Thursday, February 21, 2008
Teenage Wasteland
Finally, the last of the short stories (just kidding Mrs. Fox). Teenage Wasteland seemed to be like a lot of other stories we have read in the past, Catcher in the Rye being one of them. Again, like several other characters from the other short stories, I felt no pity for Donny. He was what the story implies, a teenage waste. Daisy, his mother tried doing just about everything she could. However, nothing worked. It all came down to Donny. Life may not always be fair, but that does not mean we have to hate everyone and should not try to be someone in the world. Sure, he may have had some troubles. But honestly, who doesn't? It is how we choose to react to these situations that defines us. Donny obviously did not care. I clearly dislike Donny, but Cal, Donny's tutor, did not help the situation any. He first seemed to be a positive influence, but his true character was shown later on in the story. Cal basically tried to step in and assume the role of being the parent, when he had no right to and most importantly no knowledge. Like Donny, he always tried to put the blame on someone else. In the end Donny runs away. I do not think life will ever get any better for him, and I do not really feel sorry for him either. I do feel sorry for Daisy, though. She truly tried, and it just did not work.
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I didn't really feel much pitty for Donny either. He is a grown kid that should be able to take care of himself and control his own life. I understand he does not want to work in school, because I don't have the time, but at least I know when and how much I can slack off. He should not have been giving up so much that his parents had to get him a tutor. Even if he did need a tutor or help, he should have been mature enough to take control and find himself some help instead of making his parents do all the work. I think it is pathetic now-a-days how much kids slack off and how much they don't even care. It is like they don't care about their future or where they end up in life. The tutor in this case, did not help at all wich was a shame, because Donny definetly needed it. I think he is probably going to grow up and be a nobody.
I really didn't like Donny, which differs from Catcher in the Rye, because I actually liked Holden. Donny actually gave up, while Holden just went about things differently. I think I disliked Cal more than I disliked Donny. Cal was just a seriously bad influence. He seemed to twist everything to go against Daisy. Poor Daisy! Daisy did try, a lot. Donny had no respect for her, and whatever he got, he probably deserved. There's a point where it isn't Daisy's fault, Donny should know right from wrong.
I think Donny has some problems in his head. Cal has to have something wrong with him too. He needs to understand that he is a TUTOR, he is not one of Donny's parents. A tutor is supposed to help out a student's grades, not try to change his entire family life. Don't kids like Donny annoy the heck out of you? I get so frustrated watching someone fail at something because they do not try. Daisy did everything that any mother would do, try to make school easier for her child. The only thing that I would have done different was in listening to Cal. She seemed to believe everything Cal said. I think I would be a little bit more suspicious about Cal's intentions. I don't know though, she did the best that she could.
I had absolutely no pity for Donny at all. It just made me so mad that he disrespected his parents like that. He was also very selfish. I did not think that Cal had any good effect on Donny's life at all. If anything Cal had a negative effect on Donny's life. Like Cody, I believe that Cal needed to realize that he was a tutor, not a parent. Cal just seemed to turn everything around so that it was Donny's parents fault, not Donnys. I felt really bad for Daisy because she tried so hard to help Donny, and in the end all she received was resentment.
I do have a little pity for Donny. It seemed as if, if he could only get properly motivated, he could do what he needed to do. Unfortunately, there was no real pressure on him to succeed, so he didn't. Daisy, on the other hand, I do feel no pity for. Throughout this story, she seems more worried about public opinion of herself than anything Donny does. I mean, waht an unbelievably self-centered person. I can't imagine where Donny might get it.
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