Challenges in life are inevitable. They also must be overcome and resolved. This resolution comes with strength for tomorrow. The lessons learned from one obstacle helps with the next days challenge. Resolving challenges gave strength to the characters in both the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and the novel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. Romeo and Juliet is a story about teenagers from rival households that fall in love. They face many challenges on their path and end up committing suicide. In Between Shades of Gray, Lina and her family are taken from their home and sent to Siberia. They are forced to do hard labor and face obstacles they thought would …show more content…
This is shown in Romeo and Juliet when Juliet asks herself about the meaning of a name. This is shown when Juliet ponders why a name is so important in deciding what someone or something is. “What's in a name? That which we call a rose smells just as sweet” (Shakespeare 1,010). This illustrates the obstacle of overcoming the name of Romeo. Romeo would be the same if he was called by a different name. His name is the only thing preventing their love. Juliet is given the strength to move past this obstacle and question the feud between the two families. Similarly, in Between Shades of Gray Lina had to ponder about the obstacles she was facing. This is represented when Lina wondered about life, death, and being an orphan in Siberia. “Was it harder to die, or harder to be the one who survived? I was sixteen, an orphan in Siberia, but I knew.” It was the one thing I never questions. I wanted to live” (Sepetys, 236). This proves that overcoming obstacles makes people stronger because Lina overcomes the obstacle of being an orphan, and she still wants to live. She is still lost in a land she is unfamiliar with no means of escape. The past events in her life that lead up to this thought make her stronger. If this was her situation a year ago, she would not have the strength to overcome this, but she is stronger and wiser now and is able to get through this. In conclusion, character motivation reveals that overcoming obstacles makes people