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The effects of peer pressure
Peer pressure influences the choices (Teenagers make
The effects of peer pressure
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Pressures of the Outside World
Growing up can be difficult and living an environment as a child can encourage certain behaviors in adult life. African American author James Baldwin showed a light on this subject through his own interpretation in his short story “Sonny’s Blues”. Here Baldwin, hit the nail on the head with the similarities between Sonny’s childhood growing up in Harlem, with what occurs in actual environments young people face: poverty, and drugs. In an environment the possibilities and outcomes that a young person deals with is endless since, it is so huge and vast. By having so many options, many factors can cause a young person to go down the wrong path. One of these factors is societal pressure that youth and young
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adults face every day. These pressures in an environment can lead to peer pressure, depression, and outlets like music can contribute to a significant impact on their development. Growing up is difficult and dealing with peers can be even more challenging. The social influence of fellow peers can be a tough one to avoid. Naturally, it would be easier to say yes and potentially do something stupid because of someone else. Yet, it is not usually the right thing to do. Growing up in Harlem, Sonny was exposed to the rough parts of life by dabbling into drugs at an early age. If Sonny did not hangout with the wrong crowd, he probably would have never been peer pressured into experimenting with drugs. Similar to how Sonny was affected as a child, peer pressure can affect the development youth thorough gangs and substance abuse. In a “cross-sectional data [that was] collected on substance use behaviors …[in] students enrolled in grades 5-12 ...
Using a risk and asset framework, self-reported recent alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana use were analyzed by identifying and measuring levels of influence, including individual, family, and school. For alcohol and marijuana use, recurrent risk factors were age, being hit by a parent, affiliation with gangs, and a tolerant attitude of peers toward drug use. For cigarette use, risk factors were peer-oriented: associations with gangs or cohorts holding lenient attitudes about substance use... Findings suggest that efforts to reduce substance use behaviors should be directed at adolescents in terms of academic achievement and grade level as well as their social environments... Hence, the emphasis should be placed on modeling attitudes, preventing gang and family violence, encouraging parental supervision, and building positive teacher-student interactions”(Darlene R. …show more content…
Wright). In this research here, it demonstrates the power of influence of others on young people. Individuals who are associated with gangs and friends who like to drink and use drugs tend to pursue cigarettes, since it probably makes them seem cool and older. Not only that but, those who choose to dabble in alcohol and marijuana tended to be influenced by adults like parents who also like to drink or abuse substances. By being surrounded by people who like to drink or do drugs, it can be hard for a youth not to be tempted to try it also. The more and more a young person is involved with a crowd like that; eventually it will be common and normal to them to want do drugs and drink. Once drinking and doing drugs becomes a part of normal life, it starts to derail the development of youth. Here in an article written by Susan Chira, “Teen-Agers, in a Poll, Report Worry and Distrust of Adults" explains that, “ even more common than incidents of violence are cheating and drinking. Fifty-three percent of those polled said at least half of their peers got drunk at least once month... A fourteen year old boy...said, 'People are worried about getting caught, but afterward what's the big deal”. What the big deal is that youth do not even realize how serious are the consequences for their actions. If they continue on this downward path in because of their environment, it could affect their future. Drinking is a product of being in an environment that promotes poor behavior because of pressure from peers.
This is a major issue since, people do not want to look lame to their friends but rather appear cool. Young individuals give in to drinking, which can lead to excessive drinking. In an article by The New York Times, “ At Alfred University a student pledge identified as twenty-year-old Charles Stenzel died after a fraternity "tapping" party in New York. The apparent cause of the death and the injuries was an overdose of alcohol. In a statement given by Donald King, dean of student affairs replied' this was not a hazing...of course there is the question of peer pressure. There was extensive drinking’” (YOUTH FROM L.I. DIES AT FRATERNITY PARTY). If this pledge stayed true to himself and did not give in to the pressure of wanting to be cool to impress his potential bond brothers; he could of lived and had a long life a head of him. This is just one example of the unfortunate instances of pressure from peers that happens much to
often. Being in an environment where peer pressure occurs can be significant impact to a youth. Whether it is as simple as a prank or a serious as joining a gang; peer pressure dose not promote healthy decision-making. By being in a situation where a person feels pressure to do, something she or he does not want to do. It will cause that person to feel helpless and force him or her to believe that, what the other party is telling them to do is okay. In theses moments where kids have to go through this depending on the situation and the group of kids, it could lead a young person facing a significant effect on their life further down. Like becoming a drug addict, an alcoholic, being a gang member or something else.
