In class when we began learning about productive and distributive power, I was reminded of the books and stories that I’ve read over the years. More specifically, Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. When Juliet goes to the Friar in order make a plan to fake her own death so that she and Romeo could be together away from Verona, she takes a weapon with her, proclaiming that “if all else fail, myself have power to die.” It’s a rather drastic move, though not a shocking one. But the reason this sticks out to me is because her whole life, Juliet is trapped without any choices. She does not decide what she can do, where she can go, or who she can marry to an extent and is rarely allowed to leave her house. So her choosing to leave her home and give herself the power to live or die is a very momentous occasion. The only problem with it is that while it sounds like a bold, brave decision to make, it’s not really a choice she makes for herself but for the possibility of a life with Romeo and the sheer lack of options she actually has.
In all stories, characters are given limited choices by their creator in order to make the story progress and remain interesting. They make decisions based on manipulation, coercion, misinformation, and usually unsatisfactory options are made available – both by the author and the world that the author builds. That is not to say that stories are not enjoyable or that they could really exist any other way, but it’s just something I’ve been thinking about. I cannot help but feel that we are more like the characters that we read about than we want to be. In the society we live in, our choices are dictated by the norms that are created and the various powerful institutions that enforce them. Because of this, I’m not sure we actually make full decisions; we just find our own way to negotiate around the structures that we exist in; we navigate the boxes we are confined in.
If we are like characters in a story, then who is our author? To some extent our own autonomy and decisions, but the overarching institutions that provide rules that were either chose to uphold or break dictate more of our lives than we could ever want them to. And at the same time, we don’t really know any other way to be.
Unruly Bodies 
I loved your insight into Juliet’s life. I agree, to some extent, that we all have a limited amount of power over our own lives. However, in regards to writing, I think an author shouldn’t have to use methods like coercion and persausion to force a character to fit their narrative, they should go the way the story and characters want to go rather than force the plot in any other direction, that is what makes a bad story. But, I will say that in our own lives the cultural norms that surround us dictate what choices we have and those can flow into our own writings.