Parents are always supposed to look out for the best interests of their child. Anne Tyler authored the short story “Teenage Wasteland” which depicts the strained mother and son relationship between the character Donny, and his mother Daisy. Donny is a teenage boy who is struggling with his grades at school and is exhibiting poor behavior. His mother Daisy is concerned with her son’s grades and behavior, however, she fails at getting her son the help that he requires. Told through a third person point of view through the character of Daisy, Tyler uses irony to tell the story of a teenage boy who is failed by the adults in his life who are supposed to help him flourish, including his parents, a psychologist, and his tutor. Donny is a teenager …show more content…
Lanham is sure “would set this boy straight” (9). Through the child psychologist, Tyler portrays another adult who fails Donny when he should have helped. It is ironic that a trained professional tells the Cobles that Donny is simply being a teenager and that he “had no serious emotional problems. He was merely going through a difficult period in his life” (11). As a child psychologist, he should be aware that Donny may have some deep routed emotional problems which are causing him to act out and display poor behavior, and that this acting out is a cry for help, but instead he passes off the responsibility to another individual by recommending the tutor, Cal. In the review and analysis of the story by Matthew Derda, he states that the psychologist “seems to be incompetent” and “does not make any attempt to gain a personal understanding of Donny but approaches him through a series of standardized tests. This procedure is unable to identify Donny's very real problems” …show more content…
It is ironic that the person who has been enlisted to help Donny and who supposedly has “considerable psychological training” winds up being the person who leads to Donny’s grades and behavior getting even worse, and due to his influence leads to Donny being expelled from school (11). With the character of Cal, Tyler demonstrates further irony in that while he should be setting rules for Donny and adding structure to his life, he instead sets rules for Donny’s parents. Cal encourages Donny to have more freedom and tells Daisy and Matt that Donny doesn’t feel trusted, and so in turn instead of Daisy and Matt enforcing rules, they become more lax about the rules. They let him stay out later, attend parties, and don’t ask questions about what he is getting up to (42). Here the roles have been reversed and instead of Donny following rules, his parents are the ones following rules; “They were not allowed any questions at all about any aspect of school, nor were they to speak with his teachers” (look up para #). As analyzed by Martha Rhynes, Cal “encourages Donnie and other adolescents under his tutelage to rebel from “controlling” adults, like parents and school authorities.” Cal’s behavior is the antithesis of what someone who is supposed to be helping get children back on the right path should be doing. Cal asking the Cobles to give Donny more freedom should have been a
His grades were very bad and he wasn’t known to be a good student in class. He was described as, “ noisy,disruptive, always fooling around with his friends”. When his mother was notified about this, although her help was limited, it seemed to help him for a little bit, but then he fell back into same place as he was before. Donny was set up with a tutor, by the name of Cal. Cal was not the type of tutor any parent would intentionally set their child up with. He encouraged the child to rebel against authority. He criticized every attempt Donny's mother made to help her child. Donny unsurprisingly enjoyed the sessions with Cal. At the end of the story Donnys tutor was dropped and Donny was sent to a new school. His grades began to look better, but after a few months he disappeared. No one knew where he could be, not even Cal. Donnys parents are now left with a lost
The teachers were less patient with the poor kids, but she wasn’t just any poor kid, she was a bad kid. Second, Domnick was talking about Penny Ann and said, “She stole Calvin Cobb’s glass egg and Frances Stenpeck’s autographed photo of Annette Funicello, found later ripped into pieces and hidden under the waste basket.” Penny Ann would steal and do bad things to her younger classmates. Domnick was still talking about the bad things that Penny Ann did and brought up, “She snatched kids recess snacks right out of our cloakroom, my own and Thomas included.” She was so mean she would steal her classmate’s food.
Not every teenage girl or teenager gets along with their parents. Everyone sees things in different way. the difference in the point of view provokes the narrator's response, because they both see in a different view that they think their parents is selfish and neglecting or don't care about them but really their parents are helping them.
The story of Anne's childhood must be appreciated in order to understand where her drive, inspiration, and motivation were born. As Anne watches her parents go through the tough times in the South, Anne doesn't understand the reasons as to why their life must this way. In the 1940's, at the time of her youth, Mississippi built on the foundations of segregation. Her mother and father would work out in the fields leaving Anne and her siblings home to raise themselves. Their home consisted of one room and was in no comparison to their white neighbors, bosses. At a very young age Anne began to notice the differences in the ways that they were treated versus ...
No matter what actions or words a mother chooses, to a child his or her mother is on the highest pedestal. A mother is very important to a child because of the nourishing and love the child receives from his or her mother but not every child experiences the mother’s love or even having a mother. Bragg’s mother was something out of the ordinary because of all that she did for her children growing up, but no one is perfect in this world. Bragg’s mother’s flaw was always taking back her drunken husband and thinking that he could have changed since the last time he...
