Success in Relationships: A Walk to Submission

Comparing “The Taming of the Shrew” to “A Walk to Remember”  

“The Taming of the Shrew” higlights a theme that is still present in relationships today. In the play, Petruchio “tames” his wife Katherine and convinces her and the world that she is better off for it. This same idea is showcased in the more modern love story in “A Walk to Remember”. In this movie, Landon Carter is the stereotypical bad boy who falls for Jamie Sullivan after being forced to do community service as a result of one of his many offences. Their interaction impacts both of their personalities and outlook on life.

Although the male does not have all the power in their relationship, like in “Shrew”, in this movie the control is still important even though it is more two sided. Petruchio is not embodied by just Landon or Jamie for the entire movie. Rather, both Landon and Jamie have the opportunity to have control and manipulate each other during the movie. As a result, both of them have to take on the figurative role of Katherine, the submissive partner, in the relationship.These works reflect that even if it’s for short periods of time, audiences still believe that the success of a relationship requires the submission of one party.

“... Let him that moved you hither remove you hence. I knew you st the first you were a movable”

(2, 1, 203-206)

This quote is from the first time Petruchio and Katherine meet. Katherine is still ruthless and doesn’t care too much for Petruchio. Before he has the chance to tame her, she is painted in a negative light. This shows the reader that the submission of a partner is necessary and anticipated. Because Katherine has not submitted to Petruchio, the relationship does not exist.

Similarly, the individuality of Landon and Jamie prevents their relationship from beginning.  

This scene begins with Jamie attempting to start small talk to Landon. He then proceeds to shut her down and tell her about herself. She warns him to not presume to know her and lets him know that she doesn’t care what people think of her. This is identical to Katherine's initial attitude. The women in both the book and the movie make it clear that they are their own people and do not worry themselves with the opinion of others. What’s different is that in “A Walk to Remember”, this is viewed as independence while in “Shrew, it is seen as insolence. Regardless, this rashness is what is stopping the women from their pending relationships.

"When you are gentle, you shall have one too, and not until then”

(Act 4, Scene 3, 75-76)

In the scene, Petruchio is continuing his mission to tame Katherine. He does this by mocking her with material things that he has no intention of giving her. He says the quote to her to show that she can get what she wants from him when she behaves herself. This act involves the submission of Katherine. If she does not submit and act accordingly, she won’t receive the things that she wants to wear.

A similar bargaining and mocking technique can be seen in “A Walk to Remember” .

In this scene, Landon attempts to win Jamie’s heart after denying her in front of his friends. After that event, Jamie concluded that “there was no good in him.” Landon wants forgiveness and approaches Jamie only to be shut down by her demand to “prove it.” In this scene the figurative roles of Petruchio and Katherine have switched. Jamie is the person in control. In the same way Petruchio does to Katherine, she demands that Landon prove himself to her. Consequently, Landon has to act in a way that is pleasing to her in order to get want he wants, her friendship. What’s different is that Landon was placed in this position because he intentionally took on the role of Petruchio when he denied her because he was embarrassed of her. He would prefer Jamie act in a different way but she doesn’t give in. This causes him to realize that he needs to change to get her back. If he didn’t submit and apologize, their relationship would have ended. This supports the idea that the progression of a relationship relies on the submission of someone in the duo.

"I am so ashamed that women are so simple to offer war where they should kneel for peace, or to seek rule, supremacy, and sway when they are bound to serve, love, and...",

(Act 5, Scene 2, 177-180).

In this scene, after showcasing her obedience to Petruchio, Katherine scolds her sister Bianca, and the widow for not being better wives. Her entire speech sounds like words that Petruchio got her to believe. Katherine tells that she is a better person because of Petruchio and invites the other women to change for the better as well. This quote is important because it shows Katherine’s complete submission. She has been tamed and believes that she’s better off because of it. Without this submission, Katherine could not have the relationship she has now and couldn’t be able to reprimand the “bad” wives.

Similarly, in “A Walk to Remember”, Landon owes his transformation to Jamie.

In this scene that concludes the movie, Landon tells the audience of the result of his relationship with Jamie. He, like Katherine, praises Jamie for “saving his life”. His relationship with Jamie made him a better person. The fact that she challenges him to act in a better way is very comparable to Petruchio taming Katherine. The difference here is that Landon has changed, not by becoming obedient, but by being a more kind and gracious person. Landon would not have become and better person if he hadn’t submitted and changed for Jamie.

