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How bullying affects teens
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The Wave by Morton Rhue (Todd Strasser) is a novel from a student’s perspective, as an authoritarian right wing movement called “The Wave” changes her school. Ben Ross, one of the teachers in the school, created it to try to show his class the reasons for the inexplicable behavior of the Germans when the Nazi movement spread through Germany. Laurie, one of the students, finds out how she is alienated from her classmates when she does not accept their values of conformity through unity. Thus, it demonstrates how easily people can be swept up by a movement not only in Nazi Germany, but also in the modern day classroom, where students are learning about the evil influence of the Nazi movement in World War II. This can be applied to teenagers, as it is a period of their lives where they are easily influenced, and in the book, relevant themes to teens such as bullying, alienation and peer pressure are conveyed.
Bullying is the act of intimidating a weaker person to make them do something. As the Wave spread rapidly through the school, those who refused to participate or join as a member were bullied into doing so. Such was the case according to the article submitted to Laurie “Join the Wave— or else” where a boy was warned “he’d (I’d) lose all his (my) friends if he (I) didn’t join” by a senior boy. This is clearly an intimidation tactic to make the boy join, and hence you could class it as bullying. Another case of bullying happened when David tried to intimidate Laurie to discontinue producing the magazine that condemns the Wave movement by showing the bad parts to it. He “held her arm” and when she “struggled harder to get out of his grasp”, he “threw her down on the grass.” Immediately after, he realized he had hurt his friend, ...
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... instead of following the majority. The issue of peer pressure can relate to teens, as they are in constant pressure to be ‘cool’ or to be in the ‘in’ group. It does not really promote individualism, so people cannot develop their own ideas but rather follow the leader of their group.
Overall, the themes of bullying, alienation and peer pressure that are shown in The Wave reflect the negative aspects of the lives of teens. It focuses on how they affect people, in general, by showing the consequences for all the scenarios (e.g. someone being bullied). This is done whilst revealing the important history lesson from the Nazi movement as well as from the school –- you have to be vigilant because it can happen to anyone. Even though the students were taught of the evil the Nazi party was committing, they did not think that they would do the same, although they were.
As a teenager we are all looking to be accepted by our peers and will do whatever it is they want us to so we can be accepted. That is to say the feeling of needing to be accepted by ones peers is done consciously; the person starts to do what their friends do without thinking about it. (Teen 3) In fact, teens are more likely to be affected by peer pressure because they are trying to figure out who they are. (How 1) Therefore, they see themselves as how their peers would view them so they change to fit their peer’s expectations. (How 1) Secondly, the feeling of needing to rebel and be someone that isn’t who their parents are trying to make them be affects them. (Teen 2) Thus, parents are relied on less and teens are more likely to go to their peers about their problems and what choices to make. (How 1) Also, their brains are not fully matured and teens are less likely to think through their choices thoroughly before doing it. (Teen 6) Lastly, how a child is treated by his peers can affect how they treat others; this can lead them into bullying others who are different. (Teen 3) Consequently this can affect a teen into doing something good or bad; it depends who you surround yourself with.
“Peer Pressure: Its Influence on Teens and Decision Making.” 2008. Teacher Scholastic Journal. Retrieved 2008. (http://headsup.scholastic.com/articles/peer-pressure-its-influence-on-teens-and-decision-making).
The major theme of the book is shown through the bonds of friendship and how in the most of unlikely circumstances friendship can survive and exist between people possessing an extensive and most restrictive division. A second theme is the evil and the intolerance which existed around these times of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust, as seen by the Germans having the Jews in the concentration camp. And the third theme is the curiosity and innocence of Bruno, Shmuel and Gretel, who all seem to fail to properly notice and understand what is really happening in the world around them, all contrasting with the well acknowledgement of others, such as Lt. Kottler.
Ranging from individuality to self acceptance in difficult times. The Wave shows students why it’s important to learn about history, because history can repeat itself, and it has. It also teaches students to question your authority when you know something they’re doing is wrong. The Nazi’s followed Hitler blindly, doing what they were told when they were told, much like Mr. Ross’s students. Fascism is an important topic to learn about as well, because in the United States we have so many freedoms and rights that other countries don’t have. The Wave also offers topics to discuss like what loyalty truly is in all different aspects; self-loyalty, group loyalty, or the dark sense of loyalty Ben Ross leads with. Laurie Saunders also shows people how to stand up for yourself even when no one stands with you, which is something all teens struggle
Thinking that the war was just an ideal character. Convincing the reader to believe the boys didn't know the risk they were taking by being in this war. They way the boys viewed it, shows that, true their are some hard times in wars, but their minds are young and they thought it was just another thing to talk about. When they should have been taking things more serious, but thinking about the good parts helped them to keep a hold on their sanity. "They ought to have been mediators and guides to the world of maturity, the world of work, of duty, of culture, of progress to the future", was the beliefs of the boys after their friend Behn dies. Their generation thought that the authorities were going to look after, and take care of them, the authorities were thought of real highly by them. Until their friend passed away, then everything changed. "We had to realize that our generation was more to be trusted than theirs", this is where they came to reality that, everybody was taking care of their selves, and didn't want anything to do with other peoples problems.
