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The importance of peer pressure
Peer pressure effects on youth
Peer pressure effects on youth
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Forty-seven percent of people have lied about something they liked because they were afraid of getting made fun of. This is exactly what happened in the short story The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant, which was written by W. D. Wetherell. The narrator lied and said he didn’t like fishing even though fishing was his favorite hobby. He lied to try impress his crush, Sheila Mant, who thought fishing was dumb. This is an example of peer pressure. Peer pressure is the influence from members of one’s peer group. When a person changes who they are to impress someone else, it can lead to regrets later in life. The narrator was trying too hard to impress Sheila Mant and he changed who he really was for her. For example, the narrator was on the swim team at school and he used that to try impress her. He reveals this by stating, “I was on the swim team at school, and to win her attention would do endless laps between my house and the Vermont Shore, hoping she would notice the beauty of my flutter kick, the power of my crawl” (36). By making it seem that he was better at swimming than he really was shows that he changed who he really was, to try impress her. Another example would be when the narrator …show more content…
Peer pressure plays a huge role in today's society. About ninety percent of teens have been influenced by peer pressure in their lives. The narrator in the short story, The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant, was greatly influenced by Sheila Mant. She caused him to change his personality for her. It didn’t work. Sheila wasn’t interested in him even after he worked so hard to impress her. The narrator instantly regretted the situations in which he changed his personality. He regretted those instances throughout his entire life. It is important that a person does not change themselves for their peers because they will most likely regret it at some point in their
Sheila is the daughter of a very proud man, named Arthur Birling. He is very opinionated, and shown as a typical figure of the time or 1912. J.B Priestley presents him to the audience, as obdurate and biased. We can see this, when he says ?And then she got herself into trouble there, I suppose?? This also tells us he is very unthoughtful, and he is the sort of person who is ignorant, and wouldn?t want himself to ?go down to someone else?s level?.
To elaborate, after the narrator asks Sheila on a date, he brings his fishing rod because he never went anywhere that summer "without a fishing rod" revealing that fishing is what he likes to do and is important to him. He adds when he wasn't trying to impress Sheila Mant, he "was fishing the river for bass" explaining that he spends a lot of time fishing and he enjoys it very much. Before Sheila Mant, fishing has been his true passion. Nonetheless, the narrator becomes torn between Sheila and fishing. During the date, as the narrator discusses fish, Sheila pronounces that she believes "fishing's dumb" which created a dilemma with the narrator because fishing is what he cherished as extremely as Sheila. His rash desire masks his true passion and provokes the narrator to hide his passion from Sheila. Furthermore, the narrator hooks the largest fish he has seen inside his fishing pole and realizes that "Sheila must not know" because he would have given anything not to "appear dumb in [her] eyes." His superficial values and hunger for Sheila cause him to hide his passion in exchange for the possibility of Sheila's love. His desire for Sheila forces him to try to seem sufficient enough Sheila's love even if it means endangering his passion. Instantly, the tug of Sheila was too great for him and he extracted a knife and "cut the line in half" forcing his passion
The narrator in the story does not know everything in the story, the narrator cannot understand everything in the story, and can only describe everything that happens in the story through, the narrator’s view, and thoughts, portraying that the story is told in the first person limited point of view. For example, when Sheila was describing how fishing was boring, or uninteresting for her, the narrator tries to think of ways why her dislike of fishing came through, but never really figures it out, “Now I have spent a great deal of time in the years why Sheila Mant should come down so hard on fishing/ Had she tried it once” (Wetherell 3). This shows that the narrator is desperately trying hard to figure out why does, Sheila, someone that the narrator hold in high regard, hates something that, the narrator also holds in high regard. Despite, the previous mentions that the narrator had learned so much about Sheila, the narrator was not knowledgeable on the topics that Sheila was talking about in the canoe ride with the narrator. “It was a few minutes before I was able to catch up with her train of thought/I had no idea whom she meant” (Wetherell 2,3), many instances were showed that the narrator had really nothing in common with Sheila, and could not give much
“The Bass, The River, and Sheila Mant,” written by W.D. Wetherell, tells the story of a fourteen-year-old boy and the summer in which he met Sheila Mant. After weeks of failed attempts and longing for the older woman who seemed just out of his reach, the boy worked
Peer Pressure forces kids to change. In the story, Kate is constantly telling Jenny how if she doesn't change her “style” she will get bullied in high school. Jenny is always trying to look similar and do similar things as Kate by getting earrings and babysitting. On one of the pages in the text, it says, “my mom won’t let me wear baby tees or low-rise pants. Kate said because of this, everyone in high school will think I am a baby. This proves that Kate is bullying Jenny and she wants her to dress like her. Jenny also wanted to get earrings from Claire’s because Kate did, however, Jenny’s mom did not allow her to do so. “Kate didn’t get blood poisoning from Claire’s
I am reading “the bass , the river, and Sheila Mant” by W.D, wetherell. the story is about a boy who has fallen in love with a girl and he loves fishing. He has to make a choice of fishing or the girl. In this journal I will be questioning and connecting to decision and regret.
