Social issues, or current issues in society, frequently appear in the literature. One social issue that the reader finds in Shattering Glass by Gail Giles is the issues of bullying. Bullying is “abuse and mistreatment of someone vulnerable by someone stronger [or] more powerful” (Merriam-Webster). , common in the United States. The bigger issue is the long-term effects of bullying on children. The main character in Shattering Glass, Simon Glass, is bullied by the other characters. Due to Simon being bullied he experiences changes in eating (Short Term And Long Term Effects), low self-esteem (Fraser-Trill), and anger issues (The Long Term Effects).
Simon clearly demonstrates changes of eating as a result of being bullied. Towards the being of the novel, Simon is practically adopted by four boys whose goal is to make him “class favorite” and listens to what the boys, Rob, Bob, Coop, and Young, say to make him popular. Simon is told in order to become popular he has to lose weight, along with other changes. This is shown when Coop, Bob, and Simon are at Simon’s house deciding what to do to change his look. “And zip up your pants,’ Coop added. ‘The babes call you ‘Peek-a-Pecker.’ Glass
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clutched at his crotch and flushed. He jerked on the tab of his zipper. ‘It won’t stay up.’ ‘That’s because your pants are too tight, and you don’t push the tab against the tracks to lock it,’ Bobster said” (Giles, Gale 27). Simon has changed in his dieting as a direct result of bullying. He feels that in order to make people like him more he should listen to what other people tell him to do to make him look better. Simon clearly demonstrates loss of confidence as a result of being bullied. At the beginning of the novel, Simon is forced to change the way he is to become popular because of Rob Haynes. He frequently has to listen to what his “friends” tell him to do to become more popular. This is shown when Rob, Bob, and Coop were at Simon’s house judging Simon’s clothes and Bob looked in Simon’s closet and Rob told him to burn it and get new clothes at the mall. Rob, Bob, and Simon are speaking to each other, “Rob clapped Simon on the shoulder. ‘Glass the clothes rebellion is over. You gotta dress for success. That’s what were her for- renovations.’ ‘Major renovations,’ Bobster muttered, closing the door on the offending sight. ‘Burn all that crap and bury it’” (Giles, Gale 41). Simon has loss of confidence in himself as a direct result of being bullied and feels like in order for people to like him he has to change who he is on the inside and out. Simon clearly demonstrates anger issues as a result of being bullied.
At the end of the novel, Simon acts out on his anger problems when Rob gets mad at Simon for changing the voting poll. Simon knew that Rob was using him as a bet to become the most popular so Simon changed the votes to aggravate Rob. Rob starts off the argument, but then Simon becomes a know-it-all and starts insulting Rob, Bob, Coop, and Young. Rob and Simon argue, “You were supposed to be Class Favorite. That was our deal.’ ‘Stop banging that bat. Do you think you’re scaring me? I don’t care what our deal was. It was better for me this way” (Gile, Gales 210). Simon is angry at Rob as a direct result of bullying and feels no one should control his life and doesn’t care how they feel about not doing what they
say. There are those who do not acknowledge the long or short-term effects of bullying in children and teens. They believe that a child being bullied will not have a major effect and will pass over time. However, they are wrong. Researchers found that any involvement in bullying predicted a poor adulthood (TheHuffingtonPost). This is clearly shown in Shattering Glass towards Simon throughout the novel. Although Simon did not make it to adulthood, he is clearly shown having a poor teenage life due to bullying. There is a clear connection between the tragic end of this novel because of the effects of being bullied. If Simon had not experienced changes in eating, low self-esteem, and anger issues following his “friends’” harsh bullying he wouldn’t have to lose weight, change his appearance, and lash out people, and live a better life: or live realistically. This novel serves a powerful reminder of the harmful after-math of bullying.
