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An essay on negative effects of peer pressure on youth
Peer pressure effects on youth
Peer pressure effects on youth
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Studies have shown that what children see and hear can have an impact on their lives. If a child is exposed to kindness and compassion, they start to take on those characteristics, yet if a child is exposed to abuse and hatred, they will take on the negative characteristics. In the novel, Lives of the Saints by Nino Ricci, the protagonist Vittorio Innocente's childhood is ripped away from him through his great suffering. Vittorio's innocence is tainted through the negative impact of his experiences with friends and his encounters with violence and death, thus leading him to mature at an earlier age.
Vittorio's classmates had a negative impact on him by exposing him to the toxins in cigarettes and forcing him to reveal himself in the most
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private manner without asking for his consent. In various cultural setting, adolescents and children tend to be friends with those who are most like them.
Different types of peer groups have unique abilities to encourage negative or positive behaviors in their members regardless of their age. Friends have the power to affect one's character and behaviour, yet people can always offer an individual many different routes but it's up to that individual to choose which route they want to take. Throughout the novel, Vittorio becomes the victim of peer pressure due to a lack of confidence and self empowerment. "Fabrizio was holding a cigarette out to me. I hesitated, then took it, leaning forward towards Fabrizio's proffered match" (Ricci 173). Vittorio's hesitation illustrates the guilt he is feeling in regards to smoking. Vittorio does not decline Fabrizio's offer and in this incident, he shows his yearning to be accepted. It is not a common scenery to spot a 7 year old smoking, yet Vittorio believed that this would be a gateway to belonging. He believes that when he smokes a cigarette and acts like a "man" he will be respected by his friends. His classmates deprive him of his chastity again by violating his privacy and taking his pants off without his agreement. "Vincenzo and one of the boys lifted me by the armpits, and before I had …show more content…
had the time to think or object I was already pinned face up on the ground, one boy on each arm and Alfredo sitting on my ankles, the other boys peering down at me" (Ricci 129). The words "lifted" and "pinned" display the aggression used against the young protagonist, in order for the school boys to humiliate him even further. At this point, all the villagers are aware of Cristina's affair and the boys are only doing this to demean Vittorio and his family even farther. Vittorio's friends changed him both physically and mentally. "Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals" (1 Corinthians 15:33). This bible passage unveils the idea that spoiled associations can alter the course of one's life and drive one from the path of God to a path of mischief. Children are bound to take on certain characteristics from their companions that will change who they are and how they act in society. Vittorio took on his smoking habits from Fabrizio and his conscience was affected by the violation he encountered in the forest, thus smudging his naiveté. Children who live in a home where abuse occurs are always afflicted by it.
It has been proven that children mimic domestic violence because any violence is a learned behavior. The actions they see being committed by their parents can change the emotional stability of one's life. The impact of witnessing violence is not just felt in childhood, but the damage will be a burden throughout one's life. Vittorio's father, Mario Innocente, is never present in his life because he leaves Valle de Sole and Vittorio with nothing but decayed memories. These memoirs are one of the many things that contributes to Vittorio's loss of innocence. "I saw my father pick up something from the table, a dish or a bowl, and hurl it towards where my mother sat across from him [...] I saw my mother recoil, her lips forming into a scream or soundless horror as the object shattered against her cheek" (Ricci 32). Vittorio reminisces his father as abusive and destructive and a memory like this one can surely traumatize him. He does not have many memories from his father and it is significant that one of the reminisces is created by his father's anger. His vicious memories act as bridge to lead him to experience cruelty on his own. "Suddenly we were on the ground, rolling in the dirt in the square in front of the church. I did not have any experience fighting, but somehow my body seemed to know instinctively how to do it, how to fling a fist, what areas to strike to cause the greatest harm" (Ricci
106-107). Vittorio begins to fight with his classmates as they insult his mother and call her names which serves as a turning point in the novel. Previously, Vittorio would only ignore the names and try to isolate himself from his classmates, yet now he has taken another approach to silence the rumours. His actions are an aftermath of the violence he witnesses in the village and in his home. "We are all the product of our past and have to live with our memories and personally they cannot be changed" (Jane Hersey, Full Circle). The impact of witnessing violence urged Vittorio into utilising violence to deal with his classmates and their insults. Vittorio does not have the life experiences or the emotional and intellectual capacity to understand that violence is wrong. This concludes that the dysfunction of the Innocente family ultimately plays a role in the loss of Vittorio's innocence.
Kids are not often kind, they do not listen to rules, they think they are better than others. It takes time and trial to change into a kind person. Often in literature, the protagonist changes from the beginning to the novel to the end of the novel. The protagonist changes after a hardship or issue. In Roland Smith’s “Peak” Peak matures from a selfish child to a selfless man, when struggling to climb Everest.
The marvelous story of saints is one of the leading themes in Fifth Business. As the author Robertson Davies develops this theme through Dunstan’s journey into hagiology, he often uses certain saints such as Saint Dunstan, as allusions. Among the Saints that the novel refers to, Saint Paul is the perfect allusion that portrays the character of Paul Dempster since the two share strong similarities in their lives. Additionally, Saint Paul foreshadows Dunstan’s encounter with Paul Dempster.
