The dialogue explores the contrasting perspectives of two friends, Iris, a romantic idealist, and Emma, a rational scientist, as they discuss the topic about spirit and science around crystal bracelets. This work aims to explore how do people look for emotional fulfillment through crystals, and at the same time to reveal how spiritual symbols are commercialized in the consumer society. Iris regards crystal as the carrier of “soul archaeology”, she thinks that crystals have magical effect (such as amethyst from Bangkok’s night market or citrine discovered by archaeologists), while Emma tries to explain their meaning using scientific arguments (“Correlation doesn’t equal to causation”). And they finally made an agreement based on (“Beautiful things are always charming”), which reflects the subtle symbiosis of rationality and sensibility.
Advantages:
- The characters in the dialogue are vividly portrayed, showcasing a stark contrast in their personalities;
- The work incorporates some literary and cinematic allusions to deepen the theme. For example, “It’s archaeology for the soul.” This sentence is a reference to poet Mary Oliver’s famous quote —— “Poetry is the archaeology of the soul.” Moreover, the phrase “Beautiful things are always fascinating.” is a reference to Wilde’s “All beautiful things are merely traps” from The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Suggestions for improvement:
- Expand the description of Iris’s fascination with crystals to increase the emotional depth of character, make sure the personality of character is rich;
- The change of Emma’s thought can lead to more sensory details, such as description about how she feels when she touch a crystal, making her shift from rationality to sentiment more reliable.