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What has life to give? Everything.

What do people have to give? Nothing.

Human beings. We have so much potential yet we waste it. Life gives us so much yet we throw its gift away. But there are times when other human beings make us realize our purpose, our goals. They help us create them. In the end, we have to help each other to survive. If not, we’ll be running blindly in a maze.

Adam Rapp explores these ideas within his play, The Metal Children, by letting the main character, Tobin Falmouth, travel to Midlothia to passively defend his book, The Metal Children. By having a story within a play, we can see how the events will work out.  The girls take Tobin’s book as an epiphany because they realize that through pregnancy they can achieve freedom. Do we really need to “sacrifice” ourselves to gain “freedom”? Honestly, purposely being impregnated is going too far. The girls may be getting their “freedom,” but, essentially, they are going to be restricted with the births of their children. If that is their “freedom,” let them have it. In addition, the entire time Tobin was in Midlothia helped him to move on because the way the majority of the townspeople acted toward him helped him to create a book – one that is for adults. Furthermore, the conversations with Vera Dundee and Stacey Kinsella help Tobin to open his eyes to the people around him and how they react to things unknown to them. In the end, Tobin slowly moves on as he creates his novel which Bruno says may be a bestseller, but the past comes back. Vera visits Tobin with their baby, something he and Miranda couldn’t have, and it strikes him, hurts him inside because Vera is too focused on her mission. And then Tobin cries. This catharsis releases all the emotion built up inside of him and the reader.

Martin Scorsese, on-the-other-hand, has his protagonist, Travis Bickle in the film, Taxi Driver, to show the ideas. Travis was a veteran of the Vietnam War. His mind has been affected and the world he sees in New York City is trash, especially at night. But later on in the film, after meeting with Betsy and losing her, he realizes that all people are the same. Only the morning hides it behind the light while the darkness exposes the truth of the city. Because of this Travis finds his goal to save a prostitute from her “owners.” He saves her because he believes it right. But was it necessary to kill the pimp, bouncer, and the client? No, he could have done it a different way, but it comes to show you how people will act differently on a killing because of the type of person(s) killed. Before, when Travis shot a black man, nothing happened, but this time he kills three white men and he is taken as a hero. Shows you where our priorities lie.

But one main theme that was expressed throughout both works was FEAR. Fear? Yes, fear. We fear the unknown. We fear the darkness. We fear for our safety. And in our fear, we hurt others. Through our fear we can act ignorantly and cruelly. Fear is what drives our actions. Our fear to be ridiculed causes us to conform. The news drives fear. Fear drives us. Why are we hostile to people with different views? Tobin Falmouth and Stacey Kinsella were harassed and almost killed because of their views. They weren’t forcing their ideas. They were exposing them to it. Betsy feared Travis because of her high status she feared she would lose it. She realized this after being brought to the sex movie.  It is all to the person(s) to decide what to do with the information: ignore it, take it to heart, expand on it, or blow it out of proportion.

Different media, similar stories. Everything can be connected. Life flows from one person to the next. Fear slowly transgresses in the human mind. It affects everyone.

What drives fear? Humans.

What drives humans? Fear.

Nocturne