Yana Horowitz Professor Daniel Creed ENG 1102 25 March 2016 The Importance of a First Impression In “Sure thing”, a play written by David Ives, the author shows how meeting someone can have different impressions based on conversation. Unfortunately, people usually judge each other based on what they see outside. It’s never good to hide who is your true self, but based on modern world situations, sometimes it is better to be a better version of yourself. All humans like to judge others. They critique looks, financial situation and even favorite hobbies.
The wrong clothes or certain type of makeup turns them away without even trying to find out the other’s person inner soul. Based on certain answers, the person can change his or her first opinion, stop the conversation and it is not right. If a man wants woman to like him from the first time he needs to prepare his look, speech and manners. Once the first impression is made, it is impossible to change it. In “Sure thing”, the author gives these characters another chance for a change. In this play David Ives shows a few different ways of communication on the first date.
If conversation goes in the wrong direction, the bell rings and everything starts over again. The ringing bell represents a fresh start which gives characters another chance to make a better impression on each other and help them to fall in love. The first impression says everything. People of society should make a good first impression on someone who they like because it is the key to future relationships. Bill and Betty are the main characters of the story. They met in a coffee shop. Betty was reading and Bill tried to approach her. Their first conversation was very short.
The male character asked a female if the chair next to her was taken, she replies, “No, but I’m expecting somebody very shortly. ” (Ives 454). It seems like there is no way the conversation will continue, but the bell rings and the characters get another chance to give the right answer. When Bill asked Betty what was she reading, he tried to guess the author and gave a wrong answer. This made the bell ring because the answer did not satisfy Betty and the conversation ended and restarted. When Bill finally gave a right answer about the author, the conversation continued.
Women like to meet smart and interesting men. A man wants to leave a good impression about him. Betty asked Bill what college he went to. He said that he went to Oral Roberts University. The answer did not satisfy Betty and the belt ringed. Bill got another chance to change the impression and he said, “I was lying. I never really went to college. I like to party”(455). This answer was not right one for Betty and Bill got a third chance. Finally, he said that he went to Harvard. It satisfied Betty and the conversation continued.
We have to start realizing that when we’re letting people down, confusing and hurting them, we are not telling them what they want to hear; we are telling them whatever will limit our consequences and we’re also trying to influence that person’s perception of us. It’s a lot more ego focused than most of us will admit to. Bill tells Betty what she wants to hear. It is not clear, whether he lies or tells the truth. He liked the girl and wants to do his best to impress her. This story shows that sometimes it is better to say a lie because the truth can be painful and destroy the first opinion.
Bill and Betty represent the regular people of society. The author even gave them such popular names to help reader to relate to them. The story shows us something what happens to everybody in life. People try to be better versions of them on the first meeting. It is very important, because not everyone get a second chance to improve the first impression. The author gives Bill many chances which lead to interesting story end when the man and the woman fell in love with each other. There is nothing wrong to improve own personality temporary if you really like the person.
The real world made this way and we cannot avoid it. The first impression is not always right. We cannot judge somebody by the clothes he or she wears. There is so many different life situations and if the person did not have a chance to go in the best university and it does not mean that he or she is not smart. Sometimes telling people the real thoughts can scare them. Telling them what they want to hear is what makes them like the person more but also hides the real personality. People need to think twice before start conversation.
Young people are very open-minded and not embarrassed to show their real soul. As person gets older and gets more life experience, he or she needs to think twice before starting a conversation. Life experience made a human being to be shy about their personality. There is nothing wrong to tell people what they want to hear occasionally. There is a problem when a person dishonest all the time, this behavior becomes habit and turns other people away. But people always should have a second chance. The ring is a symbol of a new start.
Bill and Betty represent the regular people in everyday life. Bill changes his identity in order to improve his first impression for Betty and the ring is like a vector that leads conversation in the right way. Because of the ring, Bill found the answers which satisfy Betty and made her like him. If not the bell the conversation would finish very fast. Bill keeps getting extra chances to improve Betty’s opinion about him. There is nothing wrong with it if it does not turn into habit. Bill represents a person who fall in love and want to appear perfect for Betty.