More importantly, in This Boy’s Life Wolff breaks down this myth-making function through his depictions of the damaged men who more than a decade later still felt the emotional ripples from WWII. This is a story that is different from the surface narrative of nostalgia, one with more shades of sorrow and anger mixed with youthful idolatry. The WWII generation is sometimes referred ...
Then, there was The Wave which was a classroom experiment gone wrong that was created by a teacher who was trying to give his students an idea of what the Holocaust was like. In this experiment, the teacher, Mr. Ross, used militaristic styles and methods of teaching like making the students stand up to speak and speak formally and shortly similar to that of a drill sergeant and much like the methods that were used in the Holocaust. All the followers looked up to Mr. Ross as Nazis did to Hitler.
The Wave, by Todd Strasser, illustrates how easily one can plummet into autocratic behaviors. In the book, Strasser depicts an experiment conducted by a history teacher. The experiment was conducted in order to enlighten the students on the Holocaust (Strasser 26). During the Holocaust, the German dictator, Adolf Hitler, was lured in by the power that an autocratic society provides. He and his group, the Nazi Party, captured and executed millions of Jews in order to benefit Germany with ethnic cleansing.
William Golding illustrates World War II through young boys in this novel. Technology is one of the major destructors of a civilization. Jealousy is another destructor that ruins the good nature between men and brings out the beast from within. The author has chosen to show the evil in man though young boys to allow the world to understand how unethical the war was. The symbols, character, and setting are shown to correlate with the outside world. The novel just reinforces the idea of the savage within each and every human being.
This article is much like Maus II, but with one big different: one is a graphic novel, one is a traditional novel. In “Individuals and Mass Behavior in Extreme Situations,” Bettelheim tells the reader about the psychological effects on the Nazis camp prisoner and his own metal change in the camps. The article is very informative, but that is about how far it goes. There is almost no emotion though out the article. It is rather bland and, maybe, the audience could take more away if he added graphic novel aspects into his essay. J. Spencer Clark, a professor at Utah State University, did a study on this by taking college students studying to be teacher and having them read graphic novels and report their experience and learning from reading them. Clack found that, “The pre-service teachers’ evaluations demonstrated that graphic novels… would be valuable for the history classroom at the secondary and college levels because they present historical agency in multiple ways that disrupt tradition historical narratives.” So, he is saying that graphic novels give more voice to the actual struggle of the current times; for example, that America did not just go into WWII, that America was actually avoiding it and the steps that lead up to them joining. Making “Individuals and Mass Behavior
When an individual take on the behaviors, attitudes, and styles of their peers because of the pressure of fitting in, this is peer conformity, also known as peer pressure. In most cultures the amount of time we spend with our peers tends to increase, as well as the effect they provide for support. Peer influence can start as soon as the third grade for some an...
...wn life, peer pressure plays an enormous role in everyday society. People do unimaginable things when pressure is put on them by people that they admire. We comply and conform when brainwashed, influenced, and pressured. It creates huge and destructive problems and moral struggles as seen with Orwell, the victims of Jonestown, and the thousands of teens that fall prey to peer pressure everyday. The only way to combat peer pressure is for others to start being accountable for their own actions and for integrity to become a higher priority in day-to-day life. If society can begin to teach our youth this then we will be one step closer to eliminating the problem; however, complete elimination of peer pressure can only come when adolescents and adults alike stop being the problem, and start becoming the solution by resisting the urge to pressure and be pressured.
Teenagers become caught up with following peers, because the decision is made to become involved in experimental activities by choice. On the other hand, peer pressure in teens can allow mature growth in the student, because the individual can them become a leader within an environment in a positive manner. According to kidshealth.org, “Getting to know lots of different people-
Peer pressure is when we are influenced to do something we normally wouldn't do because we want to fit in with other people or be accepted by our peers (A peer is someone you look up to like a friend, someone in the community or even someone on TV).
When you are a teenager and you have friends that ask you to do something for them and you do not then they get mad. Then think you are a loser and that is ever person's nightmare, to not be liked. Peer pressure is no piece of cake. It is like choosing the wrong thing for what you think is right at that very moment, and then regretting it afterwards, because your parents find out. But most would not care about what they do wrong or right. Unless there is a chance of parental disappointment, and a lot of the time that is the case.