Spellbound Response

In Jeffery Blitz's documentary Spellbound, Neil Kadakia and Ashley White share few similar and different motivations for winning the National Spelling Bee. Both Neil and Ashley seem to compete in the spelling bee too make themselves and their families proud. However, Neil seems to be doing it more for his parents and grandparents. In the film, Neil's father talks about how Neil's grandfather is paying a thousand people to pray in India that he wins, and if he does, he will donate enough money to feed five thousand people. It also seem that Neil's father wants it more than Neil. He puts lots of pressure on Neil, forcing him to spend all of his time studying. In the end, Neil doesn't win, but his father is still proud. On the other hand, Ashley seems to compete more to make something of herself. Her mother and family talks about the money she could earn, alluding to the possibility of the reward she could earn. Also, Ashley seems to do it because she enjoys it. No one pressured Ashley as much as the others, she did it all on her. Neil and Ashley have different motivations to compete in the National Spelling Bee, but both do it for their family.