Anne Tyler Teenage Wasteland

In the short story, “Teenage Wasteland”, there is a troubled boy named Donny. Donny has trouble with his attitude and his grades, so his family decides to get him help. They are suggested to go to “a tutor with considerable psychological training”(Tyler 3) in order to help Donny. As time goes on, his grades start to get worse; even though he seems to be happier and have a better attitude at times. His mother does not have a lot of trust, but is told to leave it to the tutor, Calvin. After Donny gets expelled and takes his final exams, Donny disappears. He does not come back by the end of the story. Many may believe that Donny’s mother, Daisy, is the most to blame for the outcome of Anne Tyler’s story “Teenage Wasteland,”

My relationship with my father has been different. He used to drink a lot while when I was younger, but although he would come under those conditions, he still would have the time and dedication to play with me. When I was younger I used to spend lots of time with my father, he would try to show me how to repair cars, I remember getting all greasy by trying to help him, but after a while I was sent to live with my grandmother, so our

Jones contrasted the attitude of the daughter to the attitude of the mother. After they got rejected from the wrong school. The girl was worried that she could not go to school. She said “Mama, I can’t go to school?” (Jones, 1990’s, p. 1). After she said that, her mother replied, “One monkey don’t stop no show” (Jones, 1990’s, p.1). This shows that a parent will have a positive attitude and will keep trying for their kid no matter how many obstacles that will come in the way. The child is just worried that they might not be able to do something. There is a difference between the different schools that they go and check out. The first school that they mother wants the girl to go to, Seaton Elementary School, is not as big as the other school, which is Walker-Jones. The girl likes Walker-Jones because it is newer and it is larger. The mom does not really like it because it is not by the church that she goes to and it’s not the school she wanted her daughter to go to (Jones, 1990’s, p.1). But the mom deals with it because it is the school that her daughter can gto to. This shows that even though a parent may not agree with the school that their child has to go to, they deal with it because they just want the child to go to school and get an education. When they went to Seaton Elementary School, and they got rejected, the mother said, “I want her to go here” “If I’da wanted her someplace else, I’da took her there” (Jones, 1990’s, p. 1). This just shows that a parent

“Teenage Wasteland” is a short story written by Anne Tyler that focuses on the relationship between teens and parents. Many times it seems like they live in completely different worlds but they just have a different understanding of what they both want from each other. The story focuses on the two main characters Donny and Daisy. Donny is a teenage boy who isn’t the best student and doesn’t necessarily follow the rules or obey what his parents say. Daisy is a stay at home mom to her two children. And she doesn’t seem too motivated on helping her children but just focused on pointing out all the bad things that Donny does.

The students all took a practice test and only thirty-three percent of the students have passed and the states minimum average is seventy-five percent. Throughout the school year, the students work effortlessly with Mr. Clark along with their school teachers prepare for the real test. Mr. Clark’s crazy and wild antics start to get to the students and they begin to respect him even more for it. They begin to see that he is only doing this with all of their best interests in mind. One of the students who was expelled’s mother complained about the way Mr. Clark ran things at his school and got the mayor involved. After Mr. Clark is found with the chains on the door, which is illegal and a fire safety hazard, and was arrested. All of the students came down to the Board of Education in Paterson and basically protested and ranted on how they wanted Mr. Clark to be released and return to his duties as principal. Eastside High’s assistant principal Mrs. Barrett claims that Mr. Clark was not the right choice to serve as principal of Eastside. But the students all say in rebuttal how Mr. Clark cares for them like no other and how he has done so much good for them that they will not accept anyone besides Mr. Clark. Soon after, Mr. Clark was released and good news was received. More than enough students

In the short story Teenage Wasteland by Anne Tyler, Donny is a fifteen year old unmotivated teen who is doing poorly in his schoolwork. His mother hires a tutor named Cal to improve Donny’s grades. However Cal treats Donny like a friend rather