Simon was made fun of by the other kids because of how he acted and the things he said. One such ocassion was when he was talking to Ralph and said, "You'll get back to where you came from" to which Ralph replied a few lines later, "You're batty." (Page 111) Simon here has a prophecy about Ralph, and was made fun of for what he believed. Jesus was made f...
In this world there are many types of abuse or neglect that aren’t always noticed and no one really talks about. We never notice that there are many different types of abuse because we do think that it is so bad that we don’t want to look into it. Social workers specialize in removing the children from the home because they have these things in their lives. Some parents would never dream of abusing their children, and some would never call it abuse. There were several different types of abuse present in the book The Glass Castle, even evidence that the children should be removed from the home.
Simon is an empathetic character. When walking in the forest, Simon and the littluns find fruit trees. Because the littluns are small, “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach” (56). After Simon finishes, the children look at him “inscrutably” (56). Simon picking the fruit displays that he understands that the littluns can’t pick some of the fruit. At one point in his life, Simon was as small and helpless as the littluns. Picking fruit for the boys would also sate their hunger. The younger boys watched Simon “inscrutably” because they didn’t understand why Simon picked fruit for them. Simon’s action also reflects the relationship between a mother and child; Simon is the mother feeding the child, the littluns. During the quarrel between Ralph and Jack, Piggy’s glasses falls onto the rocks. Piggy is mortified, but Simon jumps into action: “Simon, who got there first, found it for him.
Simon was the observant character, the quiet philosopher. He was often alone, sometimes by his own choice, and he liked to wander into the peaceful jungle. He sincerely cared about the other boys, sometimes helping the young ones to fetch fruit, yet "Simon turned away from them and went where the just perceptible path led him. Soon high jungle closed in" (56). He loved solitude and yet felt loneliness; he was alien to the other boys. The boys did not think anyone would be stupid enough to go into the jungle by night: "The assembly grinned at the thought of going out into the darkness. Then Simon stood up and Ralph looked at him in astonishment" (85). Many of the boys even thought he was "batty" because he left the group to spend time alone.
Simon is very intelligent, and perhaps he is even more mature than the rest of the boys, but because of this, he gets blamed for everything, and the boys even end up killing him eventually. During one meeting, where the boys are discussing the “beast” on the island, Simon voices a controversial opinion, “...maybe it’s only us” (Golding 89). Simon could possibly be giving the boys a warning, saying that they are the true beasts. The boys immediately deny and ridicule Simon, which turns out to be incredibly ironic, because they later go on to literally tear him apart a few chapters later. But from the point that Simon makes that comment, all of the blame almost immediately shifts to
While Jack and Ralph represent the distinct polarization between civilization and savagery. Simon is separated from both of these dimensions. Simon represents built-in goodness. The other boys who hold on to their sense of morality only do so because society has conditioned and trained them to act in a certain way. They do not have an innate sense of morality. Unlike the other boys on the island, Simon does not act morally because an external force has compelled him to do so, instead he finds value in performing good actions.
Bullies, while they might be horrible, turn out to be harmless when confronted, just like Simon when he confronted the Beast. In the end, even though he failed to inform the other boys of it, Simon through his use of spiritual power was able to recognize the truth. He stood strong against evil, even though it consumed the island after his death. People can look to him as an example of how to act in real life. And to be honest, Simon is an important character in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, not just for all this, but because he is what every person should wish to be.