In youth and throughout life, children look to their parents for answers. Providing advice, tough love, and unconditional support is part of the job description for many parents. In The Other Wes Moore, the audience witnesses first-hand accounts of having a mother that takes on both “mother” and “father” roles. Wes’s mother is strong, courageous, and compassionate, while the Other Wes Moore’s mother is just as compassionate, but naive and in denial of her child’s faults. Wes’s mother, for instance, held high expectations for her son in school, considering the sacrifices she made to send him to the school she wished she could attend in her youth. When hearing of Wes’s grades she says, “Well your grades aren’t bad because you can’t pick this stuff up or because you are stupid, you are just not working hard enough” (76). From there, she proceeds to send Wes to military school, which
He always arrives exactly at the arranged time and all his ideas are evidence-based. His life is ruled by a whiteboard and he has difficulty empathizing. Don says he was ‘wired differently’. Don has never had a significant relationship, or even a second date. He decides that it’s high time for him to get married, so he organises the Wife Project.
Don grew up playing hockey, for he was playing in the OHL by the time he was 17. Unfortunately, Don never made it big, but he managed to make his way around the minor league system for a good 15 years. He played a few games in the NHL, attended many training camps, but nothing to brag about. But, that is where Don is different, for he will brag about his days on the ice. He will let every one know about his toughness, grit and determination. After his days as a minor league player, Don was hired on as the head coach for the Boston Bruins, where he experienced much success including a coach of the year award in 1976. It was in 1984 where Don found his true calling though, for it was that year where he accepted a job on the popular Hockey Night in Canada.
The author uses different points of view to create tension in the story. The mom acts in a way that neglects the daughters interests. This makes them both feel less connected and leaves the daughter feeling hopeless. In paragraph 9, “‘It’s strange actually. I wasn’t expecting it, but then at the last minute the funding came through.’ She folded her arms across her waist. ‘I’m going to Costa Rica to finish my research.” This made the narrator/daughter angry and flustered with her mom’s actions. She has trouble remaining connected with her parent because they both want different things which leaves on character feeling betrayed. “Opportunity? For me? Or for you?” (34). Both of their actions and responses create tension in this story. Their communication lacks and this results in pressure on both
Parent/Child relationships are very hard to establish among individuals. This particular relationship is very important for the child from birth because it helps the child to be able to understand moral and values of life that should be taught by the parent(s). In the short story “Teenage Wasteland”, Daisy (mother) fails to provide the proper love and care that should be given to her children. Daisy is an unfit parent that allows herself to manipulated by lacking self confidence, communication, and patience.
Ultimately, parental conflict can occur no matter what the situation is. It does not take a father's relentless yelling or a fathers death in order for a parent to affect their child negetively. Take Donny from Teenage Wasteland, for example. His family was middle-class and he did not come from a broken home as both of his parents cared for him and his sister. To the naked eye, this seems like the "perfect" famiy.
Fry remembers “pains of loneliness, boredom, abandonment, humiliation, rejection and fear”. He admits to “dwell” on them as the pains “inflicted on me by other children and by myself”. While getting punished in a school setting opens the door to continuous mockery, the offscouring brought on by peers eliminates the illusions of a child fitting in. Becoming the outcast and not being accepted leads to the feeling of being unwanted. For a growing individual, refusal hurts more than a physical wound.
"Two Kinds" is a powerful example of differing personalities causing struggles between parent and child. In every parent-child relationship, there are occurrences in which the parent places expectations on the child. Some children fall victim to a parent trying too hard or placing expectations too high, or, in the case of "Two Kinds," a parent trying to live her life through that of her child. However, the mother is also a victim in that she succumbs to her own foolish dream that "you could be anything you wanted to be in America." Knowing that her own time has passed, she wants her daughter to succeed by any means necessary, but she never stops to think of what her daughter might want. She strictly adheres to her plan, and her overbearing parenting only leaves the daughter with feelings of disapproval and questions of self-worth. The mother does not realize the controversy that she creates, and she cannot understand that her actions could be wrong. She also does not realize that she is hurting not only her daughter, but also the relationship that should bind the two of them ...
In general, the discrepancy between appearances and reality is ironic. Irony is encountered throughout our daily activities and comes in many forms; verbal, situational. and the cosmic. Verbal irony is the most familiar kind, this occurs when we understand that.
The story provides many sources for the boy's animosity. Beginning with his home and overall environment, and reaching all the way to the adults that surround him. However, it is clear that all of these causes of the boy's isolation have something in common, he has control over none of these factors. While many of these circumstances no one can expect to have control over, it is the culmination of all these elements that lead to the boy’s undeniable feeling of lack of control.