Critical Lens 11th Grade English

Ronald Sanchez Mr.VerStraten

Critical lens Essay “All literature shows us power of emotion, it is emotion, not reason that motivates characters in literature.”This powerful quote was once said by Duff Brenna. Yes this quote is true. This quote means that author’s put life into the characters they create in literature. Characters that act on emotion, gets the reader gets emotionally attached to them and they just want to keep reading that book without putting it down. The Glass Menagerie written by Tennessee Williams and Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare help to prove this is true. In The Glass Menagerie the younger brother and son Tom was put in a difficult situation. His dad had abandoned the family and he was left with his slightly un-normal sister and his bossy hard to live with mom. Tom was the only one bringing in the income because his sister didn’t want to finish the trade school she was going to and his mother couldn’t get a job that could bring any real money to pay the bills. Tom was living an unhappy life because he wasn’t doing what he wanted to do in life he was doing what was right. In other words he wasn’t acting on emotion in him wanting to leave he was acting on reason by staying and helping his family. That was at least until he couldn’t take it anymore and he decided he had to change his life and do what was write for him and that was to act on emotion and that motivated him to do what he wanted to, that being leave his family to become a marine sailor. That made the book more interesting and enjoyable, than to him just staying there being in the same situation. Romeo and Juliet was about two families that hated each other, they’ve had a rivalry and been fighting many years now. Juliet from the Capulet side and Romeo from the Montague side. These two lovers acted on emotion and put their love and happiness before the bitterness the two families have against each other instead of acting on reason and staying away from each other. Little did they know all they would have to go through in the name of love? The motivation during the story the whole time was for these two lovers to be together against all odds. Even though there was a tragically emotional ending with the death of both of them they still fought it was all or nothing for them. Now you can see why authors in literature use power of emotion and not reason to make their writing so well. People want surprises and excitement when they read. Using reason and doing things the way they should be done is less interesting than people being unpredictable and acting on emotion