While reading through The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, a common theme occurred throughout the story: bullying. During Jeannette’s early childhood, she encountered bullying almost daily in a few places that her family had lived. Bullying is a topic known around the world but it is also something that is easily forgotten about. Bullying happens more often than anyone can count, and can have lasting and even deadly effects that some people do not think about. As stated on PACER’s national website for the National Bullying Prevention center, bullying is described as, “ a form of aggressive behavior in which someone intentionally and repeatedly cause another person injury or discomfort. Bullying can take the form of physical contact,
“A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in this world. It knows no law, no pity, it dates all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path,” (Agatha Christie, The Last Seance) represents the relationship between Tony and his mother, Al, who permits Tony to represent himself in an artistic fashion by allowing him to come to work with her at the Kitty Kat Club, a local club where his mother exotically dances at, so he can use her coworkers as models. In Gary Paulsen’s novella, the Glass Cafe, Tony, a 12 year old boy, whose drawings of his mother’s coworkers, who are strippers, are released in an art museum and the family is accused of child abuse and struggle to fight the court system. The primary setting is Tony’s
Simon is the big tough character you can expect any group of men to want in the group. He is a calm character but can turn into a powerful and aggressive person that demands respect in an instant. In the scene where Tristan challenges Simon on being fearful of benny, Simon quickly reminds Tristan exactly who he is talking to by throwing the drink at Tristan who is the leader and in command. Simon demonstrates one characteristic that all men value and that is Power, Men are expected to be strong bold characters, and Simon uses these
In the year 2015, approximately 683,000 children became victims of child abuse. Of those 683,000 children, approximately 1,670 children died from child abuse (National Statistics). Child abuse is defined as “when a parent or caregiver, whether through action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child” (What is Child Abuse). There are many different kinds of child abuse: neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and emotional abuse. The purpose of this paper is to enlighten the readers to the fact that throughout the story the parents and caregivers abused their children. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette talks about the many memories that she had with her parents, but it is clear that even
The movie Shattered Glass is a 2003 American Drama film written and directed by Billy Ray. The screen play is based on the 1998 Vanity Fair article by H.G Bissinger. It is a true life drama centered on Steven Glass, who was a journalist at The New Republic and his steep fall when his 27 out of 41 of his articles were proven to be false. The movie highlights the political aspects of journalism and encompasses the processes that lead to the publishing of articles in magazines. At the end of the movie I must say I was taken aback on how the events revolved and took a whole different twist; I certainly didn’t see that coming. I had two major opinions when I was through with the movie and they would be discussed in detail below.
In the beginning, Simon was described as a 'skinny, vivid little boy…,'; (Golding 24) showing that he was undersized and possibly weaker than the others. He stuck around Ralph for a while, went exploring with him and Jack, and even helped him build the shelters. It was not long before he began to wander off by himself to that little place among the creepers. The other boys thought he was 'queer….funny.'; (55) because he was an outcast and rather strange.
Everyone has been bullied or encountered someone being bullied at some point of their life. Whether it would be physically or verbally both can be exceedingly traumatizing and can have a long-term psychological influence on children’s development. Majority people may define bullying in a more physical term; nevertheless that’s not always the case. The act of bullying can occur in several ways and in reality affect the individual in the same way. Bullying is generally defined as repeated, negative, and harmful actions focused at target throughout a course of time, exhibiting a sense of power difference between the bully and the victim (Olweus, 1993; Limber & Mihalic, 1999 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005). A survey was conducted in the United States estimating that over six million children, about 30% in grade six through ten have experienced frequent bullying in a school environment (Nansel, 2001 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005). Many people might debate that bullying is something that every child goes through and is simply a part of growing up, although there are several damaging consequences that happens to the child’s brain. Bullying causes the child to feel upset, isolated, frightened, anxious, and depressed. They feel like they reason they are being picked on is because there is something wrong with them and may even lose their confidence feel unsafe going to school (Frenette, 2013 as cited from Douglas J. Boyle, 2005) Anthropologically, sociologically, or psychologically, bullying can be analyzed through different perspectives and several questions can be asked based on the topic:
It only takes one bad experience to change your opinion on something. Imagine if you went through this same bad experience for months, or better yet years. Your whole personality, how you view yourself, and others changes drastically. This is what it feels like to be bullied. Bullying is a serious issue in America, especially among children and young adults. From kindergarten all the way up until my sophomore year of high school, I was a victim of bullying. Being bullied changed how I viewed myself and others, what my values and morals were, and it shaped me into the person I am today.