English Assessment: West Side Story

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English Assessment- West Side Story, Romeo and Juliet

Scene- America
1. What is the content found in this scene?
West Side Story is set in the late 1950’s and portrays the times and racism found in New York City caused by the immigration at the time. The song found during this scene, ‘America’ jokingly represents the current situation. The scene shows the Sharks with their girlfriends comparing the advantages of Puerto Rico and the United States when Anita argues with Bernardo that he is too overprotective of Maria. There are two groups- Bernardo and the other boys and Anita and the other girls have an argument whilst singing and dancing trying to prove whether America or Puerto Rico is better.
2. What is the main theme/idea found in this …show more content…

The two main characters of these texts are deeply in love, but their different backgrounds and races separate them. In both texts they show that love is the strongest force that nothing can pull two lovers away. The Puerto Ricans and the Americans in West Side Story represent the modern day version of the Montagues and the Capulets and in both texts the lovers are separated by something physical. In Romeo and Juliet they were separated by the balcony and in West Side Story the bars became a barrier for Tony and Maria. These physical separations both appear as an obstacle between two lovers while they confess their love to each other. Both Juliet and Maria called back into their rooms by a woman and they turn away from their lover wanting more. A technique used to display the young love happening between the characters of West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet is portraying the idea of innocence in Maria and Juliet. Maria’s innocence of being young and unaware of the idea of being in love can be seen through her attire of wearing white, whereas Juliet’s innocence comes from the idea of jumping into a relationship and moving too fast. In both texts the lovers meet through a dance they are reluctant to go initially go to and they fall in love at first sight. A technique used to emphasise the two’s meeting in the similar texts is the use of lighting and as if everyone around them disappeared for a second. Throughout these texts, love has played as the main theme and has seemed to show from the beginning right to the end as at least one of the lovers are killed off by

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