Sarah Ainsworth

The Discord of Love Love is a quarrel that never ends. It is a wonderful thing, to feel love. In many different ways, love is everywhere. In the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by William Shakespeare, there are quarrels about love and the problems the lovers must endure. Each person is striving to find love whether it be workers, loyal citizens, royalty, or even fairies. There are many quotes about the problems that the characters encounter and each one portrays the speaker’s personality. One of the scenes changed the reader’s understanding especially after we watched the movie. Perspectives changed about how we feel and how we should feel about the things that were going on. During our time acting out the play, we experienced many scenes where we laughed and enjoyed our lines. The most important line in the play is stated by Lysander in Act 1 Scene 1. He states, “the course of true love never did run smooth.” What he means by this is that true love may come to a person but earning that love can be a difficult challenge and also a very tedious one. Lysander’s words certainly apply to him, for Hermia’s father disapproved of his marriage to his daughter. England in the Middle Ages was a patriarchal society. Fathers had a great deal of power over their daughters, and Egeus would not give his permission. He gave her three impossible choices; she could live as a nun and never marry, she could marry Demetrius, or, if she refused those choices, she would be put to death. Lysander also had Demetrius, a former lover of Hermia’s, to deal with. Another well-known quotation that relates to love is spoken by Helena in Act 1 Scene 1. ‘Love looks not with the eye, but with the mind and therefore the winged cupid painted blind.” She implies that a person in love perceives things that are not based in reality. When Titania sees Bottom as an ass and falls in love, she is blinded by the fact that he is an animal, not a human being. Another famous quote that is said in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, is by Demetrius, when he states “Are you sure that we are awake? It seems to me as yet we sleep, we dream. Do not you think that the duke was here, and bid us follow him?” This line implies that he and other characters feel as though they are dreaming. Is the Duke Theseus really asking them to follow them? Will he decide whether Hermia gets to marry Lysander and if Demetrius can marry Helena? It shows the lovers in a spot where the duke is going to decide whether Hermia gets to marry Lysander, and if Demetrius can marry Helena instead of Hermia. In the end, the lovers get their wish and marry the ones they wish to marry. Because they got their wish, and also met the duke who granted their wishes, they were blinded by joy and satisfaction. During our first time reading the play, I personally was confused. What on earth was going on? Act 1 Scene 1 was like a text written by aliens. The reader had to decipher it in the way one deciphers a code. I was told that we would that we would gain a better understanding of what was happening after watching the movie. When I heard this, I was a little skeptical. However, once I started watching the movie, I could see a whole different perspective as the characters spoke and acted out their lines. You can see the character’s feelings toward the things that are going on in the scene. The movie made me realize what was going on because in the text, the words seemed to be a different language. Even with the translations on the left side, I still couldn’t comprehend the sequence of what was happening. The character’s expressions and the tones of voices helped give me more clarity. After we finished reading the book and after watching the movie, we played out the acts and the scene for our classroom. In my opinion, I think that we did really well on the parts where we were supposed to express our emotions and our feelings about the things that we were to feel in the play. The people who were playing Act 2 Scene 1 I think were the most expressive and the best part of the parts that we played out. The scene was when Oberon and Titania were meeting in the woods and were talking about the baby and how each one of them wanted to use or raise him. I think that this was the best part because it showed the real fun that we were performing and how we feel about the scene. This might be because we were introduced to Puck, Oberon, and Titania. They were quarreling about what they want to do with the mortal boy, and Titania wouldn’t let Oberon even near the boy because he wanted to steal the boy and then turn him into a henchman. During our acting out of the play, we used the lights, the table, and other things that would help us act out the scenes. The characters, Oberon and Titania, were trying to work things out with the boy. However, this did not work out. Our acting out was a funnier version than the real one, and it showed how it was ridiculous and awkward. In conclusion, love is a complicated thing to achieve, but words, perspectives, and acting can help bring things together. The three quotes have a deep meaning about how the people in the play will express their emotions towards one another and how the characters will try their hardest to achieve their goal of love. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a story about how the characters evolve and become the lovers they had hoped to be in the future. In the end, the characters do meet up

