My Super Sweet Sixteen

419 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social status and school achievement

My Super Sweet Sixteen

“But mom, this dress is only seven thousand, three hundred and fifty dollars! It’s Louis Vutton, you know that’s a great deal.” In the long run, Sophie ended up with the wallet-denting designer outfit and didn’t even have to lift a finger. Instead of purchasing the Louis Vutton gown, her family decided upon the nine thousand dollar Chanel outfit!

After cussing out the body guards for letting the “social rejects” in, her celebration had merely begun! She had pulled up to the most popular night club in the city (her family managed to rent for the night) in a Cinderella carriage for an unforgettable entrance. According to her, people would be talking about this party for the rest of their lives. Her get-together, complete with bouncers, go-go dancers, announcers, magicians, hip-hop dancers, and caterers running frantically in and out of the crowd, pleasing her every need seemed extraordinarily unrealistic. Remarkably, the only time we heard from Sophie was during her ridiculous tantrums, complete with excessive whining about everything that went amiss. Neither recognition nor thanks had been directed to her parents the entire night! In fact, her whole demeanor conveyed entitlement.

“My Super Sweet Sixteen” is a new hit series highlighting various teenagers on their super sweet sixteenth birthdays. Unbelievably, these families were spending hundreds of thousands of dollars toward these astonishing celebrations. It was quite amusing, yet somewhat disturbing watching today’s youth lavishing in their conspicuous consumption. After some serious consideration, I realized that this alluring lifestyle, though appealing, was shallow, degrading, and a disgrace to society as a whole. Upon further self-reflection, I had to admit that I myself have been enticed by these materialistic desires. Yet, these extravagances were far more detrimental than desirable.

I experienced an epiphany, at that very moment. Where was our appreciation? Where was our gratitude? Our graciousness had disappeared, replaced instead by indulgence, greed, and selfishness. The lack of appreciation and thankfulness is appalling! Nowadays, it seems that society hands everything to our youth without question.

Show More
Related

  • Repetition In To Blisland

    1095 Words  | 3 Pages

    They are already in a compromising situation in celebrating her eighteenth birthday at a gas station having coffee which was already established as being not the norm earlier with Marie recounting her own large party where her “mother made a large party” (154). There reality is broken when the teenagers arrive and “One of the girls went to the juke box and put money in” and they are forced to leave because of Carol condition which causes her to have a breakdown from the noise (157). The arrival of the kids forced them to come into contact with their own reality which can never coincide with the one they have fabricated. This small reminder of what the norm is supposed to be is often brought to their attention through others such as when they “could see, in the light shaft of light, a boy, two girls and a dog” (155). In this instance, they are walking on the way to their weekly picnic, which is in itself repetitive, when they are shown the norm of other having fun “the boy splashing in the water with the dog” while they are forced to go through the motions without much emotion. This depiction of the norm unsettles their reality and, even though they don’t stop trying to alter reality to shelter Carol, shows how dysfunctional their own situation is as it can be seen as a potential version of themselves without Carol’s

    Read More

  • Food as Symbol and Symbolism in Toni Morrison’s Beloved

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    In two passages of Toni Morrison’s novel, Beloved, she describes a party at 124. Everyone become so full from the food that flows endlessly that they become angry at Baby Suggs extravagance. Baby Suggs thinks it was this overfullness that caused them all to not notice the coming of Schoolteacher and his sons. The narrator of one passage is Stamp Paid and he recounts to Paul D. what happened at the party – what they ate and how it made everyone feel.

    Read More

  • Consumerism and Faith

    994 Words  | 2 Pages

    Swimme, Brian. “How Do Our Kids Get So Caught Up in Consumerism”. The Human Experience: Who Am I?. 8th ed. Winthrop University: Rock Hill SC, 2012. 155-157. Print.

    Read More

  • Loss of Innocence in Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds

    664 Words  | 2 Pages

    Most of us can easily picture a typical child's party, loud and hyper boys running about, noise and fun and screaming kids and chaos, but this party seems to be viewed differently by the mother. It is a more serious and quiet event. She sees the boys as "short men" gathering in the living room, not as children having fun. The children seems subdued to us, with "hands in pockets". It is almost as if they are waiting, as the readers are, for something of imp...

    Read More

  • Delinquency in the White Middle-Class Youth of America

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Currie, Elliot. 2005. The Road to Whatever: Middle-Class Culture and the Crisis of Adolescence. New York: Metropolitan Books.

    Read More

  • Consumerism In 'Raj, Bohemian' By Hari Kunzulan

    1415 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are many people who are driven by consumerism and many people who wish they can get in touch with that type of world. Consumers are often promoted to advertise more of the products that they are buying to get more people to buy more products. Hari Kunzru, author of “Raj, Bohemian,” creates a narrator who is obsessed with maintaining his individuality and free will in a world that is overcome with consumerism. Believes that the world takes away individuality when consumerism comes into play and how hard it is to maintain their true self. In her LA Times article “Teen Haulers Create a Fashion Force,” Andrea Chang writes about the phenomenon of teenage Youtube users who make videos that publicize their latest shopping binges. She expresses

    Read More

  • Comparing Adolescent Life: 1950s Vs. Today

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    Almost every generation criticizes the current adolescent generation due to the difference of historical perspectives. In response to this, I went out into the world and decided to interview someone of these older generations, Diane Partee Miller. Mrs. Miller is the age of seventy-five and is my maternal grandmother. She grew up in the small town of Evansport, which is located in the Northern part of Ohio. Mrs. Miller was an adolescent and primarily grew up in throughout the prime years of the 1950s. Differences between these generations is evident in classes taken in high school, social acceptance of dress, romantic relationships, and technology.

