Essay On Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet And Anderson's Speak

Many people believe that we form our own insecurities on our own. Yet, several factors influence our insecurities, including those we love. Throughout the plots of William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet and Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, We find this point to be true. An article by Susan B Miller addresses some of the struggles with a conceited parent by stating that “some troubled parents use… ‘selfishness-slam’ whenever a young person wants to do something that makes that child unavailable to take care of the parent’s needs… [the parent] thinks [their] child should put all [their] own needs and wishes second to the parent’s needs and wishes” (Miller 11). By using what Miller calls ‘selfishness-slam,’ parents can make their

While many people would agree that these parents are abusive or manipulative in more ways than one, it is the way that this parent best saw fit to raise and reprimand their child. However, the abuse that both Juliet and Melinda suffered through was enough to affect both of them in this life and beyond. An example of Juliet being talked down to by her father, Lord Capulet, is after Juliet refuses to marry Paris when Lord Capulet yells “to answer ‘I'll not wed,’ ‘I cannot love,’ ‘I am too young,’ ‘I pray you, pardon me.’- But, an you will not wed, I'll pardon you. Graze where you will, you shall not house with me… I do not use to jest. Thursday is near. Lay hand on heart, advise. An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend. An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets, For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee” (Shakespeare 5.3.191-199). In this interaction between Lord Capulet and Juliet, Lord Capulet is saying that he will kick her out of the house and allow her to die in the streets if she chooses not to marry Paris. He is calling her worthless and threatens to take away everything that she loves. This can have many different negative impacts on a girl her age. This comes at an especially unfortunate time since she is currently fighting her demons on whether she should stay committed to

Sordino takes a more neglectful and apathetic approach to parenting her child. After noticing the cuts on Melinda’s arms, Mrs. Sordino shrugs it off and remarks, “‘I don't have time for this, Melinda.’” Melinda later states that her mother “says suicide is for cowards.” Melinda furthermore explains this dynamic between them when she vocalizes that this is her mother’s “uglynasty Momside” (Anderson 88). While speaking down on your child, such as Lord Capulet does, negatively affects them, the emotional neglect that comes after a teen has struggled through something can oftentimes be more distressful. Mrs. Sordino’s inability to show compassion towards Melinda and how she may be feeling greatly diminishes their relationship. These interactions cause a chain reaction of broken relationships throughout the book. For Melinda, this causes distrust and unwillingness to open up. After this, every time Mrs. Sordino attempts to ask Melinda about her life, Melinda does not respond. This is most likely caused by these types of interactions throughout the book. These conversations also cause Melinda to struggle with her self-image. When someone commits an act of self-harm as Melinda did, most of the time they want help. This was all that Melinda wanted from her mother, yet all she got from her mother was an unmoving, emotionally unavailable, brick wall. To add to this, Mrs. Sordino essentially