“What are you wearing?” one friend snickered as I sat down on the bus with her. I blushed the color of tomato and looked down at my velvet laced up Mary Janes. “I can’t believe my mom and sister had me wear this!” I thought, eyes watering with embarrassment. Now I would have to make it through a whole day filled with strange looks and hurtful comments. I sighed,”Maybe I could just stay seated all day so no one would see my high white socks that reached my knee,” I thought. For me, this was the most embarrassing day of 4th grade. In the end I made it through the day with my head held high. Yes, this was not stylish to me and at the time I promised myself that I would never wear anything like that again, but after reading Popular: A Memoir by Maya Van Wagenen, I found a deeper reason for my dilemma and a dilemma that many others also share. I was looking at other people to tell myself I was stylish. In Popular, Maya Van Wagenen does an experiment where she finds the true meaning of popularity. By following a 50s popularity guide by model, Betty Cornell, she found that self confidence is what makes you really look attractive. Maya realized that she couldn’t depend upon what others had said to determine her worth and purpose. In the end she uses this realization to help others feel the same about themselves. This book helped me look at myself and rethink the importance of popularity. What are people trying to communicate by what they wear? I also came to a new view of “cliques”. School can be a constant maze of trying to fit in. Maya does a great job of helping the reader empathize with this challenge. This book helped me face my own struggles with the deep desire to be and feel popular and taught me to have confidence in what I say, wear and do. Maya did something that was truly brave. She went against the social norms by sitting with with different people at lunch each day and wearing 50’s style outfits. She would also wear pearls and put her hair in curlers. She decided that what people said didn’t matter to her. By doing so, Maya reached out to her classmates and made them feel cared about and special. I finished feeling as if I had passed the finish line with Maya through her journey toward greater confidence and learned more about myself than I ever had while reading any other book. I highly recommend this book, Popular: A Memoir, that follows the true story of this amazing young girl. Popular: A Memoir by Maya Van Wagenen. Speak Books, 2015. Buy the book here and support Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? If so, comment below!

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis details the experiences of the Malones, a strong African American family whose journey spans the states of Indiana and Michigan during the years of the Great Depression. Reading about the Malone’s challenged me to be more grateful for my own family and for the special journey we are on. Deza Malone, who starts out as a daydreaming Gary, Indiana, schoolgirl writing verbose essays, is the mighty main character of the story. Her poor but strong family is a comforting blanket of dignity and joy. Her older brother Jimmy is small for his age but gifted with a singing voice. Her hardworking father calls Deza his “Darling Daughter.” Practical yet caring, her mother is tirelessly dedicated to holding the family together. Their family motto, “We are a family on a journey to a place called Wonderful.” The next year for the Malones is certainly not wonderful. Their poor but happy family life in Gary, and with that Deza’s academic promise ahead, is torn apart. A tragedy happens to their father while out fishing and he leaves Deza and her mother and brother to find work. Deza, Jimmy, and their mother are soon forced to leave Gary, too. Without a true home, they travel around the Detroit cities of Michigan and Flint for the next year, experiencing shantytowns, racism, and unemployment. The year is full of heartbreak and trials, warping the family blanket, but the separated family’s love and values remain unchanged. Through the story, Deza grows in maturity. Her humorous, spirited self is made stronger after experiencing the hard realities of poverty and separation from those she loves. Bravely, she even goes unaccompanied into the dark places of the city to find her brother, who leaves them in the middle of the book for a job as a professional singer. As I read, I was challenged by how Deza’s family persevered and stayed together in spirit with unchanging values and devotion, even as everything around them fell apart. I became more grateful for my own family—my goal-oriented and thoughtful father, energetic and dedicated mother, rambunctious eleven-year-old brother, and playful four-year-old sister—and more aware of how they thoughtfully dedicate themselves to sewing my passions and interests into the family tapestry. When my family moved last summer from Ontario to Connecticut and we were separated from my father for two months. Just as Deza, Jimmy, and their mother let their family values shine during that time of separation, I tied my relationship with my mother tighter and had the opportunity to step up to the new kind of help she needed. Once we moved, I had to say goodbye to my friends and dreams in Ontario. Despite the disappointment and the exhaustion of starting over in a new place, my family has stayed together in strength and spirit. The Mighty Miss Malone is an exciting read, and the reflection afterwards is just as rewarding. The book is suspenseful but the character development is not rushed; joy and sorrow are intermingled but not in the least bit creating melodrama. Deza’s friendly spirit resonated within my heart, through big experiences and lighthearted moments alike, and I was united with Deza’s family on their journey. Reading The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis inspired me on my own family’s journey and challenged me to be more grateful for the tapestry that my family, with love, continues to sew. The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis. Yearling Books, 2013. Buy the book here and support the Children’s Art Foundation–Stone Soup in the process! Have you read this book? Or do you plan on reading it? If so, comment below!