In the same way “Shrew” does, “A Walk to Remember” romanticizes the total submission and transformation of someone in a relationship. In “Shrew”, Katherine becomes totally obedient to Petruchio while in “A Walk to Remember” Landon becomes more kind and gracious. Today, the values Landon gained are seen as positive while during the times of “Shrew” being obedient may have been seen as positive. If “Shrew” was made today, the total submission into obedience would be frowned upon. If “A Walk to Remember” was made then, the values of kindness would mean nothing. In “Shrew”, Bianca is the kind and gracious maiden  but in the end she is not the best wife because obedience reigns supreme. This shows the audience that not only is submission in a relationship is crucial, but also that the qualities gained from this submission reflects the values of the society. Regardless, submission is painted as a necessity because it keeps the relationship going and changes people. 

Works Cited

Shakespeare, William. The Taming of The Shrew. New Folger ed., Washington

Square Press, 1992.

Shankman, Adam, director. A Walk to Remember. Warner Bros., 2002.

To Say or Not to Say

During my freshman year, I got into an altercation with a student during African American History. The topic was police brutality. A classmate of mine opened her mouth, I prepared for the worst, and said, “Black men are always getting shot because they are always up to something.”

As I pressed my teeth into my tongue, attempting to be less dominating as I was often called, I wondered how someone could sound so empty-headed. Nevertheless, I let her continue.

“So look, my family and I were in church one day and a black man came in who was intimidating so someone shot him.”

Now, how could I have been expected to keep calm and not respond to that?

Without even waiting to be called on, I said, “Do you think about things before you open your mouth? Firstly, you couldn’t give me an example of a black man who was unreasonably shot by the police. Instead, you told a story about how your people shot a man who walked into your church. How is that supporting your point? What was intimidating about him in church? Was he singing too loud? Praying to intensely? God, when are you people going to admit that you have an irrational fear of black people? When are you going to admit that you’re the problem? Like…”

I was interrupted by my history teacher, “That is enough Afi.” But it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t nearly done, but I let it go.

Later on, my teacher had the nerve to approach me and say, “Afi, what you did today was unacceptable. I didn’t appreciate it at all. The next occurrence of this will result in a progress note.” I was stunned. I was on the verge of getting a progress note for speaking my mind. While the other student, who basically confessed to being racist, or prejudiced at the least, and shooting a black man who came to her church, didn’t receive any backlash. It’s experiences like that that molded me into a less assertive, less honest version of myself because I felt that my words would bring my downfall.

To say or not to say? That has always been a question. Ever since I was young, I’ve gotten into trouble for saying too much. I was raised to always speak my mind, finding inspiration from my outspoken mother. I thought it was so cool how fearless she was. Because of her fearlessness when it came to speaking her mind, she became someone to rely on because of her honest--sometimes brutally honest--truths. But as life continued and after repeatedly being told to be less aggressive and less angry, I was made compromising, self-belittling, and conventional.  

Feeling constricted, I needed something to enlighten me. At the time, though, I didn’t know what it would be. Poetry was something that found me because the idea of poetry never even crossed my mind. To my surprise, it has worked, over the past few years, as an outlet for me to express my opinions without interruptions and get things off my chest. Shortly after my confrontation with my history teacher outside of room 307, a friend of mine approached me with a strange proposition.

“Hey Afi,” she said, “I need a favor.” A favor, of course, I thought. Could anyone give me a break? I was annoyed but a managed to utter, without sounding too irritated, a simple,

“What do you need, Bea?”

“I’ve been meaning to go to poetry club. I think it’d be fun and Mr. Kay is running it. Cool, right?” I was searching for a point as she continued, “I think it’d be nice for both of us.” I must’ve given her a face because she finished slowly asking, “They have a meeting tomorrow. Will you come with me?”

“Are you saying this because you really think it's nice for us or are you just afraid of going alone?”

“Both, I guess. Come on, please!” I figured it couldn’t hurt. Maybe a change of scenery was what I needed to get out of the horrible mood I was in.

