teenage wasteland Essay -- essays research papers

The Teenage Wasteland, why was it so good? 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 public school. Daisy was concerned and decided to take advice from the school and psychologist to get help from a highly reputable tutor, Calvin Applebee. Instead of Donny’s parents talking to their son they hire Cal, which tries to handle Donny’s lack of emotion an d performance. Donny’s performance didn’t change with Cal, at least in the school aspect, but Cal kept reassuring Daisy and Matt that it would change and to give it more time. In result, Donny runs away after being sent home because he was expelled for being caught with drugs in his locker and months later he still has not returned home. Who is to blame? Should Daisy and Matt been more disciplined on Donny? Well, in Anne Tyler’s short story the Teenage Wasteland this is just what happened. I really enjoyed this story because I feel it really focused on an issue that is so common in our generation. It was easy to read and was straight to the point. I especially enjoyed the role of the dumbfounded parents, Cal’s cynical character, and in result of the all their foolishness, the action Donny resulted in taking. It was really funny to me to see how Donny’s parents could be so oblivious to all that was happening to Donny. They were very good parents but didn’t but enough discipline on him. They instead let the school, the psychologist, and especially the Cal run the life of Donny. Daisy and Matt should never have given so much control to everyone else over their own son. Daisy tried helping Donny in school, even having to start supper late at times and spending less time around her other daughter. It wasn’t always pleasant because when Matt would come home she would... ...r’s story may not have been happy but it ended as more of a realistic matter. Maybe she decided to conclude the book with the disappearance of Donny to show some parents how important is truly is to communicate and love their children unless they want the same thing to happened to their children that Donny experienced. I really enjoyed â€Å"Teenage Wasteland† because it displayed a topical issue some parents have actually faced in their lifetime. It was exceptional the way the story was wrapped up. Not that I don’t enjoy happy endings but I am more interested in reading stories that may be written in fiction but that I can actually relate to and imagine it happening. Anne Tyler displayed this real life situation through a fiction tale that has such valuable lessons to be learned. Donny’s just a teenager who was going through a rough time in his life and just wanted to be loved and to love himself. It isn’t always happy the way children turn out but parents do make the difference and communication is a key to success. I feel Tyler displayed this quite clear in her short story so everyone could learn a lesson worth learning to prevent this astounding situation from happening to others.