Raising Teenagers The Mother Of All Problems Summary

The extract from Rachel Cusk's article 'Raising Teenagers:The Mother of All Problems' uses techniques such as juxtaposition, similes and antidotes to persuade the reader to see teenage girls as irritating, privileged and disrespectful. Cusk writes of her experience as a mother losing traction/ connection with her teenage daughter. It was a development she also saw among her daughter's friends, who scoffed at their mothers. One can argue this article extract has a very negative stance on raising teenagers,however adolescents are as different from each other as adults are different from each other. Therefore, Cusk's story is her own personal anecdote – her own experience of raising a teenager. The technique of a personal anecdote influences a particular reader, one that shares similar experiences to the authors. They may see teenagers as disrespectful, privileged and irritating, as they can relate to similar experiences with raising their children, and are more inclined to believe all teenage girls share these traits. In contrast, there is another group of readers that are more likely to disagree with this stance, and claim all teenagers are not like

this.

The article extract demonstrates the technique of contrasting between mothers and fathers.

The girls have a very negative and disrespectful view of their mothers, not even mentioning their names when speaking about them but simply referring to them as 'she'. These girls seem to show a lack of respect for their mothers mostly due to them being unemployed. They speak about their mothers like they are a nuisance, pathetic – nothing better to do than succumb to all their needs. This can clearly be seen in the text, with one girl referring to her mother as a doormat and pathetic, and rhetorically asking 'why she doesn’t get a job or something.' In contrast, the girls appear to speak about their fathers with slightly more respect, perhaps because they are have a job, which these girls think is what one needs to be

respected.
Furthermore, the quote, ‘ I don't even know what Dad sees in her,・ reinforces the idea of contrasting between the mother and father. The quote implies that the girl thinks her mother has no likeable qualities, and perhaps doesnt deserve her dad. The use of contrasting between mothers and fathers emphasises just how rude and disrespectful these teenage girls are to their mothers. The technique may also reveal a more profound problem that is how society treats stay-at-home mothers.