Parental influences can negatively impact a child’s life. An example of this is in the novel
How do we make the leap from child to adult? What obstacles must we overcome? Who can reform and influence our decisions, the very decisions that will shape who we become?A child is innocent from day one, but as one ages it starts to lose its significance and at some point in life and it must be thrown away. In “Bless Me, Ultima” by Rudolfo Anaya, Antonio encounters many obstacles that chip away at his innocence which forces him to question God’s authority and in justice in the world, such as the death of Lupito, Narciso, and Florence. Antonio is forced to endure difficult experiences too early in life, causing a premature loss of innocence.
	A child is much like a far-reaching scientific experiment. Both are expensive and in constant need of attention. Nevertheless, an experiment can be terminated at anytime. The experiment of child cannot be aborted, and sometimes the Experiment fails when he or she chooses the wrong path. However, for Rudolfo Anaya’s "Experiment Antonio" of Bless Me, Ultima, the results are promising. Antonio, as a child, already possesses traits that lead to a good and pure life. He is naturally a mature and wise man-child yearning for knowledge.
The first six years of a child’s life is a window of opportunity when a child unquestionably accepts the virtues modeled by his or her parents (“8 Ways to Raise a Moral Child | Ask Dr. Sears”). In their first few years, children believe that their behaviors are right or wrong according to what a parent tells them. By five years old, a child begins to adopt their parent’s values, whether they are noble or not. Merseault’s childhoo...
My thesis statement is that children’s innocence enables them to cope in difficult situations. Children generally have a tendency to lighten the mood in sad situations because of their innocent nature. They turn even the saddest situations to mild, innocent situations. This is evident when Marjane says “these stories had given me new ideas for games”, (Satrapi, 55). By saying this she refers to her uncle’s stories of how he and other prisoners were tortured in prison. Stories of torture have never been easy to hear even for adults but Marjane so innocentl...
This novel discusses the development of a young boy over a span of years. In this time, he grows into the man that his father always wanted him to be. He begins to question things, such as his religion. Tony wants to understand the world and how it works, rather than just maintaining his childlike ignorance. Readers can really see how Tony not just physically develops, but even the way that he thinks about things changes. Tony evolves a more realistic view of the world and a greater appreciation for it. This novel is extremely relatable for this reason because everyone has to suffer the loss of their childlike ignorance to become more aware of the world around them. Everyone has to grow up. It is simply a part of life. While it isn’t the most fun thing in the world, there is also an understanding that comes with it, and we can see Tony developing this understanding that people have had to suffer themselves. The very prominent development in this novel clearly shows how Bless Me, Ultima is a
Growing up is not an easy task, on the way to adulthood humans face trials and tests. Heart of Thomas shows the process of finding oneself and how it is different for each individual in the story. No one follows the exact same path in their life due to many external, and internal factors, such as upbringing, social status, appearance, thoughts, interests, who one is associated with, the list goes on and on. Hardships will present themselves to people in different ways, like the loss of a family member, or the loss of money, both valid hardships, however, they are taking different forms. Hardships such as the ones explored in Heart of Thomas shape the characters and help them find their own identities. The text shows how one must come to
We see that in the kids who are living in hostile conditions to their well being in the sense of severe unemployment and abusive parents. Julia Keller's shows that the villains don't make their decisions in a vacuum but are hardened by the harsh conditions which they are raised. The example of that is Chill who is kidnapper of Carla and also the HIRED ASSASSIN of the murdered people in the first chapter, Chill is a nineteen-year-old lad who is bruised physically and emotionally by his father. There is a time he even threw a boot on him because he woke him up on a Sunday Afternoon. (Julia Keller 107). His teachers did not believe the tales he told about the incident in school the next morning they had too much on their hands to be worried. That event is a turning point in Chill life in the sense that he believes he is worthless, and his life trajectory didn’t matter. Which is shown in the sense that when a new teacher starts to take an interest in him he becomes uneasy with the love and care that he retails instead by being lewd. Chills father should have been reported to Child Protective Services by his teachers and made to require a parenting class. Chills will not have fallen through the systems if the school could afford a competent social worker or his father isn't either stretches from the arduous manual labor. This abuse is replicated in the way he is maltreated by the
Peter Tosh was born into this world without a father or mother with the responsibility, or the time to raise young Peter. He was raised by his aunt, although Peter's personality would have you believe that he raised himself. An extremely self-reliant, self-dependent entity, Tosh fought for those who could not fight themselves. He was a voice for those who had not the means, nor the ability to speak to a worldwide audience.
The children couldn’t accept what they thought was so horrible. There was a lot of ignorance and carelessness portrayed throughout this short story. The theme of ungratefulness was revealed in this story; The author depicted how disrespecting someone can inturn feed you with information you may wish you never knew and how someone can do one wrong thing and it immediately erases all the good things a person did throughout their
In this play, Marco's actions lead us to the discovery of a violent side which he uses to defend his honor in a number of occasions. For example, when he challenges Eddie to lift...
Reality is often times harsh. Adults have learned this and accepted this. Children, however, find themselves faced with the brutality of reality and can not accept it. Because of this, adults will do anything they can to soften the blows dealt to children before they are ready to learn the truth. Kids can be scared or impressed upon easily. Adults want to make sure the child knows there is good in the world before they come face to face with the evil. This desire to protect children is a common theme in many writings. Particularly in two poems, “A Barred Owl” by Richard Wilbur and “The History Teacher” by Billy Collins.
Can you imagine running away and leaving everyone you love and care about? St. Dymphna had to when she was only 14 years old. In this essay I will tell you what a saint is and about the life of St. Dymphna.