It is inevitable that a teenager will get in to mischief at some point in their life. Teenage wasteland is a short story that is written by Anne Tyler that portrays an overbearing mothers struggle to keep her son on the right path. This story reflects the issues that many families in America may have. Characters are essential in this story because each of their traits lead to a downfall of a fifteen-year-old boy named Donny. It all began one October day when Donny’s principal called his parents to schedule a conference. Only his mother Daisy was able to attend and that is when she learned her son was suffering poor academic performance. This included disruptive behaviors such as laziness and fooling around with friends in class. Daisy had …show more content…
This time both parents were asked to come. Donny’s academics had only improved slightly but new problems had arisen. The principal enlightened Daisy that her son had been cutting classes, breaking into lockers, even smoking and drinking. However, on Daisy’s mind was how stupid she looked sitting in a principal office as a delinquent parent. She is self-conscience and embarrassed to the fact that that she is an overweight house wife in a cotton dress. This woman is more distraught of what the principal is thinking about her than the issue of son’s …show more content…
Donny spent three days a week with his tutor and surprisingly his behavior at school started to improve. However, at home he still at a negative attitude towards his parents. Donny continuously complained that his parents were too controlling and didn’t trust him. Later on, his tutor called and encouraged Daisy to give him more freedom by releasing more “rope”. He even made rules for the parents such as not speaking to Donny’s teachers and not asking questions about his school work. Rules that neglected her parental responsibilities and gave Calvin more
Tommy is bored by his small town with its “ordinary lesson, complete with vocabulary and drills,” at school (p. 46, l. 137), and his mom not listening about his day, “Did you hear me?...You have chores to do.” (p. 58, l. 477-479) Everyone knows everyone else in Five Oaks. In comes Mrs. Ferenczi talking about things he and his classmates had never heard of before. Things like a half bird-half lion called a Sryphon, Saturn and its mysterious clouds, and sick dogs not drinking from rivers but waiting for rain all in one lesson (p. 55-56, l. 393-403). Ideas never stop coming and they branch out from each other before they are properly explained. Most of the kids feel she lies, but Tommy joins her in …. (Write here about how Tommy begins to make up stories like Mrs. F.) Think of the progression: looks-up “Gryphon” in the dictionary….makes-up “Humpster “ story….”sees” unusual trees on the bus ride home….yells at & fights
His grades were very bad and he wasn’t known to be a good student in class. He was described as, “ noisy,disruptive, always fooling around with his friends”. When his mother was notified about this, although her help was limited, it seemed to help him for a little bit, but then he fell back into same place as he was before. Donny was set up with a tutor, by the name of Cal. Cal was not the type of tutor any parent would intentionally set their child up with. He encouraged the child to rebel against authority. He criticized every attempt Donny's mother made to help her child. Donny unsurprisingly enjoyed the sessions with Cal. At the end of the story Donnys tutor was dropped and Donny was sent to a new school. His grades began to look better, but after a few months he disappeared. No one knew where he could be, not even Cal. Donnys parents are now left with a lost
School was Dave's only refuge away from his mother, and it was the only place he could actually get food and feel safe. Sometimes he would wish to stay at school forever just so he wouldn’t have to stay home with his mother. He dreaded holidays so much. His school was also a place where he felt loved by the nurse and put an end to his abuse.
Intergenerational conflicts are an undeniable facet of life. With every generation of society comes new experiences, new ideas, and many times new morals. It is the parent’s job go work around these differences to reach their children and ensure they receive the necessary lessons for life. Flannery O’Connor makes generous use of this idea in several of her works. Within each of the three short stories, we see a very strained relationship between a mother figure and their child. We quickly find that O’Conner sets up the first to be receive the brunt of our attention and to some extent loathing, but as we grow nearer to the work’s characteristic sudden and violent ending, we grow to see the finer details and what really makes these relations
No matter what actions or words a mother chooses, to a child his or her mother is on the highest pedestal. A mother is very important to a child because of the nourishing and love the child receives from his or her mother but not every child experiences the mother’s love or even having a mother. Bragg’s mother was something out of the ordinary because of all that she did for her children growing up, but no one is perfect in this world. Bragg’s mother’s flaw was always taking back her drunken husband and thinking that he could have changed since the last time he...
