Ivan is in desperate need of money now to feed and take care of his new adopt child and Elsa and also so that he can pay Hilton the money to use his studio to record his music. This is were Ivan’s life starts to go down the drain when he starts dealing drugs and when he’s dealing drugs he is offered a gun by a stranger for protection, Ivan could have made the smart chose and turned the gun down but as said before Ivan will do anything to keep his dream going. Now that Ivan has this gun he sees himself as invincible. He feels as if no body can touch him, that the world is now his to roam.
Ivan hands over the money from his dealing to Hilton so that he can use the studio. Hilton doesn’t feel that Ivan’s record ‘RIDING RECORDS’ will get far, but Ivan is determined for it to go far and make him a star. Ivan has his record but now he needs to get it heard and for Ivan there’s no better way than the wrong way. Ivan threatens the radio DJ with his gun demanding for his song to be played. Sure now his song is heard but now so are the sirens. Ivan is now on the run from the police but it seems the longer he’s on the run the more trouble he seems to get in starting with the murder of the two police men. Some people might see this as a very bad thing to do but to the public and the fans of the RIDING RECORDS Ivan is now a hero and a strong role model to their day, time and age.
Elsa is starting to worry about her love as she doesn’t know about his dealing in drugs and that the way he is feeding and supporting her is through crime, but that all changes when Ivan runs home trying to hide one day. Ivan runs in, in a nervous which makes Elsa suspicious and curious about what is happening with Ivan. Ivan is trying to hide his money when Elsa sees Ivan’s gun which gets her frightened for the safety of her one true love. Elsa is also scared for her new child as their child has become very ill and if the child isn’t treated quickly it will die but they can’t get any medication for the baby because of problems with money
The chase is on. Detective Ray Jones, Pedro, Hilton and the Preacher are hunting down Ivan but Ivan has his fans supporting him. Unfortunately his fans weren’t able to support him enough because just as the tension was getting high the trigger was pulled. Injured and in pain Ivan flees to his love. Elsa sees the wound and is terrified and doesn’t know what to do but Ivan stays and is going to stay true till the end. Ivan wants Elsa to be safe so Elsa goes to her father and ask for help. The Preacher says that he would help Elsa by giving her food, shelter and money if she tells him where Ivan is Elsa is confused and doesn’t know what to do. On one hand if she tells her father where Ivan’s where about she can save their child and probably save Ivan but if she says nothing both her child and Ivan will die.
Elsa has a big weight on her shoulders but she decides to tell her father where Ivan is. Once the Preacher found out where Ivan was Elsa was waiting for help but then found out that her father had no intention of helping and left her stranded with nothing. Elsa flees back to Ivan to warn him but she is scared because she feels as if she betrayed him. Ivan and Elsa spend try to spend their last minutes together until they hear the police and helicopters coming for Ivan, Ivan tells Elsa to run and save herself but she doesn’t want to leave him she feels that they can still escape but Ivan is persistent about Elsa fleeing so Elsa fights herself to leave even though she wants to stay and she keeps running until she hears GUNSHOTS, and that’s when she realizes he’s ……gone…..
He would rather die than kill his dream.
I believe that this play has a very powerful comparison to the youth of today because a lot of the youth today live and make a lot of the issues that Ivan and Elsa had to put themselves through such as dealing drugs, gun crime, peer pressure, not having parents who support you, doing anything to fulfill your dream and many more.
I think that the strongest issues that a lot of today’s youth go through is teen pregnancy which a lot of kids can’t handle because teens of today don’t think of what they put themselves into a lot of them just do it to say that they’ve done it. Girls in particular have it harder than boys when it comes to this situation. Boys don’t have to carry the baby and think about abortion as much as girls also sometimes you get boys that would prefer to leave the girl to face the problems alone rather than face something that is also their problem. In the play Ivan and Elsa take on a child before thinking of how they would care and support it.
Another issue that I think is also very common among the youth/teens today, boys in particular is gun crime and drugs. A lot of youth want to make money or some do it because they think they gain respect and think they look cool doing it. The youth of today get a gun and feel that they must use it or their nothing when that’s not the case at all. The youth also use their guns on other youths in gang crimes thinking if they have a gang fight and win that makes them tough and in the male case it makes you a man where that is not the case here either it just shows that you are a coward because if someone’s life threatens you so much that you have to take their life away that just makes you a person who has no pride and dignity if they can kill another human being. Also drugs is something that normally involves the issue of peer pressure because everyone has the power to say no and turn away from the drugs that will just literally ruin and destroy your life not just physically but mentally as well. If you say yes to drugs you just admit to everyone that you don’t have your own mind, your just giving into peer pressure and doing it because someone told you to or because everyone else is doing it. Both of these issues were in the story of The Harder They Come with Ivan and Elsa. Ivan and Elsa are all alone know and have to take care of themselves but because they can’t find anything to help them Ivan is dragged into the drug business hoping to earn money not just for support of his family but also for his singing career. When Ivan started in the drug business he had to go through peer pressure not long after with his gun. He meets a man that tries to persuade Ivan that now that he’s in the business he will need a gun for protection, at first Ivan is not comfortable about the whole thing but stranger fixes Ivan’s mind to thinking it’s the right way to go.
I would say that the biggest influence and issue with the youth/teens of today is the parents. Depending on how the parents expresses and shows how they feel about their child it could change how the child sees life. If a parent gives the feel of not caring about the child and what they do that could cause the child to grow up thinking that nothing they do in life will be wrong and that they can what they want in life and never care. Where as if a parent shows that they care for the child by showing them affection and showing them the rights and wrongs in life the child is more likely to have a positive outlook on life and follow the right paths. Elsa had an issue in the story with her father where at first her father didn’t support her choice of having a relationship with Ivan and her father abandoned her and then later in the story Elsa puts all her trust in her father to just end up having herself stabbed in the back. This probably left Elsa confused and not knowing who to trust in life.
In conclusion a lot of teens, like Ivan doesn’t think of the consequences for their actions before it becomes too late. Also a lot of today’s youth take the wrong path and resort to the worse.
