First Love

Charlie and Fran’s relationship is paralleled with the love of Romeo and Juliet, the famous couple of the Shakespeare play that they are both acting in. At first, Charlie has a difficult time understanding the work’s convoluted language, but Fran offers to act as his tutor so that he understands both the play and his character better. Throughout the weeks of rehearsals, Charlie begins to internalize the play’s dialogue and to integrate it into his own inner monologue, often applying the lines to his own experience of first love. Before he explains his feelings for Fran to his best friend, Harper, he considers how Romeo acted in the face of disapproval. He thinks, “Thou knowest me not...I loved thee better than thou canst devise” (282). He embraces the play as inspiration for overcoming the hardship of explaining his love to his old...