If you grew up in this generation, then more than likely you grew up watching the Nickelodeon show “The Fairly Odd Parent’s.” The show is about a ten-year-old boy named Timmy Turner. His parents barely parented him and were always gone, therefore they hired a babysitter who seems to be an angle to the parents, but behind closed doors she torments Timmy. One day, he is blessed with the opportunity to be given fairy godparents, Wanda and Cosmo, and they have magical powers and grants Timmy’s wishes. The cartoon show is unpredictable, but after watching it over the years I found one thing that I could predict that happens every time. Timmy’s teacher, Mr. Crocker, always failed Timmy with a grade of an F, and he always gave a character named AJ a letter grade of an A. Some could argue that Timmy simply didn’t study or do his homework, but the show portrays it as the teacher mistreating him. At the end of the day the teacher is the one that plugs the grades into the computer and they solely give you your grade.
Marie, who is a product of an abusive family, is influenced by her past, as she perceives the relationship between Callie and her son, Bo. Saunders writes, describing Marie’s childhood experiences, “At least she’d [Marie] never locked on of them [her children] in a closet while entertaining a literal gravedigger in the parlor” (174). Marie’s mother did not embody the traditional traits of a maternal fig...
Although, a mother’s determination in the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” mother face with an intense internal conflict involving her oldest daughter Emily. As a single mother struggle, narrator need to work long hours every day in order to support her family. Despite these criticisms, narrator leaves Emily frequently in daycare close to her neighbor, where Emily missing the lack of a family support and loves. According to the neighbor states, “You should smile at Emily more when you look at her” (Olsen 225). On the other hand, neighbor gives the reader a sense that the narrator didn’t show much affection toward Emily as a child. The narrator even comments, “I loved her. There were all the acts of love” (Olsen 225). At the same time, narrator expresses her feeling that she love her daughter. Until, she was not be able to give Emily as much care as she desire and that gives her a sense of guilt, because she ends up remarrying again. Meanwhile narrator having another child named Susan, and life gets more compli...
Suicide is a sensitive topic that many Americans confront on a regular basis. One of the many factors leading to suicide is depression, abuse, and stigma. Suicide can be impactful to a person’s loved one’s and their community. The book “Teenage Wasteland” by Donna Gaines, goes in depth, detailing the suicide pact that happened back in 1987 in Bergenfield, New Jersey. Gaines believed there was an epidemic with teenage suicide during that time. Two areas of the novel that I found interesting is their upbringing of the involved parties and how rehabilitation/deterrence played a role in their suicide pact. I believed their upbringings were heavily influenced by their relationship with their parents, school, the use of drugs and alcohol, and previous
Daisy lacks self confidence which made it harder to raise her fifteen year-old son Donny. There were many instances where Daisy pondered on what she can do better to help Donny in school, but as she put forth an effort, she always resisted. “She remembered when Amanda was born. Donny had acted lost and bewildered. Daisy had been alert to that of course, but still, a new baby keeps you busy of course….”(570) When Daisy saw this happening, she never stopped to reassure Donny that even though he had a sister, it was not going to change their relationship. Daisy should have reassured her son by correcting the problem as soon as it surfaced, then Donny should have understood. When Donny started to have problems in school, Daisy gave up without trying, and let a tutor dictate her son’s activities especially when the teacher questions Daisy about Donny’s actions, Daisy replied, “Oh I’m sorry, Miss Evans, but Donny’s tutor handles these things now…” (572) In school Donny’s behavior changed soo drastically that he started to stay out late and Daisy just sat back and let this happen. “The tutor had sat down so many rules![She] were not allowed any questions at all about school, nor were to speak with his teachers…,Only one teacher disobeyed…”(572) Because Daisy didn’t believe in herself or her word, she let others control and therefore his behavior worsened.