“Just do it, it’ll be fine.” or things like “Nobody will know, trust me” or even “If you don't do it we can’t be friends anymore.” These are all examples of peer pressure, a problem the whole world faces. Peer pressure is a big problem, and also is in the book Speak too. Peer pressure is the act of peers trying to make you do something, whether it be good or bad. Peer pressure can vary from friends wanting one to help them in doing good deed, or wanting one to do something bad like steal or disobey one’s parents or elders. Peer pressure in the book had put the main character Melinda Sordino through a lot, not knowing where she belonged and who was really there for her throughout the story. Peer pressure in schools and in everyday life of
A poem without any complications can force an author to say more with much less. Although that may sound quite cliché, it rings true when one examines “The Fish” by Elizabeth Bishop. Elizabeth’s Bishop’s poem is on an exceedingly straightforward topic about the act of catching a fish. However, her ability to utilize thematic elements such as figurative language, imagery and tone allows for “The Fish” to be about something greater. These three elements weave themselves together to create a work of art that goes beyond its simple subject.
... instead of following the majority. The issue of peer pressure can relate to teens, as they are in constant pressure to be ‘cool’ or to be in the ‘in’ group. It does not really promote individualism, so people cannot develop their own ideas but rather follow the leader of their group.
Teenagers become caught up with following peers, because the decision is made to become involved in experimental activities by choice. On the other hand, peer pressure in teens can allow mature growth in the student, because the individual can them become a leader within an environment in a positive manner. According to kidshealth.org, “Getting to know lots of different people-
Alert! Alert! We 've all seen it on TV shows and in the movies: a good kid with a good home and a good family life, but questionable friends. Soon enough, the kid is going out every night smoking, doing drugs, and partying. Every parenting book on the planet, it seems, has a section similar to this with warnings all over about how to save your child from the harmful, gripping effects of peer pressure. This all promotes the idea that peer pressure is damaging to school-children and teenagers. As a whole, society has become obsessed with individuals making decisions for themselves, so much so that we 've been trained to hear alarm bells when we think of peer pressure. However, though it is usually connoted as a negative influence, peer pressure perpetuates many positive qualities within a number of social situations.
Many of the choices teenagers make are influenced by peer pressure. Sure, I had an obsession with many trends growing up, but later on in life I heard a quote that really aimed at my thoughts, the quote was "The shoe doesn't make the man, the man makes the shoe. " After hearing the quote, I thought about what I did in my life to fit in, and realized that what a person wears, buys, or listens to, doesn't create who a person is. Peer pressure throws out the thought of being who you want to be; peer pressure is more reminiscent of "be like everybody else.
The first point I want to make in this speech is that peer pressure is NOT a bad thing. We all are influenced by our peers, both negatively and positively. It helps define who we are and how we feel about subjects in our lives. It is how we chose to react to peer pressure that defines who we are as an individual. Are we a leader or a follower? Both types of people are needed to make the world go round.
When you are a teenager and you have friends that ask you to do something for them and you do not then they get mad. Then think you are a loser and that is ever person's nightmare, to not be liked. Peer pressure is no piece of cake. It is like choosing the wrong thing for what you think is right at that very moment, and then regretting it afterwards, because your parents find out. But most would not care about what they do wrong or right. Unless there is a chance of parental disappointment, and a lot of the time that is the case.