    Read More

  • Social Inequality In The Outsiders

    1394 Words  | 3 Pages

    Social inequality has been prevalent in modern-day America, where you could get picked on for just wearing the wrong brand or hairstyle. This occurs the most upon people who are struggling to adjust to adulthood; teenagers. Social inequality has and still is affecting teenagers across the world, and writers are writing about this problem in order to raise awareness and to change the view of the public. These authors write about example in which the inequality is demonstrated, hoping to present a different perspective and to motivate the reader against social inequality. However, not enough awareness has been raised to help prevent it. This is working, but not quickly, but it shows that things like books and music can help to raise awareness,

    Read More

  • Analyzing Thorstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class

    856 Words  | 2 Pages

    In 1899 Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions. In this work, Veblen presented critical thinking that pertains to people’s habits and their related social norms. He explores the way certain people disregard the divisions that exist within the social system, while subsequently emulating certain aspects of the leisure class in an effort to present an image of higher social status. He also presented the theory of conspicuous consumption, which refers to an instance when a person can fulfill their needs by purchasing a product at a lower cost that is equal in quality and function to its more expensive counterpart; however, said person chooses to buy the more expensive product, by doing so, they are attempting to present an image of a higher social status. The almost 110 year cycle between 1899 and 2010 reveals few differences in buying behaviors, other than the differing selection of luxury goods to indulge, or over-indulge in.

    Read More

  • Myth of the Teen Brain: An Article Review

    1235 Words  | 3 Pages

    In other industrialized nations, teenage turmoil was a fraction of that seen in the U.S. The author proposed that turmoil was the result of infantilizing- a phenomenon largely attributed to American culture. When treated like adults, teens are capable of rising to the...

    Read More

  • Kentucky Stereotypes

    1698 Words  | 4 Pages

    It was a few days before I left for school and my best friend, Kate, was throwing a good-bye party for our group of friends. I was so excited for this bash, seeing that it would be the last time our group would be together for a while. It was a time for all of us to move on and embark upon futures that held so much for all of us, and to say farewell to the people and memories that had shaped us. Kate's family had rented out a ballroom at a neighborhood country club, and we intended to dance the night away. As I approached the scene, disco lights streamed through the large windows and ran all over the lawn.

    Read More

  • Does Money Buy Happiness?, by Don Peck and Ross Douthat

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    Erika’s sweet sixteen is today, and her parents bought her a brand new car. She pulls into the school’s parking lot and flaunts about how her parents not only got her a car, but also a trip to Italy. People start to walk away, even some of her best friends. As the day goes on, her friends have not talked to her since morning. Fed up, Erika asks them what is wrong. Kristie, one of her friends, tells her how they cannot stand listening to her talk about her ostentatious gifts anymore. When Erika gets home from school, her mom asks her what is wrong. It is then she realizes what her friends were trying to say and tells her mother she does not want the car anymore. Her mother, astounded, asks why not and gets a reply of money cannot buy friends, nor can it buy happiness. According to “Does Money Buy Happiness,” by Don Peck and Ross Douthat, they disagree with the connection between money and happiness.

    Read More

  • Essay On Hedonism

    947 Words  | 2 Pages

    For several decades, as if, a typical undergraduate dream has been characterized with few major steps – getting prestigious high education, taking or buying a diploma, and consequently becoming a successful rich careerist with intuitively main goal to consume as much as possible in order to boost one’s utility at highest potential level. In this way of thinking, development of personal individualism and pursue of human values are left behind the curtains. Everything that can be seen on the scene of our being is mass consumerism, which slowly, gradually, but surely is transferring us into a hedonistic consumer society. According to an article in European Journal of Marketing, “A consumer society is defined as one directed largely by the accumulation and consumption of material goods. The term "consumer society" is used in a pejorative sense, coming from the perception that such a society will inevitably be hedonistic. It is the search for instant gratification that we traditionally associate with hedonism….”(41 Issue: 2007). In our way to gain deep pleasure, we are over purchasing items and gadgets which once were thought to be extreme luxuries. Most of the times, we are interested in what kind of IPhone we possess, whether to buy a tablet or a laptop, are we are driving more expensive and fancy car than the others, what is more fashionable – a pair of Armani jeans or a pair of Dolce and Cabaña trousers.

    Read More

  • Through the Eyes of a Teenager in A & P, A Short Story by John Updike

    1105 Words  | 3 Pages

    Teenagers often find themselves going through the motions of doing what they are told when they are told to do it. In conforming to societies norms teenagers begin to feel as if they blend in and nothing is really special about them. John Updike was able to write a coming of age story in which his main character Sammy gets shoved into adulthood rather quickly over spontaneous decision. Through Sammy’s thoughts, intense observations, and his actions we are able to see his deep depravity and his longing to stand out from the crowd.

    Read More

  • My Graduation Day

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    Graduation was the most important day in my life. I waited for this amazing day for twelve years to reach my dream and move on to college. For most people, graduation is a memorable day. It is hard for me to forget it even after a hundred years. The day I woke up realizing it was my graduation day, I was smiling all day long knowing that I had made my family proud of me. I remember everything about my graduation day: my party, cake, dress, makeup, hair, cap and gown, and the gifts I got from family and friends.

    Read More

More about My Super Sweet Sixteen

Open Document