Their child is disable and has a delayed learning in physical activities. Brother nicknames him Doodle because he crawls like a doodle bug. Doodle learns to crawl at three, at age six Brother teaches him how to walk. To motivate Doodle brother says, “You can do it. Do you want to be different from everybody else when you start school?” Doodle replies, “Does it make any difference?” Brother responds, “It certainly does” (182). This shows how determined Brother is to make Doodle normal and avoid embarrassment at school. This also shows the standards of society and how it puts pressure on kids to be normal and fit in. Society puts pressure on everyone, it’s impossible to go somewhere and not be judged for not fitting society’s standards. Some people, like Brother will go to extremes to not stand out. Brother eventually teaches Doodle how to walk and on his sixth birthday they reveal Doodle’s walking abilities. Brother explains, “Everyone began to hug me, and I began to cry. “What are you crying for? Asked Daddy, but I couldn’t answer. They didn’t know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother” (180). This shows how Brother’s pride is taking over him, the only thing that matters is fitting in at school. He is crying because he is ashamed that he has no power over his pride. Brother explains how he is a slave to his pride and that he has no control over his actions regarding the protection of his pride. All of this leads to Brother pushing Doodle to his limits. Brother and Doodle are running home in the rain, Doodle can’t keep up with Brother and Doodle falls
Thirteen: The Age of Adolescence Adolescence is the stage in life when you are no longer a child, but not yet an adult. There are many things that still need to be explored, learned, and conquered. In the film Thirteen, the main character, Tracy Freeland, is just entering adolescence. While trying to conquer Erikson’s theory of Identity vs. Role confusion, Tracy is affected by many influences, including family and friends, that hinder her development. Many concepts from what we have learned in class can be applied to this character, from identity development, to depression, to adolescent sexuality and more.
Mr. Bellmonts, Jane and James felt that education of people was color was necessary and Mrs. Bellmonts and Mary felt that it would be a waste for people of colored attend school and was against Nig going to school. Yet Mr. Bellmonts said Nig should attend. Which his decision over ruled Mary and Mrs. Bellmonts disapproval of Nig going to school. Although serve as not only Nig escaping few hours of day of beatings and abuse. By time Frado had reach nine years old she had base elementary of reading, grammar, writing and math down. Mrs. Bellmonts in assist that Frado need no more education and she was needed to do more work around the
In the assessment of Ryan, the parent provided crucial information that led to identification of challenges that Ryan was going through. The parent spent a lot of time helping the child to complete his homework. Secondly, the parent realized that Ryan would be able to memorize a story, but reading and writing down the story was the challenge because the letters were jumbled up in a word. Ryan was showing extreme signs of frustration while at home, an aspect that he hid from his class teacher and schoolmates. Ryan was not afraid to ask the mother for help in doing homework and worked quite hard to please the mother, although inherent challenges frustrated his efforts.
My physical development was not so difficult for me. I experienced the growth spurt when I was10 to 15-years old. I didn’t think it was difficult time for me because my range of growth spurt was not so large. Additionally, I did not belong to sports club, so I did not feel uncomfortable when I move my body. I think I am a late bloomer because I have never had boyfriend. But I think it is advantage for me because I am not a “boy-crazy”. I know some friends who are early bloomer and being “boy-crazy”, I do not want to be like them. I have my own interest and I have something what I want to do besides dating with boys. My physical developments have some effects on my character of today. I think it is because I was taller than others since very young, my friends often said to me “you are like my elder sister.” This phrase makes me think that I need to be like elder sister when I was child. It is related to more about psychological development, but this way of thinking came from my height. One of other physical development related issue that makes me struggle is my period. Every time I am in period, I have pain in stomach and back; I feel sleepy, hungry, and irritating; and I have skin problems. I think there are more people who have more heavy symptoms of period, however, sometimes I cannot endure these. My physical developments have some effects on me, but it was not so difficult for me to pass through.