“Sure, until tomorrow then.” The next day, I dragged my feet through the school day and when 3:05 hit on that Tuesday in January, I found Bea and we walked towards room 309. Mr. Kay’s room is, arguably, the coziest in the entire school. He has couches and blankets and tons of kids in there all the time. So when I walked in, I immediately felt loads better. After the first meeting, filled with ice-breakers, brainstorms, and talk of competition, I understood that poetry club was the place to be. There were times where I wasn’t sure of myself at all. I didn’t think I was as good of a writer or performer as everyone else. With encouragement, practice, and teamwork, I improved. In April of my freshmen year, with my best friend, Zoey Tweh, I wrote Corduroy. This piece pushed me beyond my boundaries. The piece was written from the perspective of a corduroy bear who loses his owner, Lisa, a little girl, to an incident of police brutality.

There are little girls like Lisa everywhere

In Philly

In Detroit

In the Southside of  Chicago

They are not America’s children

They trespassed in their own homes

Their melanin a badge of its own

A temptation for white men in blue uniforms to forget protocol

Their joy, their presence, their potential

Replaced with teddy bears like me

Yellow caution tape is just as common as jump ropes

They wrap around entire communities

until our breath buckles into submission

Lisa

They have forgotten what it feels like to bury a child

To send their kids to school

praying that they will return home

To report them missing and never get an answer

To call the police and never receive justice

Because to have a black child is to be left in the dark

Avoiding the flashlights as best you can

They have taken too many childhoods

Leaving nothing

But the remnants of  lonely Corduroys

Like me

Corduroy was unlike any piece I had ever written. Police brutality and gun violence were always issues that I wanted to discuss but I never thought about writing it like that. Though that isn’t the first piece of my poetry career, it is the one that showed me the power of poetry.

Two years later, I am still a part of the poetry club and I don’t see myself leaving anytime soon. Poetry and performing have changed my character for the better. Not only has poetry given me a way to talk about what I want to but it’s allowed me to bring awareness to the things that are important to me. Poetry has allowed me to unearth and expose topics like race relations in America, the ineffective combination of social media and protest, police brutality and the current romanizing and “trendiness” of the African Culture to the world. Poetry has challenged my writing in a way that allows me to craft different tones and personas at my leisure. Poetry has given me a way to find that balance between saying too much and saying too little. It’s been effective, but recently, I’ve been thinking about whether I really needed it. Maybe I wasn’t the problem. Maybe the world needed to change. I believe that we, as people, have found ways to censor people in ways that can be problematic. Everyone should feel that their opinions matter and should be allowed to introduce new ideas to groups. The self will generally change to fit into what the world demands of it. Sometimes, though, the self finds ways around what the world’s expectations like I did with poetry. The world should change for us, not the other way around.

Erase una vez una chica que se llamaba Yemaya. Yemaya tenía siete años y era muy solitaria porque no tenía amigos. Un dia, Yemaya era jugaba con los peces cuando Oshun, una Orisha, vino abajo a la isla de el cielo. Los colores de Oshun son amarillo y ella es la orisha de amor, belleza, prosperidad. El número de Oshun es cinco. Ellas se convirtieron en amigas por tener muchas cosas en común. Cuando ellas juegaban, fueron a la playa. Un dia, Yemaya y Ochun fueren profundo en el océano. Yemaya murió. Oshun era muy triste y preocupada. Oshun le pidió a Obatala que resucita a Yemaya. Obatala le dijo a Oshun, "Eso no es fácil pero yo intentaré". Más tarde, Obatala dijo, "Tú  necesitas traer cinco ofrendas. Puedes traer frutas o hierbas o animales también. Tienen un mes." El ocho de septiembre Oshun trajo las cinco ofrendas. Oshun trajo sandía, nopales, lechuga, bayas, fuco negro y Yemaya se convirtió en una orisha y vivió y jugaba con Oshun en el cielo por siempre. Yemaya tiene dos colas y es una sirena. Sus colores favoritos son azul y blanco. Después de los acontecimientos con Oshun, Yemaya se convirtió en el Yeye Omo Eja y ahora es orisha de los océanos, los lagos y las madres y los niños. El dia de Yemaya es el ocho de septiembre, el dia que Oshun trajo las ofrendas que la salvó. Esta es la historia de Yemaya y como ella se convirtió en una orisha.