While not true for everyone, people are a product of their environment. The surroundings that a person is exposed to, may have a direct influence on the decisions they make in life. Even if someone is smart and has great aspirations, the environment they are brought up in may be holding them back. People who make terrible choices and then are shocked by the consequences are simply coming from a context in which those weren't as bad a choices as they turned out to be. This is the case for Sonny of James Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues.” Although Sonny was an aspiring musician, the surroundings of Harlem would provide opportunities to make poor decisions that may not have been presented to him had he been in a different environment. For this reason,
Reilly, John M. " 'Sonny's Blues': James Baldwin's Image of Black Community." James Baldwin: A Critical Evaluation. Ed.Therman B. O'Daniel. Howard University Press. Washington, D.C. 1977. 163-169.
First, the very sorrow that the characters in this story face is that of racial discrimination a form of darkness. It is noted in the very first paragraph “I stared at it in the swinging lights of the subway car, and in the faces and bodies of the people, and in my own face, trapped in the darkness that roared outside.”(58) The setting of this story takes place in Harlem, New York. The city of Harlem is notoriously known for its inner city, poverty stricken population and mostly as a location in which to find African Americans. “These boys now, were living as we’d been living then they were growing up with a rush and their heads bumped abruptly against the low ceiling of their actual possibilities.” (59). The story Sonny’s Blues was written in the 1950’s which clearly segregation was still indeed active and the African Americans were lynched by the darkness of their skin tone. In the 1950’s the chance of an African American becoming successful especially with coming from the ghetto was extremely low. In the time frame that presents itsel...
Sonny’s Blues By James Baldwin Sonny’s Blues the author is presenting the past from the perspective of the present in order to understand his own feelings concerning the role of a father. The two brothers in the story had different life choices. Both Sonny and the narrator have found their own mode of escaping the violence and harshness of the ghetto, different though those modes might be. After the death of the mother the narrator feels he is his brother’s keeper, because of the promise he made to the mother. He is not exactly happy about it and especially Sonny’s life style. Nevertheless, this is his only brother and he made a promise not to turn his back on him. Sonny was more like his uncle a music lover. Before the mother died she told him about his father and the pain he went through after the death of his brother. His father’s brother was a music lover and somewhat like Sonny. So, by telling this story it would help the narrator to understand Sonny. Now he knows a little about his family background and roots. At the end the narrator was finally able to see and understand what music did for Sonny; it allow him to be himself and express himself to other. Explore the implications of the allusion to the Book of Isaiah 51:17-23 in the concluding sentence. What has the narrator learned as the result of his experience? All of the desolation, destruction, famine, sword things that we (the narrator) go through in this life, are learned through other who have shared these same experiences. Our oppressor (Satan spiritually, mankind physically) causes a trembling in our lives; but just like Jerusalem, who was and still is oppressed; God has already taken our “cup of trembling”. We are delivered through the sharing of our experiences with one another, freeing ourselves from one who causes the trembling.
Baldwin’s story presents the heart breaking portrayal of two brothers who have become disconnected through respective life choices. The narrator is the older brother who has grown past the depravity of his childhood poverty. The narrator’s profession as an algebra teacher reflects his need for a “black” and “white,” orderly outlook on life. The narrator believes he has escaped life’s sufferings until the death of his daughter and the troubling news about his brother being taken in for drug possession broadside him to the reality of life’s inevitable suffering. In contrast, his brother, Sonny has been unable to escape his childhood hardships and has ended up on the wrong side of the law. While their lives have taken ...
Buddha has famously been attributed saying that “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.” In life others pave pathways that we must take that may seem suitable, and if we diverge we are seen as rebellious. The short story Sonny’s Blues by James Baldwin, is narrated by Sonny’s older brother who shares from his perspective the struggles in life he and his brother go through growing up in the projects of Harlem, New York. Using imagery that makes readers feel as though they are experiencing it as well, the author vividly portrays the difficulties of finding a path in life through the various factors that inhibit one such as family, friends, and the cultural standard ascribed to one. In the story,
In "Sonny's Blues" James Baldwin presents an intergenerational portrait of suffering and survival within the sphere of black community and family. The family dynamic in this story strongly impacts how characters respond to their own pain and that of their family members. Examining the central characters, Mama, the older brother, and Sonny, reveals that each assumes or acknowledges another's burden and pain in order to accept his or her own situation within an oppressive society. Through this sharing each character is able to achieve a more profound understanding of his own suffering and attain a sharper, if more precarious, notion of survival.
James Baldwin, author of Sonny’s Blues, was born in Harlem, NY in 1924. During his career as an essayist, he published many novels and short stories. Growing up as an African American, and being “the grandson of a slave” (82) was difficult. On a day to day basis, it was a constant battle with racial discrimination, drugs, and family relationships. One of Baldwin’s literature pieces was Sonny’s Blues in which he describes a specific event that had a great impact on his relationship with his brother, Sonny. Having to deal with the life-style of poverty, his relationship with his brother becomes affected and rivalry develops. Conclusively, brotherly love is the theme of the story. Despite the narrator’s and his brother’s differences, this theme is revealed throughout the characters’ thoughts, feelings, actions, and dialogue. Therefore, the change in the narrator throughout the text is significant in understanding the theme of the story. It is prevalent to withhold the single most important aspect of the narrator’s life: protecting his brother.
