Hayleigh Butcher
Mrs. Thomasen
English 12
December 18th
Vulnerability Leads to Strong Relationships
Relationships influence our decisions and the people we become because when we have someone to confide in, we realize things about ourselves we never knew. As shown in Pierce Brown’s novel, Red Rising, Darrow a young man, who lives on Mars, has the chance to become a hope for his people and bring them out of slavery. He goes through the process of becoming a Gold, the most powerful beings, to fight for the dream of his wife, which was thought to have died along with her. Throughout his journey, he meets Mustang, a girl who shows what being a leader is all about. Additionally, in Gus Vant Sant’s movie, Good Will Hunting, Will Hunting, a young adult living in the south of Boston, has an incredible gift: his mind. Will’s rough behaviour ends him up with a choice: go to prison or receive therapy. With therapy sessions on the side, Will does his own relationship building with Skylar, a girl he meets at a bar. He finds it difficult to be honest with her, but he later realizes that she has a good impact on him and is worth opening up for. Finally, in Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson’s movie Shrek, Shrek, is an ogre who lives in a swamp by himself. After the villain, Lord Farquaad, banishes all the magical creatures to Shrek’s swamp, he sets out to save the princess who Farquaad wants to marry. After saving Princess Fiona, Shrek slowly starts to fall in love with her, stepping out of his tough ogre shell in the process. Therefore, despite each character from Red Rising, Good Will Hunting, and Shrek having different environments and conflict, each of their identities are heavily influenced by their female relationships. For each story, as the relationships grow, the more the characters open up and change for the better. This illustrates that having a companion is beneficial in personal growth.
To begin, in Red Rising, Darrow has to make a decision to carry out his wife’s dream. By doing so he says goodbye to the only life he knows: living as a Red slave. He enters the Institute as a Gold, thinking that the only way to rise to the top is by showing power and dominance. At first, when he is a leader of the Mars Clan, he does not earn his peoples trust because he does not create relationships with them. Darrow thinks that to be a leader he has to show authority, but this fails him as the people in his clan form different groups resulting in chaos, “You are the wolf that howls and bites. I am the Mustang that nuzzles the hand. People know they can work with me. With you? Kill or be killed,” (Brown 269). Darrow’s idea of leadership focuses on showing others that he cannot be taken advantage of. The problem is others are trying to do the exact thing, ending with conflict and violence between house members. However, after Darrow has a falling out with one of the Mars members, he mets Mustang. She saves his life and the two start to bond and form an alliance together. Mustang teaches Darrow that the reason his members betrayed him was because they did not trust him. “You have to remember, people don’t like being told what to do. You can treat your friends like servants and they’ll love you, but you tell them they’re servants and they’ll kill you,” (Brown 268). Mustang tells Darrow this to help him understand what went wrong the first time he tries being a leader. Furthermore, Darrow learns from Mustang how to become vulnerable. As he opens up to her more, she does the same for him and their trust is built. In fact, because of their trust, they become close allies, working hard and finally, winning the game. Darrow would not have been able to do it without Mustang’s guidance.
Secondly, in Good Will Hunting, Will has trouble accepting who he is. He has many different traits about himself that he doesn’t want to come to terms with them all. For example, Will is incredibly smart, but only takes minimum wage jobs. He lowers his working standards to try and fit in with his friends who will never have the opportunities that Will has. It seems Will thinks he has to act tough in order to maintain his ‘southie’ persona. As far as it goes with his relationship with Skylar, he tries to act tough around her too. He lies about his family and is reluctant for her to meet his friends and see where he lives. This causes conflict between him and Skylar. She is open and vulnerable with Will, but he only gives lies in return. Part of the reasoning for this is because Will is not even sure who he is. He is afraid that his best will get rejected, so by keeping to himself he thinks he will never get hurt. “You’re afraid of me. You’re afraid that I won’t love you back. And guess what? I’m afraid too. But at least I have the balls to give it a shot. At least I’m honest with you” (Vant Sant). Skylar tells Will how she feels, she understands what he is going through and not once does she judge him for it.Throughout their relationship, Skylar was still able to make Will open up, even if it was in small steps. She manages to created that trust with him, although Will was not sure he wanted it. Unfortunately, Will didn’t realize how great of a positive impact Skylar had on him, until it was gone. He became aware that he needed Skylar, because she had taught him how to love himself. In the end, Will leaves behind the opportunities to make money, instead, deciding to follow Skylar. “…if the professor calls about that job, just tell him, sorry, I have to go see about a girl” (Vant Sant). Will comes to the conclusion that relationships are worth more than a job or making money, especially if that relationship is with someone you really care about.