He required some academic help and a better sense of self-worth.” So a tutor was strongly advised and Daisy and Matt just agree to hire one, wanting only the best for Donny. This not only was a mistake to hire Cal but it also cost them a fortune too. I feel Donny’s parents should have dealt with his problem. All he needed was parents that just had time to talk to him and give him a little leeway at times. Communication is a downfall displayed in Tyler’s short story that is very realistic of parenting that always leads to bigger problems. It is so common for parents to be too busy with their jobs and lives to give their children all the attention and love needed. I feel Tyler truly conveyed a real life message in writing Teenage Wasteland. It was very disturbing to see throughout the story how Cal, the tutor becomes so controlling. Cal at first seemed reasonable in his method of tutoring Donny. Donny came home so happy sometimes after his tutoring sessions. Yet gradually the tension sets in again and Donny is back to his old troublesome self. Cal tells Daisy and Matt not to worry about Donny’s slack of performance. Cal even tells Daisy to let him handle the school if they call and complain about Donny’s grades. Tyler gives me some many different feelings about Cal. Is he a cynical man? Or is he trying his best to help Donny? This is one of the reasons

They were to ignore him when acted out or became disruptive and praise him when he behaved in an acceptable manner. In a sense, this made every one of the kids in his class one of Sean’s teachers. They were forced to accept that Sean could get away with doing things that would have landed them in the principal’s office. Kathy would have to spend significant amounts of extra time working with Sean when teaching him how to do something the other children had learned in five minutes two weeks ago. The academic gap between Sean and the rest of his classmates continued to widen as the school year continued.

“You’ve been schooled!” hearing that might mean a bad thing but it mean you learned a valuable lesson. Mr. Kasigi is the principle of the middle school. Mr. Kasigi was schooled because of trusting certain people who shouldn’t be trusted. On page 154 it shows that Mr. Kasigi gave Cap checks from the school so he could be in charge of the school dance. Cap didn’t know what to do with them so he still bought things for the school dance but went over the limit. Although the school lost money Mr. Kasigi did learn who to trust with an important job.

It’s like a prison there, you know? You’ve got to go to every class, you can never step off the school grounds” (Tyler 288). He then proceeds to tell Cal how he cuts classes. Donny has this idea ingrained in himself that he must be rebellious and not listen to the

“The psychologist said Donny has no serious emotional problems. He was merely going through a difficult period in his life. He required some academic help and a a better sense of self-worth.” (Anne Tyler. “Teenage Wasteland”) When children become teenagers, they begin the confusing yet enlightening journey into adulthood. At this point, they make important decisions which may change the course their lives. Teenagers are still influenced by others, but they are now responsible for their own choices and actions. Entering into young adulthood can be very confusing. At this stage, young people are deciding who they are and who they want to be. They also feel as if they should take responsibility for themselves but do not feel like a complete adult. Donny was basically deciding that school was not for him. He was cutting class and getting in trouble. Daisy took it upon herself to make the decision for him to go see a psychologist.

The poem "Not Bad, Dad, Not Bad" and the book Farewell to Manzanar have a lot in common about fathers and their kids. One thing that I realized in comparison between these two texts was that kids feel that their fathers don't love them, but the only reason why they are hard on you is cause they do love you. One example of this is in Not Bad, Dad, (7-8) when the speaker says, "you wouldn't win any medals, Dad, but you wouldn't drown. " This quote shows that even if your father isn't the best he still truly cares for you even if it doesn't seem like it.

Joe's parents don't accept the school complaints, accusing the school of reactive and discriminatory. Even worse, each time that the school tries to apply discipline or punishment, the parents threaten to sue the school what reinforces Joe's

When Daisy begins to help him with is school assignments it seems that it is helping him deal with his conflict of grades. When it seems that is has worked through his conflicts Donny begins to develop new ones. He then begins to skip classes because of this his parents decide that it would good for him to visit a psychologist. “Donny said the psychologist was a jackass and the tests were really dumb; but he kept all three of his appointments, and when it was time for the follow-up conference with the psychologists and both parents, Donny combed his hair and seemed unusually sober and subdued”(Tyler 645). Donny did not enjoy going to his appointments with the psychologist but he kept all of them. Towards the end of the story the school preforms a locker search. During this search beer and cigarettes are found in his locker because of this Donny is expelled from his school. “Instead of going home, he runs to Cal’s. Donnie claims that it was a “frame up,” and Cal excuses the boy by saying the school violated his civil rights.”(May 1026). He tries to tell his parents that the beer and cigarettes did not belong to him but they would not believe him. This causes extra conflict between him and his parents. He then is placed into a new school which he did not like. After a few days of attending

Being a teen is very hard. But it makes it even harder when your parents try and control what you do and they do not give you any freedom. Anne Tyler wrote the short story “Teenage wasteland” the teen Donny is facing many hardships with school and his parents. Teenagers need to be given slack because they have so much that is expected out of them it is ridiculous. They get so much homework shoved on them that they eventually do not do it.