Donnie's Problem In Teenage Wasteland By Anne Tyler

Gatsby and Daisy had met years prior, but ended up going their separate ways. However, Gatsby remained in love with Daisy and longed for her affection. The two reconcile, and Daisy starts seeing Gatsby outside of her marriage with Tom. In this, Daisy is leading Gatsby on by making him believe he will attain his ultimate dream: a life with her. However, Daisy knows deep down she will not leave Tom for Gatsby. This is proven when a confrontation about the affair sparks between Tom and Gatsby, and Daisy attempts to defend Gatsby and stick up to Tom, but ultimately fails and retreats back to her husband. “Her frightened eyes told that whatever intentions, whatever courage she had had, were definitely gone” (Fitzgerald 135). Daisy’s carelessness shines through in leading Gatsby to believe she would abandon Tom for him, but fails to follow through. She recklessly broke the heart of the man who had been in love with her for many

Anne Tyler’s “Teenage Wasteland” is a story about a modern day family of four and the relationship issues they experienced with each other. The story is presented in third person limited; however, the reader is shown much about how the mother of the family feels and the troubles she experiences in her relationships with her husband and children, primarily her son Donny. Daisy is portrayed as a mother who worries that she had failed Donny because of his continual disobedience toward the authority figures in his life. Donny is a teen who constantly misbehaves in school and in the story is described as “noisy, lazy, and disruptive; always fooling around with his friends, and would not respond in class.” (188). These behaviors lead Donny to

“Teenage Wasteland" is told from Daisy's perspective. By doing this, Anne Taylor only gives us Daisy’s point of view of Donny. This may paint a completely different picture of what others think of him. From the very beginning of the story you get a sense of how Donny’s character will continue to change. “He used to have very blonde hair, almost white, cut shorter than other children so that on his crown a little cowlick always stood up to catch the light.” Donny was depicted to be innocent. Tyler uses the words “light”and “white” and this makes me think of only pure and good things. Soon after we see how Tyler changes her tone with Donny. “As he grew older, his hair grew darker, and he wore it longer-past his collar even.” To me this changes our view on Donny without even

Subsequently, she started running home. To avoid the students after school, she tried taking different routes. When she noticed that they were waiting for her where she least expected, pebbles and gravel came into play once again when she realized, it could use that as a weapon. During the fight, Doby vanished. “He had gone, when she started to fight” (pg. 304) this part confused me. She concocted him, due to not having no friends. She’s a loner, yet when she gets into a fight to defend herself you leave? What happened to protecting her? (Vivid Imagination) Rereading this story multiple times, another concept came to my attention. What if Doby doesn’t like violence and he was there for the innocent Sue. And now that she’s grown up, in school and is fighting, he no longer wants to be around? Since Doby was created due to loneliness, what if he felt, well since Sue is now in school and can defend herself, she doesn’t need me anymore? The turn of events in this story truly have me wishing that I could’ve met Mrs. Petry and ask her many questions pertaining to Doby. It’s ironic to me that, the two classmates who ignored her and teased her are also the same people who started acting nice towards Sue, and even walked home with her. After witnessing the altercation with Sue and the rest of the class, it seems as if Daisy Bell and Jimmie Piebald, now respect Sue Johnson, and rather be on her

Tom’s infidelity in his marriage clearly expresses his views about his wife, Daisy. In seeking an affair, he conveys that Daisy is deficient and not worthy of devotion. Daisy knows of his affairs, but because of the time period and their social class, she is helpless to do anything. As a woman in the 20th century, it would destroy Daisy to divorce Tom, even though the entirety of New York knows about Tom’s affair.

If the reader watches closely, they can see the first crack in the facade in Daisy’s first appearance. The tone and phrasing she uses to describe when her daughter was born is a bit odd; “‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool---that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.’” (The Great Gatsby. F. Scott Fitzgerald.) A mother doesn’t talk with such a disassociation for her child. The child isn’t brought up much throughout the book, and Daisy scarcely mentions or interacts with her when she does. If a mother can’t love her child, how is she expected to love someone who isn’t of her own blood? Apparently she felt something of this concept for Gatsby, but not enough to pull her away to the ‘love’ she felt for that lovely wad of cash Tom had. Gatsby may have had more money, but not the same status, for a golden girl must be held to the highest standards, right? By the end of the book, not only is the reader pained by watching how horribly this ‘lovely lady’ treats Gatsby, but so is Nick. “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had

I was thirsty and hungry, but my stomach was so uneasy I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold anything down. Darry had pulled the armchair into the bedroom and was asleep in it. He should be at work, I thought. Why is he asleep in the armchair?” (Hinton,p.156).In this part of the book was showing how Darry is willing to keep his brother Ponyboy protected and would do anything to be by Pony’s side. Another example is; “There was another column about just Darry and Soda and me: how Darry worked on two jobs at once and made good at both of them, and about his outstanding record at school; it mentioned Sodapop dropping out of school so we could stay together, and a that I made the honor roll at school all the time and ab might be a future track star… Then it said we shouldn't be separated after we had worked so hard to stay together.” (Hinton,p.108).This paragraph showed how hard Darry works in order to keep food water and shelter going to Ponyboy’s and Sodapop’s needs,plus he has two jobs meaning Darry works hard for him and his brothers.Though Darry keeps Pony healthy, well educated,and out of trouble,but there are some things that Darry does that shouldn’t let Poney do for example:“Two-bit left me sitting on the bench at the bus stop while he went to a gas station to buy some cigarettes” this example shows how Pony is hooked on Cigarettes

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.

Different events, positive and negative, changed his thoughts and helped him become more mature, and a responsible person. Watching his home going to the work made him realize he should do something in his life. Once he started working, he learned to be respectful and reliable even if it took a while for him to change. Once he became more familiar with Penny, she starts to trust him. She starts to give more responsibility. With that in mind, the accident that Penny had changed everything. It ended the relationship between him and Kentucky. However, he moved on without much difficulty. At the end, he was still thinking about his father's words and what he said about the white boys. He never forgot him. Perhaps, the father also had a positive effect on

She said that her dad teaches her wrong and she should not read at home anymore. Her second mistake was that she was writing a letter to Dill, showing that she can write, when she should only be able to print in grade 1. Lastly, Scout explained the ways of the Cunninghams and how they do not accept anything they can’t pay back. Miss Caroline does not see this as a nice gesture, she sees it more of an arrogant statement and slaps her hand.

Most curriculums being taught to students withhold a mass amount of history. Some may do this because they feel some events do not have the same importance as other topics being taught. Such topics for example would be the rape and sexual exploitation of thousands of African American females during the time periods where racism and segregation was the norm. It is important for people to be educated about the horrific events that these women went through without justice. It is also essential because it shows the amazing activism Rosa Parks took part in. Most people are often just taught about Parks’ actions on the bus. At the Dark End of the Street by Danielle L. McGuire shows how Rosa Parks and many other dedicated their lives to receive equality not only for themselves, but for all African Americans in the south. Danielle L. McGuire’s work is an amazing way for people to not only learn more of Rosa Parks story, but to get a better understanding of what all African American woman had to deal with during this time period. The realism of sexual violence and its dominant impact on the African American women was one of the many events that helped ignite the Civil Rights Movement. McGuire wrote At the Dark End of the Street in order to resolve the negligence of this reality.

Scout was judging Miss Caroline only because she didn't know anyone and she didn't know the families well because she was new to the county. If scout had put herself in the teachers shoes she might have understood that she was new and that she didn’t know many things about the families. Miss Caroline had prejudice towards Walter Cunningham because he didn’t take the money she was giving him but what she didn’t know was the they never took anything that they could not pay back and that The Cunninghams had manners even though they were poor(Scout p.26). She was also judging Burris because he was filthy and had no interest in education but she didn't know what was going

“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.

Daisy, like her husband, is a girl of material and class at heart, and Gatsby being her escape from a hierarchist world. Daisy has just grown up knowing wealth, so in her greedy pursuit of happiness and the “American Dream” Myrtle Wilson died, Gatsby's heart and life were compromised, without claiming responsibility on her part. Daisy was “by far the most popular of all the young girls in Louisville...” (116) Jordan says, describing early affections between Daisy and Gatsby. She goes on to say, “...all day long the telephone rang in her house and excited young officers from Camp Taylor demanded the privilege of monopolizing her that night.” (116) . Daisy was a fancied girl who has Gatsby tied around her finger, Jordan explains that he was looking at Daisy “...in a way that every young girl wants to be looked at some time...” (117). Daisy, abusing Gatsby’s love for her uses it to create security and protection, greedily and selfishly allowing him to take the fault. While Daisy’s beautiful, alluring traits turn her into an innocent, naive flower, she plays the ultimate villain.

When the reader meets Cal, he is heavily burdened by guilt. Early in the story, Cal and Beth are having lunch when Cal tells Beth he does not feel guilty. Once Cal is alone, however, we learn that this is not the case: “He does not believe himself to be innocent. It has to be his fault” (34). Right before Cal thinks this, he is debating the roles of being a father. The reader learns that Cal values the skill of being able to see signs of trouble with his kids. When Con tries to kill himself, Cal feels as though he failed as a father because he didn't see this coming. Cal is a man who thrives on order and control. Cal loses both these values that he bases his life on in a matter of seconds. His “failure” as a father is something that changes