Essay 'The Worst Sort Of Husband'

Universal themes have been integrated into literature throughout history. From essays and articles to fables and stories, these collected works continue to baffle and inspire readers by their constant relatability to present day society with their themes, morals and motifs. One text that demonstrates this commonality of themes in literature throughout the ages in society is Daniel Defoe’s essay,” The Worst Sort of Husband”. Upon reading the essay “The Worst Sort of Husband”, written in 1707, one has a revelation that the theme of this essay still exists today in 2015 the subject being, ill-treating husbands. By identifying this universal theme, one begins to reflect and ponder about the other universal themes similar to, the Worst Sort of Husband

in today’s society, in my case, the Worst Kind of Role Model. Role models have a direct impact on youth and their development. They can influence one’s goals, actions, desires, behavior, style and even their psyche. When not appropriate, teenagers can be –in a way- coerced into becoming someone completely different from whom they were or aspired to be. Particularly, four types of detrimental role models include, the “Barbie/Ken Doll”, the “Star”, the “Bad Boy” and the “Junkie”.
One of the harmful role models in society is the “Barbie/Ken Doll”. Based on physical appeal, this model represents a single preferred type of man or woman that is considered beautiful and wanted by others. For women, the “Barbie Doll” is used as a reference as the “perfect” kind of women, one with big breasts, light skin, light eyes, average height, skinny, long blond straight hair and wears skirts and dresses most of the time. For men, the “Ken Doll” is used as reference as the “perfect” kind of man, one with average height, blond or brown hair, muscular, light skinned and light eyes. Those who do not have these qualities are not recognized as beautiful or handsome to others. Though times have changed and other types of beauty have been incorporated into today’s society, the “Barbie/Ken Doll” still exist and their standards are still being forcefully met by celebrities like Heidi Montag and by ordinary people like Justin Jedlica and Valeria Lukaynova through extensive plastic surgery. This kind of role model is very detrimental to teenagers because it teaches them that this is the meaning of “beautiful” and those should aspire to be that way. This role model encourages this perfect physical type and no other kind of beautiful; this can lead teens to wanting to change themselves by any means possible. Additionally, it may lead to low self-esteem and self-loathing in youth because of the lack of “perfect” qualities they have, thinking they are unwanted by others and criticized because of being “different”. This role model is having a person strive to erase whoever they are and become something that is supposedly perfect and beautiful, ignoring all the different types of beauty that exists all around us.
Another hurtful role model that resides in society is the “Star”. The “Star” is one of the celebrity performers on television shows, songs, and movies. These role models create aspirations for young people that becoming famous from acting can lead to vast success, wealth and fame, but the way they achieve that fame and attention is by following in the stars “footsteps”. These role models can be detrimental because these role models lead teenagers to think that jobs as performers are the more successful jobs and that being famous is an important thing to be. This deters future generations from concentrating on more helpful jobs to the society such as engineers, doctors, scientists, architects and so on. Additionally, these role models can become idolize by some of their followers leading to influences in style, living choice, likes and dislikes and such. These influences may be negative or positive depending on the “Star” role model they idolize, it can be drastic such as not going to school and starting drugs to calm like changing one’s sense of style and music preference. Sometimes even, these role models may get worshipped by their followers and change their entire life style to be devoted to another human being. However, with the growing interest in “Star” role models, teens also forget about the real heroes in the world, such as military fighters, construction workers, power plant operators, doctors and all the important, essential people that allow us to live at home leisurely, they place all their attention to the ones who receive the most of it and ignore those who do not have as much “publicity”.
Another adverse role model that exists is the “Bad Boy”. The “Bad Boy” is today’s new “adaptation” of the classic “bad boy”. This new adaptation encourages others to beat up girls, get into fights, promote drug use, sleep with many women, not care about their education, and rebel against any form of authority. These modern “bad boys” have corrupted its own term to mean so much more than the “unattainable cool guy that rebels”, with its new term; boys are charmed into wanting to become one of these “bad boys”, thinking this persona is more important than finding one’s true identity. This role model is detrimental to today’s audience because it convinces young adolescent boys that being the “Bad Boy” is cool and that all the girls and the other guys like and admires the “Bad Boy”. This conviction leads to the development of young men without education, proper structure, possible anger issues and substance abuse problems. However, not all “bad boys” exhibit such drastic behavior, but many teens are exposed to these bad boy adaptations from cartoons, shows, and in communities. These adaptations include as Chris Brown, and Lex Luther.
The last role model I will be discussing is the “Junkie”.

A junkie ranges in definitions from “a drug addict” and “a person with an insatiable craving” to “an enthusiastic follower, fan”; the term I have associated with the “Junkie” is all three of these meanings. The “Junkie” is a role model who sponsors and adheres to a substance that may be drugs, food or being an obsessive fan. These role models promote that having an addiction to something is a good thing and that sharing it across the internet connects you with others that also have the same addiction is helpful. Additionally, these role models in a way peer pressure teens to try some of these addictions because these people enjoy them so much and they want others to enjoy them as well. These kinds of role models are detrimental to the audience because when followers join this role model in something the role model is addicted to the follower will join in and may become addicted as well because of the followers aspiration to be like/connected to the “junkie”. Leading to lower aspirations in life other than their obsessions, and a higher risk at emotional, physical and mental abuse, teens risk the chances of being consumed by something like a drug or a food or a celebrity and losing outside

aspirations.
In conclusion, inspired by the essay “The Worst Sort of Husband” by Daniel Defoe, I have come to the consensus of my choices for “The Worst Sort of Role Model”, the perfect “Barbie/Ken Doll”, the recognizable “Star”, the infamous “Bad Boy” and the recognizable “Junkie” role model. Despite knowing the bad in all these role models, people still idolize them, share them, love them and encourage them to continue doing what they do “best”. Personally, I believe people have role models because they want to have a connection to a community that also adores their own certain role model; they just want to be a part of something greater in the end. Role models are important to any person’s development, but may not influence one’s complete being. Ultimately, the kind of role model one has reveals what kind of person one wants to be, the person they aspire to become and use as a fuel to become that person. So, who is your role model?