Thirdly, in Shrek, Shrek learns just because he is different, it does not mean he is hated. First of all, Shrek lives alone in a swamp, where it is him and has only ever been him. He is feared for who he is because he is an ogre. After his sacred swamp has become a safe place for all fairy tale creatures, Shrek sets out on an adventure to get his peace and quiet back. All he has to do is save a princess from a fire-breathing dragon: “Okay, let me get this straight. [Shrek] you’re gonna go fight a dragon and rescue a princess just so [you’ll get] your swamp back?” (Adamson).Shrek is not doing the deed out of sympathy for the princess, he is doing it out of a selfish act to get back what belongs to him but he never intended for his views to change along the way. After rescuing Princess Fiona, Shrek learns that maybe he is not as hated and feared as he thought. Princess Fiona shows Shrek nothing but kindness and the two connect along their journey. For Fiona to get Shrek to open up is nothing short of a miracle. Before Shrek meets her, he is alone, selfish, afraid, as well as, unable to comprehend his feelings. But after meeting someone that isn’t trying to kill him, he learns, possibly for the first time, how to care for someone. Although, when conflict gets in the way, Shrek goes back to his old habits and pushes Fiona away, (similarly to Good Will Hunting). His friend Donkey confront Shrek about this, “[Shrek] your afraid of you own feelings”,
“Go away”
“There you are doing it again, just like you did to Fiona, all she ever did was like you, maybe even love you” (Adamson). Fiona was able to get over Shrek’s hard outer shell and succeeds in reaching his feelings inside. Shrek returns the feelings and was able to open up more to her. His walls come down when he sees she likes him for who he is. After realizing this, Shrek knows that he has to get Fiona back. He comes to the understanding that she treats him like no one else ever will, which is exactly why he fights so hard to keep their relationship together.
In conclusion, although the characters go through different circumstances, they are all effected by their female relationships. These relationships allow the characters to further grow personally as well as with their significant others. With regards to Red Rising, Darrow learns that showing compassion and being vulnerable is what makes a leader great. He understands that being open can create trust, all of these things which he learns from Mustang. Again, in Good Will Hunting, Will learns that being open and not feeling ashamed of where he comes from can create a intimate relationship. Skylar teaches Will that being yourself may be hard, but someone will love you for it. She shows Will that fear should never stop you from pursuing something. Lastly, in Shrek, Fiona teaches Shrek what caring for someone really means. Shrek has never felt love until meeting Fiona. She helps him understand the difference between pushing away versus pulling closer: something that will create strong relationships. Regardless of the characters circumstances, these three stories illustrate an important message: even though feeling vulnerable may be uncomfortable, going out of that comfort zone and sharing things with someone you love creates a very special and intimate relationship.
Work Cited:
Adamson, Andrew and Vicky Jenson, directors. Shrek. DreamWorks , 2001.
Brown, Pierce. Red Rising. Del Rey Trade Paperback, 2014.
Vant Sant, Gus, director. Good Will Hunting . Alliance Atlantis , 1997.
Reflection
Throughout the process of writing in class essays, i feel that i have improved greatly. I think the best thing in this essay was my argument as well as my thesis. I think that i have come a long way in my writing and this essay is something that i am very proud of. Something that i think i could have improved on was that even though I proof read my essay there was a couple of grammar mistakes that i missed. My goal for writing my next essay is to use less dead wood and asking someone else to proof read essay so i don’t miss any small mistakes.
