way, and what choices you make.

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  3. When reading this book "Romeo and Juliet" it made me wonder about a lot of things, for example; it made me think about how serious things can get because of love, what the meaning of love really is, why do we fall in love so quickly? I saw Romeos perspective of love change throughout the book, this relates to how us teenagers change our perspective of love yearly. This book showed me that sometimes love doesn't have an age limit, and sometimes it doesn't matter what our parents think of who we love. I learned that we can't control who we fall in love with, it just happens because of fate. But, to play devils advocate I believe teenagers can't fall in love but into lust. Teenagers change daily and change what they like, love isn't based off of looks in the 'real' world, it's based off of how well you know that person, and how well you know yourself. Romeo and Juliet were too young to have fallen in love, they liked each other because they were attracted to looks, not personalities and how well they know each other. My question for you is, Do we get to chose the person we love; or does fate?

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  4. While reading the book 'Romeo and Juliet" I was able to see what was within the writing, such as; when Romeo and Juliet first see each other I could clearly see that love at first sight was present and that when you experience love at first sight you can't control your body. This book showed me the true power of love, and that when you love someone that deeply you will do anything in your power to be with that person. Romeo and Juliet showed that even tho they were born into conflicting family's they can show that nothing will keep them from each other. Even death can't keep them apart. This book also showed me the amount of tension that can be created between two enemy's. When they become angered to the point of murder, you know that there is history there. Now the question I have for my fellow classmates is, Do we allow love to change us or do we control our love?

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    1. I think that love changes us. We can become blind to things when we are in love and sometimes we can't see clearly to what is happening around us. They can also become more kind when they see that someone loves them. But we can also control our love by what we think is good and what we think is bad.

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  5. While we read "Romeo and Juliet" it made me wonder so many things on so many different levels. For example; it made me wonder why love is so complicated. Juliet wanted to marry Romeo, but Juliet's father wanted her to marry Paris. This book had also made me wonder if people can really try to take control of our lives. A perfect example would be when Juliet's father had told Paris that Juliet would marry him, a day sooner as well. Juliet was a little upset about his decision. This book has really showed the real power of love and how much one person could mean the whole world to someone. Juliet and Romeo meant so much to each other, that it came to the point that they both killed themselves because of how much love they had for each other. When Romeo saw that Juliet was "dead", he just thought he couldn't live anymore or live a happy life. So he then killed himself. When she woke up and noticed that Romeo, her love was really dead, she then had killed herself afterwards. Should we risk our own lives for the amount of love we have for one specific person? (If we love someone so much, is it really worth dying over them?)

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  7. Romeo and Juliet makes me think about ideals we have as humans, and how they have changed from Shakespeare time to today. From the ideals, I thought about love in particular. I thought about why Juliet was desperate for Romeo's love that she was willing to commit suicide, and vice verse. I have never seen this type of dedication to another person in a modern context. It also makes me question the reality of this story. Why would Romeo sacrifice himself for someone he had only known and "loved" for less than a week? In addition, I think that instead of bringing two families closer together by marriage, I think Friar Lawrence brought them farther apart. I do not believe dying over someone after only having known them for a few days was a smart decision. In the end of this book, many young lives were lost to a foolish conquest that was almost certainly doomed to end in failure. Is true love worth dying for? Would you commit suicide if the person you loved most died at such a young age?

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  8. "Romeo and Juliet" made me wonder if love is that strong of emotion and it could make you blind to other things and if you can have love a first sight. They barely knew each other and then they decided to get married just like that. When they fell in love they never really considered what would happen if their parents found out about them and if they really loved each other. If they ended up living on would they still have been as in love as they were? In the book they really showed that they loved each other and that they were willing to die for each other even if their families were against each other. With Romeo and Juliet they were willing to sacrifice everything they had to be with the person they loved. Should we risk everything (family, friends, career) to be with the person you love?

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  9. "Romeo and Juliet" made me think about tragedy in itself and why it happens. This love story is so complex and surreal that it is hard to imagine this ever even happening in real life? It makes me think if true love is really real or is it is just too good to be true. I don't believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in true love and I think that Romeo and Juliet were truly in love. All odds were against them because of their family rivals and fate kept telling them not to be together, but they persevered through all of there struggles to find a way to be with each other and love one another. This is truly a tragic love story of two crossed lovers alike in dignity that in the end their lives are decided by fate. I wondered about what would happen if Romeo and Juliet ad made it together and lived with each other. Would the family feuds end because they were connected by marriage or would Romeo and Juliet keep it a secret for the rest of their lives? Their end is determined my unlucky fate and I do believe that everything happens for a reason and this story is remarkable how they sacrifice their lives for love. I don't know if I would ever have the strength to leave everything for the person I love? Does fate determine our destiny or do we make the lives we want to live?

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    1. I believe that fate has something to do with our lives but we make our own decisions. Romeo and Juliet were destined for tragedy but they didn't made certain decisions that made the tragedy more tragic.

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  10. "Romeo and Juliet" shows the balance between peace and tragedy. Their fate had them both be only children, so when they died it was an end of an era. I thought it was very sad that how they need death to see that the fude should stop. Also this play makes you think about whether love is a choice or not. It also, makes me think how different life would be without love at all. If curious to know whether you are given a fate, or if uou make your own. I also wonder how the fued would have looked like if no one died. Would the fued have ended?

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  11. In the play, “Romeo and Juliet” it really made me think about how much love can really affect us and our actions. With Romeo and Juliet, it really showed how love can be too powerful for even someone that’s not in the actual relationship. It wasn’t exactly clear on how Romeo and Juliet’s new found love for each other affected them but, you could really tell it was taking a toll on everyone around them. In some ways that’s how love can become something selfish. Most people think of love as being this great happy caring feeling, but that’s where the love paradox comes along. In this play it really shows the paradox of love. Although, Romeo and Juliet had some great caring moments, it really “added more fuel to the fire.” Many fights broke out, the two love birds ended up dying along with many of their close friends all because two teenagers fell in love and had the wrong last names. At the same time, even though there was was tragedy to this love story, there was definitely a good caring love aspect to the play. This play showed that Romeo and Juliet were truly in love at their young age and they both were willing to do anything to be with each other, even if that meant dying in each others arms. How does love affect the way we act towards others and how others act toward us?

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