Several passages found throughout "Sonny's Blues" indicate that as a whole, the neighborhood of Harlem is in the turmoil of a battle between good and evil. The narrator describes Sonny's close encounters with the evil manifested in drugs and crime, as well as his assertive attempts at distancing himself from the darker side. The streets and communities of Harlem are described as being a harsh environment which claims the lives of many who have struggled against the constant enticement of emotional escape through drugs, and financial escape through crime. Sonny's parents, just like the others in Harlem, have attempted to distance their children from the dark sides of their community, but inevitably, they are all aware that one day each child will face a decisionb for the first time. Each child will eventually join the ranks of all the other members of society fighting a war against evil at the personal level so cleanly brought to life by James Baldwin. Amongst all the chaos, the reader is introduced to Sonny's special secret weapon against the pressures of life: Jazz. Baldwin presents jazz as being a two-edged sword capable of expressing emotions like no other method, but also a presenting grave danger to each individual who bears it. Throughout the the story, the reader follows Sonny's past and present skirmishes with evil, his triumphs, and his defeats. By using metaphorical factors such as drugs and jazz in a war-symbolizing setting, Baldwin has put the focus of good and evil to work at the heart of "Sonny's Blues."
The narrator in James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues”, at first glance seems to be a static character, trying to forget the past and constantly demeaning his brother’s choices in life. Throughout the story, readers see how the narrator has tried to forget the past. However, his attempt to forget the past soon took a turn. When the narrator’s daughter died, he slowly started to change. As the narrator experiences these changes in his life, he becomes a dynamic character.
Though racial and sexual issues seem to continuously serve a main purpose in James Baldwin’s writings, oppression can be described as a useful theme in both “Sonny’s Blues and Going to Meet the Man”( Murphy 6). In “Sonny’s Blues” we meet the narrator, Sonny’s brother who runs into one of Sonny’s old friends who begins conversing with Sonny’s brother about Sonny’s recent arrest. Sonny’s old friend tells the narrator that he “can’t much help Sonny no more” which upsets him because it makes him realize how much he had given up on trying to help his brother. Sonny was suffering from drug abuse, and was in desperate need of a savior. After the
Thesis Statement: Men and women were in different social classes, women were expected to be in charge of running the household, the hardships of motherhood.
“Sonny’s Blues” revolves around the narrator as he learns who his drug-hooked, piano-playing baby brother, Sonny, really is. The author, James Baldwin, paints views on racism, misery and art and suffering in this story. His written canvas portrays a dark and continual scene pertaining to each topic. As the story unfolds, similarities in each generation can be observed. The two African American brothers share a life similar to that of their father and his brother. The father’s brother had a thirst for music, and they both travelled the treacherous road of night clubs, drinking and partying before his brother was hit and killed by a car full of white boys. Plagued, the father carried this pain of the loss of his brother and bitterness towards the whites to his grave. “Till the day he died he weren’t sure but that every white man he saw was the man that killed his brother.”(346) Watching the same problems transcend onto the narrator’s baby brother, Sonny, the reader feels his despair when he tries to relate the same scenarios his father had, to his brother. “All that hatred down there”, he said “all that hatred and misery and love. It’s a wonder it doesn’t blow the avenue apart.”(355) He’s trying to relate to his brother that even though some try to cover their misery with doing what others deem as “right,” others just cover it with a different mask. “But nobody just takes it.” Sonny cried, “That’s what I’m telling you! Everybody tries not to. You’re just hung up on the way some people try—it’s not your way!”(355) The narrator had dealt with his own miseries of knowing his father’s plight, his Brother Sonny’s imprisonment and the loss of his own child. Sonny tried to give an understanding of what music was for him throughout thei...
About one out of five 10th graders and about 1 out of four high school seniors used marijuana in the past month (Facts for Teens, 1). It is the second most popular drug among teens in the US (Encarta, 1). Teens, ages 12-17, that use marijuana weekly are nine times more likely than non-users to experience with illegal drugs and alcohol (Fed. Study, 1). More 13 & 14 year olds are using drugs, fifteen pe...
...ssures to be the best they can be academically. With all these pressures of adolescence on the rise, more and more teens are falling prey to the alluring “high” that allows a temporary leave from their problems and stress. Because teens lack the maturity and knowledge to understand long term consequences, they tend not to think about the down falls that they will face as a result of the drug use. This is especially true when it come to marijuana, as it is seen by so many as the harmless drug. With the increased use of marijuana by youth over the last three decades, it is imperative that better preventative measures, and firmer penalties, be put in place to educate and raise awareness concerning the risks and dangerous side effects that marijuana use can have. Only once society has put these preventative measures in to action, will there be an effective change seen.