Yo vivo en Oeste Filadelfia. Mi barrio es vibrante y muy bonito. He vivido en este barrio por toda mi vida. Cuando pienso en mi barrio, pienso en los murales y los chicos porque hay muchos chicos riendo y jugado en el verano cerca de los murales. Me gusta la cultura en mi barrio. No me gusta la violencia en mi barrio. Si, me gusta donde yo vivo porque hay muchas actividades y mis amigos viven aquí también. Yo haría mi barrio más seguro. Un tema importante en mi barrio es la familia, especialmente los niños. Sí, mi familia, mi amigos, y Will Smith están de mi barrio.

Esta pared es en una escuela cerca de mi casa. Un mural está aquí porque mucho gente puede verlo. Un mural puede traer color al barrio. Algunas personas famosas de West Philadelphia son Will Smith y Kevin Bacon. El Oeste Filadelfia es muy diverso. En mi barrio hay africanos, asiáticos, afroamericanos, europeos y latinos.

En mi mural hay la cabeza de Will Smith, un persona famosa de Oeste Filadelfia. Will Smith es un productor, actor, y rapper. El mural dice “ Being Realistic is the most common path to mediocrity” y “West Philadelphia, born and raised” porque es citas del Señor Smith.  El propósito de este mural es honrar Señor Smith y sus trabajos. Quiere hacer este mural porque recuerda él. En mi mural hay un calle para representar “the path to mediocrity”. Los colores son negros, rojos, azules, y marrones.

Despierte Con el Amanecer

Afi Koffi

Soy Afi

Soy el producto de mis padres magníficos

Mis tres hermanos y

mi verdad

Soy completa

Veo las ropas tradicional de Togo

Oigo los tambores y el shakere

Huelo las platanos y pollos

Tocó las manos de mi mamá

Saboreo empanadas de carne

Me despierto con el amanecer

Corro con las olas de mar

Bailo con los tambores

Valgo la tierra de mis padres

Somos productos de muchas culturas de África

Somos enraizada de nuestros historias de nuestros continente

No somos Americanos pero vivimos en America

Somos Africanos.

Somos la tierra de batatas y plátanos

De océanos rodantes, selvas susurrantes, y desiertos tranquilos

Nunca estoy solo porque la llevo siempre conmigo

In creating this project, Eli and I wanted to do something different that we felt would truly portray our knowledge of Macbeth. We decided to make a newspaper in the perspective of a newspaper reporter that is to the everyday citizens in Scotland. We made this decision because we all know what happens in the castle, but by having the newsletter made in a citizen’s perspective we are revealing how citizens are reacting to the things that are happening in the book. It gives us the non royal view of the situation, we’re looking in on the royal family's life.

Our letter consists of things that we felt all newspapers have, like articles, a crossword, and an ad . Our headline article is about the crowning of Macbeth. We agreed that this would be the main article because a new king’s crowning would be very apparent, especially after the sudden untimely death of King Duncan. In addition we decided if the reporter was in this situation he would’ve wanted to make Macbeth the headline because he essentially has a major influence over the reporter life. Our second article was on the fleeing of Prince Malcolm and Prince Donalbain. This article went into depth about why the two princes left from the reporter's point of view. Our third and final article was about the death of King Duncan. In this article the reporter got in depth with the conspiracy behind why certain people would have a motive to kill King Duncan. The article also went on to explain how the murder would have been laid out, meaning how the murderer would have gotten into the king’s room.      

Doing this project taught us that communication is important. Throughout the duration of this project we had long periods of time where we didn’t talk. This lead to us misinterpreting information and finishing the main aspects of the project. Luckily being done early isn’t much of a problem, but if we communicated better this misunderstanding could’ve been avoided. We also learned that having a written calendar is a great idea and one that we will use in our future projects. Having a calendar is like having a written contract that holds us both accountable to the work we do and do not finish on time.

Both Eli and I are satisfied with the final product of our project. Before we started we established goals and we feel as though all those goals were met. Our project looks like a real newspaper that could have been written around the time of Macbeth. It has all the things we felt a basic newspaper should have. If we were to do this project again we would have added more of a creative element to the project. In our minds a newspaper seemed to have more of an artistic appeal than what our outcome was. Even though the newspaper was a good idea it was not as unique as we originally thought it to be.