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West Side Story Essay Example

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West Side Story Essay Example
“West Side Story” Analysis

Do you believe that everyone has a reason to hate someone or something just because of the way they look? May racism be the starting point to hatred? In “West Side Story”, author Irving Shulman gives us nothing but clues to these questions. The Sharks and the Jets are in a “ turf ” war. But two people, one from each side fall deeply in love. Irving Shulman writes how interracial relationships cause hate to increase in an instant and how racism leads up to hate. The story tells the reader how the Puerto Ricans and the Jets cause the world to shake because of racial prejudice. “West Side Story” shows how racial prejudice and interracial relationships cause hate to grow.
“West Side Story” shows hate between almost anyone and yet we have no answers on why people hate. After reading “West Side Story” it made me believe that racism caused by interracial relationships may be what causes hate in this story. In “West Side Story” two gangs, the Jets and the Puerto Ricans hate each other just because of the way they look, where they are from, and how they live. Racism is a big part in this story. The main part of hate came from an interracial relationship that began between a man of American descent and a Puerto Rican woman, which caused hate to grow between two gangs in the streets of New York. Racial prejudice was very bad in the time this story was written. Anyone can relate to racial remarks. This story truly shows how people used to be and how much the idea of interracial relationships happening changed. Now, it doesn’t matter if two people fall in love even though they are not from the same race. From this you can infer that racism might be what inaugurates hate. Racism might seem like just a word but it’s more powerful than just a word. It only leads to no good in “West Side Story”.
Hate, what is the definition of hate? Everyone has a different perspective of it, but no one can really see what it can lead up to. I don’t understand

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