Fiction Blog Post 1

If you were given opportunity for success, but you were not interested in the topic what would you do?

This is the cover of the novel

Success is only viable if one is interested in the topic, even if opportunity is present; in Nick and Norah's infinite playlist, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, Norah struggles to find what she wants out of life. Norah, a senior high school student, is trying to find her identity. Her whole life she has made decisions based on others instead of herself. Now, as she is starting to enter a new phase in her life, she is unsure her interest's. She is a smart student who has immense opportunity. "The Jewish Princess from Englewood Cliffs, valedictorian who chose a Catholic girl's high school to accompany her best friends through the experience, who chose to turn down Brown, the girl whose possibilities should supposedly be infinite"(28). Even though Norah has opportunity she lacks interest. She is known to conform for others. For the first time she is making decisions based off of what she wants. She is afraid that if she choses the "common path" she will miss out on something important in life. Norah is young and does not realize the decisions she makes now reflect who she will be in the future. Instead, she is "living" in an utopia where everything will work out eventually. Recently, Norah has also broken up with her boyfriend Tal. Tal is older then she is and attending the college Columbia. He has a strong personality, wanting to always be viewed as the dominate figure.  Since this is true, she is not able to make many decisions, and gives up who she is to please him. "But I said I was willing to consider it. I told him I could be vegan! I could be more Jewish"(49). Now no longer being with Tal, Norah is free to create her own identity. She dated him since she was fifteen. For the past three years, she has not made decisions with her best interest in mind. Since he is gone she has went through a phase of denial that she will be okay without a specific interest in life. Since she is not interested in a certain topic, Norah is not able to properly fulfill the opportunities she has been given.