Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Contributing factors to juvenile delinquency
Anxiety and depressed mood
Peer pressure among teens
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Contributing factors to juvenile delinquency
In order for Sonny to escape the difficulties of the real world, he fell into a deep depression. Sonny wanted to avoid dealing with the responsibilities at home dealing with his over bearing family, the temptations of the streets by diving into a world that was much nicer than the one he was brought up in. Since he was exposed to the dark side of Harlem at a young age, it leads to him down a path of becoming an addict for life.
By being associated with a large groups of people, youths are constantly presented in situations were they are peer pressured into situations where they do not want to be in, because of this it can weight heavily on the soul. In an article titled "Peer Influence Processes For Youth Delinquency And Depression" states, “Findings suggest peer depression and delinquency are both predictive of youth delinquency, while peer influences of depression are much more modest. Youth who are
…show more content…
Results supported loneliness as a significant risk factor in youths ' lives that may result from anxiety and place youth at risk for subsequent depression”. The significant impact of depression can contribute to the development of youth. Depression is a serious mental illness, which can affect any age group. Dealing with a certain kind of environment like gangs, over bearing parents and loneliness are just some, that can constantly encourage depressive systems for an individual does have a role when it comes to depression. This can cause severe consequences. If a teenager was depressed, it could potentially lead them to pursue a downward path to heavy drinking, drugs or worse
As a teenager we are all looking to be accepted by our peers and will do whatever it is they want us to so we can be accepted. That is to say the feeling of needing to be accepted by ones peers is done consciously; the person starts to do what their friends do without thinking about it. (Teen 3) In fact, teens are more likely to be affected by peer pressure because they are trying to figure out who they are. (How 1) Therefore, they see themselves as how their peers would view them so they change to fit their peer’s expectations. (How 1) Secondly, the feeling of needing to rebel and be someone that isn’t who their parents are trying to make them be affects them. (Teen 2) Thus, parents are relied on less and teens are more likely to go to their peers about their problems and what choices to make. (How 1) Also, their brains are not fully matured and teens are less likely to think through their choices thoroughly before doing it. (Teen 6) Lastly, how a child is treated by his peers can affect how they treat others; this can lead them into bullying others who are different. (Teen 3) Consequently this can affect a teen into doing something good or bad; it depends who you surround yourself with.
Sonny has had to deal with many troubles in life, and he turns to drugs for release, but this is just another one of his problems. Sonny is not very old when his
According to his brother, who narrates "Sonny's Blues," Sonny was a bright-eyed young man full of gentleness and privacy. "When he was about as old as the boys in my classes his face had been bright and open, there was a lot of copper in it; and he'd had wonderfully direct brown eyes, a great gentleness and privacy. I wondered what he looked like now" (Baldwin 272). Something happened to Sonny, as it did to most of the young people growing up in Harlem. His physical journey growing up in the streets caused a great deal of inner turmoil about whom he was and what kind of life he was to have. One thing for sure, by the time his mother died, Sonny was ready to get out of Harlem. " 'I ain't learning nothing in school,' he said. 'Even when I go.' He turned away from me and opened the window and threw his cigarette out into the narrow alley. I watched his back. 'At least, I ain't learning nothing you'd want me to learn.' He slammed the window so hard I thought the glass would fly out, and turned back to me. 'And I'm sick of the stink of these garbage cans!' " (Baldwin 285).
The Character Sonny in Sonny’s Blues struggles with himself and wants to ultimately make something of himself outside of Harlem. He feels stifled there and wants to move on to bigger and better things and to pursue music, so that is him initially trying to control his own life’s destiny. Mrs. Wright has the same problem with being suppressed by her husband, and is desperately trying to gain that freedom that she lost after getting married to him. He took away a lot from her, forcing her to stop singing, and keeping her away from society and having a social life. The two both feel smothered by their lives and attempt to gain control of it and make things better for themselves, but go about it in the wrong way which ultimately gets the two in trouble with the law, Sonny going to prison for using and selling heroin, and Mrs. Wright being the main suspect for the death of her
In conclusion, the narrator shows how the realities of suffering and the presence of drugs were inevitable in Harlem, New York in the 1950’s. Throughout the story the literary use of setting, characters, and theme shows this in many ways and how the struggle was inevitable for both Sonny and the narrator in many ways. Even though Sonny fell into the darkness, he was able himself out showing that no matter how far you fall, there is always a way out. It took some time, but Sonny was able to overcome his suffering and struggles, overcome his drug addictions, and finds himself through music.
Throughout the story, the narrator learns how important it is to Sonny for him to care and listen to him. Sonny is vulnerable and in a state where he is getting into trouble with drugs and alcohol perhaps because he feels as though no one cares enough to help him. The narrator lives his life as a teacher while Sonny spends his days using drugs hoping someday to pursue his dreams of music. Both characters end up in a place they are meant to be; acting as family and leaning on each other for support, which is the true importance of an older brother.
