Teenage Wasteland

In Anne Tyler’s “Teenage Wasteland,” the reader is given insight into the difficulty of parenting through Daisy’s desperate attempt to stop her son from his seemingly uncontrollable downward spiral. The paranoia of her “perfect” parenting techniques leads to the tainting of Donny’s innocence over time and eventually his mysterious disappearance at the end of the story. Through symbols of innocence and corruption, Tyler demonstrates the importance of keeping one’s head clear and focused while parenting, and that using common sense and logic is far more effective than relying on idealism and hope.

In a Tale of Two Cities, famous author Charles Dickens stated, “These are the best of times; these are the worst of times…” Being a teenager in today’s society, it is really easy to apply that quote to my personal feelings on this time in my life. Teenage years, also called adolescence, is a generally confusing time filled with many ups and downs. These ups and downs represent what is described as the best, and the worst, times of our lives.

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

Growing up in the recent generations is very challenging. Children at such young ages, even younger than teens have been faced with such perilous decisions. It is especially hard for teenagers to find acceptance at this point in their lives. Here is an instance that is so common in this day and age, yet this particular case is only fiction. A teenage boy named Donny has been going through a few changes in his appearance. His parents, Matt and Daisy, are somewhat disturbed yet they don’t say much to him. Then one day Daisy gets a call from Donny’s school administrator and tells her that his grades are attitude are dropping scale. He eventually gets kicked out of private school and does poorly in

Being a teenager is hard enough, they deal with teachers, school, homework, and parents while trying to fit in, look cool, and impress their peers. The worst part is that society does not stress the importance of these years. Instead, society makes them seem like they are simple and easy. The first years of young adulthood, also known as formative years, are vital because they teach adolescents lessons on how to act and function properly as themselves in society. The formative years of early life are the most important because they allow adolescents the chance to discover themselves, react to peer pressure, and establish a sense of relationships.

In households across America, teenagers and parents do not traditionally get along. Donny a teenage boy is no different, he believes his parents don't know anything about a teenager’s life, he does not get along with his parents at all. His school recommends that he should get a tutor, but the tutor was not serious, he let the kids mess around and he did not, tutor Donny like he said he would. Donny got worse and went crazy and it all led to bad things and then he ended up running away. In the story Teenage Wasteland By. Anne Tyler the author expresses that you should listen to your parents because they know whats best for you and they want the best for you.

Many adolescents that grow up are easily influenced by the surroundings and events that happen in society. Many adolescents look at their surroundings and look up to others that help guide them throughout their lives. As a teenager I grew up in a rough area and was greatly influenced by it. My community was exposed

In a world for teenagers, there is high school. Attending these high schools are millions of students who are all so diverse. In the U.S. today, the adolescents are more isolated from adults and children outside of their age group than ever before. Age segregation has created a youth that is different from adult culture in its values and attitudes. Society is constantly changing from generation to generation causing teenagers to rely on one another to teach them things that adults cannot. Adolescents have survived by creating groups and growing with each other as people.

The article, “Pushing Back Against a Teen Culture of Entitlement”, is written by Mark Gregston, founder of Heartlight Ministries. The author has been working with parents and children for more than forty years. Gregston begins his article by giving an example of why he sees this generation as the “me-first” generation. He saw an ad claiming “You work hard on week. So treat yourself! You DESERVE this TV!” The purpose of the article is to give advice to parents on how to deal with entitled teens. Also, this article gives awareness to oblivious parents that teens are becoming more entitled. The main argument of the article is teens should not be entitled and parents need to take steps to stop teens. The article surrounds one central idea: young adults are selfish and have a sense of entitlement, but parents need to stop allowing teens to act like this.

Everyone has problems some people have more complex problems that they don’t know how to handle so they think their only option is to put it into somebody else’s hands.

Many of the characters in Anne Tyler’s story “Teenage Wasteland” face some kind of conflict at some point during the story. “This story shows how lack of communication between a troubled adolescent and his parents results in tragedy”(Croft 231). The story is about a boy named Donny who was having a hard time in school. In the beginning, of the story the principal called Daisy, Donny’s mother, because he wanted to have a conference “The boy’s problems do not seem serious. He is described as “noisy, lazy, always fooling around with his friends.””(Harper 1). After this, Daisy made sure that Donny worked on his school assignments every night and this seemed to be working, but then the principal

Donny himself is to blame for his poor behavior and success at school. He makes poor decisions despite having a tutor, teachers, psychologist, and his parents, Matt and Daisy, as support. Donny has nice and caring parents who want him to succeed. When Daisy, his mother, finds out that Donny is falling behind in school, she takes time to help Donny with his homework because she cares about him. An example where Donny makes a poor decision is when Cal, Donny’s tutor, recommends Daisy to give Donny more freedom, she says, “‘But see, he so suggestible’...‘When his friends suggest some mischief-smoking or drinking or such-why, he just finds it hard not to go along with them’”(869). Donny is a follower, and even though

In your mind what does independent mean? Well, the dictionary definition is free from ones authority. Yes, we do still live at home and go to school but if that's the case why call us teenagers independent. I feel if adults use that word than why can’t it affect the decisions of our lives. Now, before I stray to off topic, there are some kids out there that have parents that work early so, they aren’t there in the

We would like to start this speech off with a little comparison between what parents think and what we, being the teenagers, think. It is well known that parents and teenagers have not been always been known to agree on everything. Whether it was that haircut you got our that meal they tried to feed you. Sometimes we just don’t agree on everything. For instant, parenting in general, is often described differently depending on who you ask. According to some parents, “parenting is 50% love, 10% lies, 10% yelling and 30% unclogging toilets”. To them, “parenting is basically just listening to yourself talk because nobody else is.”. However, according to some, well most teenagers, “parenting is embarrassing us whenever, wherever 90% of the time”. To us, “parenting is having our own personalized cook, counsellor, chauffeur and bank”. So yeah, there's a little bit of controversy there. But parents, they’re great, I mean, it is an huge understatement to say that you guys are awesome! To

If you have been brave enough to venture into your teenagers room, you've probably had a glimpse at what few parents want to see: the real teenaged wasteland. For most parents of teens, it's the source of a nearly endless struggle. Where should a parent start?