The Battle Between What’s Right and Being True to Yourself

The battle between what’s right and being true to yourself

In a little town there is an invisible wall between the Jewish and Catholics, forbidding much integration. The citizens of this town have learned to live like two separate species, but a battle is about to unfold. It all starts by, Lily, a Jewish girl who falls in love with Arthur, a Catholic, and now they must face the battlefield of love. This battle between doing the right thing and following your heart will cause many hardships, but in the end the latter prevails and Lily and Arthur gets married. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, and the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith all convey idea that you have to be true to yourself in order to be happy.

In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Huck, a boy seeking adventure meets Jim, a runaway slave who is wanted. Huck knew that the right thing to do was to turn Jim in, but instead Huck decided to listen to his heart and let Jim come along with him in his adventure. Through out the book Huck learns that Jim was not any different than he is, and soon becomes good friends. This is similar to Lily and Arthur’s situation, since in their neighborhood they are considered two different kinds of people, but they disregard what others say and discover that they are simply two people with different religions. Although both of them know that what they are doing is considered wrong in their neighborhood, they go against traditions and get married. At first Lily’s mother refused to accept the marriage, but saw how happy her daughter was and therefore got over it.

Similar to Lily and Arthur’s situation, Romeo and Juliet is about how two young people, who have feuding families, fall in love with each other and discovers each others’ true identities. Despite the knowledge of who they are and what family they come from they nonetheless keep seeing each other. They know that if they tell their family what is going on, they will get mad and forbid Romeo and Juliet from seeing each other. As a result they decide to get married secretly, just like Lily and Arthur. Both Lily and Arthur’s family will get mad if they found out that they have been seeing each other, therefore they secretly get married with people who approve to witness it. Lily knows that her mother will be furious at first, but she does it anyways for the sake of being happy and love. Together Lily and Arthur stay true to themselves even if others do not approve.

In Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a married couple John and Jane stay true to their hearts in spite of the dangers of being married. John and Jane Smith have been married for 5 years, but what they do not know is that both of them are undercover spies ordered to eliminate each other. Originally, both followed instructions to terminate each other, but their love was too strong. This causes both of their organizations to kill the Smiths themselves. Now John and Jane are working together to destroy their enemies. This is similar to Lily and Arthur’s problem. Although Lily and Arthur are attacked by their neighbors’ disapproval, they stand strong and ignore their comments. Their love is strong and it is what helps them through the tough times. In addition because of Lily and Arthur being true to themselves and not care about how the others think, they formed a crack in the invisible wall.

In Lily and Arthur’s situation both of them chose to stay true to their hearts, instead of doing what others in their neighborhood thought was right. Not only did the decision made both of them happy, but it also made the other people realize that no matter what religion people have, people are the all same. Choosing to be true to oneself will ultimately benefit one more than following traditions, since one knows oneself better than others and doing the “right” thing may not exactly bring happiness.