He still buys him an alcoholic drink at the end of the story because, he has accepted his brother for who he really is. Harlem is the setting of this story and has been a center for drugs and alcohol abuse. The initial event in this story shows that Sonny is still caught in this world. Sonny says that he is only selling drugs to make money and claims that he is no longer using. In the story the brother begins to see that Sonny has his own problems, but tries to help the people around him by using music to comfort
All Sonny wants is to be free due to the awful experience of prison. However, most of the story's imprisonment is abstract. The narrator talks about Harlem multiple times as a type of trap that people struggle to escape from. He states that even the people who made it out somewhat successfully, "always left something of themselves behind, as some animals amputate a leg and leave it in the trap". A Hell hole of crime, anger, poverty and depression, Harlem is a pit for individuals who call it their home. When Sonny talks with the narrator about joining the military so they can leave Harlem, the narrator states that Sonny looked "trapped, and in anguish". Sonny's hopes to get out of prison are reflected by his hopes to leave Harlem. Even though the narrator has a middle-class position in the world, he fails to truly escape his neighborhood and
The narrator's disapproval of Sonny's decision to become a musician stems in part from his view of musicians in general. His experiences with musicians have led him to believe that they are unmotivated, drug users, seeking only escape from life. He does not really understand what motivates Sonny to play music until the afternoon before he accompanies Sonny to his performance at a club in Harlem. That afternoon, Sonny explains to him that music is his voice, his way of expressing his suffering and releasing his pent-up feelings.
In “Sonny’s Blues” the story starts with the narrator who is Sonny’s brother. Sonny’s brother first knew about Sonny’s arrest by reading the newspaper. While reading it, he was angry and in pain because he was thinking about how Sonny got himself into a bad place. After running into Sonny’s old friend, the narrator is talking to him and the friend is explaining how it was his fault that Sonny is in jail and he is the reason why Sonny started selling and using heroin. After talking to Sonny’s old friend, the narrator is mad and upset that Sonny would do that. Sonny’s brother looks back and thinks that Sonny is a troublemaker, but never to that extent.
He wants to project himself as a jazz musician but society considers him as a poor drug addict who lives in Harlem. Sonny fails resolving his problem and gets imprisoned because of heroin addict. Music is the only way he can escape from Harlem, where always frustrates Sonny and brings Sonny down. Music makes him alleviated from his hopelessness and self-consciousness after he released from prison. However, he becomes the one who fights against the problem surrounding him. “I think people ought to do what they want to do, what else are they alive for?” literally shows his perception towards to
To demonstrate, according to the narrator in Sonny's Blues by Mr. Baldwin, we discover the constant struggle of the normative expectations of today’s society to continue education after high school, the influences of racism, and the harsh outcomes of addiction can do to a person who simply wants to live the life they dream of. Therefore, with these amounts of harsh struggles that anyone in sonny’s position goes through can lead anyone to the deep line of hardships, struggles, and mental/emotional breakdowns. Additionally, in the position of Sonny’s, he had to endure these harsh struggles of life with the constant belittlement of the narrator, his environment, and the people around him, which lead to his own self-destruction “All they really knew were two darknesses, the darkness of their lives, which was now closing in on them, and the darkness of the movies, which had blinded them to that other darkness.”(Baldwin 561-562). Important to realize, due to all of these struggles, many individuals could not imagine how anyone could survive a daily lifestyle like this, but due to sonny, many individuals grow a better understanding of what a youngster in the deepest forms of poverty from Harlem, New York goes through on a daily
Structural-functional views show the importance of being connected to friends and family to remain mentally happy and healthy. Symbolic-interaction shows us that we need to be proactive when it comes to youth and bullying and make sure that there is absolutely no tolerance for this behavior, because youth take to heart and internalize what others think about them. The social conflict perspective educates us on the importance that teens place on money and power and places socioeconomic youth at risk for many behaviors that can be linked to suicide and depression. Looking at teen depression and suicide through different sociological perspective provides an awareness and gives us valuable information that should be shared to make a difference in teen depression and suicide
In the article “Prevalence and Development of Child Delinquency” written by Howard N. Snyder, he explains that “Older juveniles often influence younger children. In addition, studies have shown that juveniles who associate with deviant peers are more likely to be involved in delinquent behavior and arrested at a younger age than those who do not associate with such deviant juveniles” (Snyder 36). Children that are abused and/or associate themselves with delinquents run a greater risk of developing delinquent behavior themselves. According to "Breaking the Cycle of Violence: A Rational Approach to At-Risk Youth." Written by Judy Briscoe, “Peer rejection may also influence child and adolescent delinquency by inducing the rejected child to associate with deviant peer groups and gangs. Gang membership provides a ready source of co-offenders for juvenile delinquency and reflects the greatest degree of deviant peer influence on offending. Also, youth tend to join gangs at younger ages than in the past, which leads to an increased number of youthful offenders.” (Briscoe 8) Although children tend to have the same values and beliefs as their parents, their different experiences and influences while growing up shape their beliefs and their view of the world, which has a direct impact on their ability to make rational decisions. It’s possible that if a child had
Many people feel apprehensive and miserable every now and then, but when does it take over their whole lives? Losing a loved one, doing poorly in school or work, being bullied and other hardships might lead a person to feel sad, lonely, scared, nervous and/or anxious. Some people experience this on an everyday basis, sometimes even or no reason at all. Those people might have an anxiety disorder, depression, or both. It is highly likely for someone with an anxiety disorder to also be suffering from depression, or the other way around. 50% of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder.