Teenage Wasteland

Teenage Wasteland A heart-wrenching coming-of-age story, Anne Tyler's "Teenage Wasteland" is told primarily from the mother's point-of-view. The opening and ending of the story rapidly flash through key growth points in Donny's life from the time he first hits puberty to the time he runs away from home. Although the narration is in third person, Donny's perspective is not taken into account to underscore the mother's pain and suffering at not understanding her child as he grapples with the confusion of adolescence.

Having had a troubled teenage life herself, the mother demonstrates compassion toward her son, which is never reciprocated. Irony permeates "Teenage Wasteland," as the mother becomes like a child: lost, lonely, and confused. At the opening of "Teenage Wasteland," the narrator quickly goes over Donny's transformation from the soft-featured boy with a cowlick to the sullen boy with a "sharp, new Adam's apple," (Para. 1).

The Adam's apple is more than a mere emblem of male puberty; it is also a symbol of the Biblical story detailing the fall from a state of grace and the innocence of childhood. Thus, the opening paragraph encapsulates the theme of the story, which is the human condition and the struggles people endure as they seek a sense of wholeness, love, and belonging. The opening paragraph also contains the necessary foreshadowing that hints at Donny's downfall.

Tyler liberally uses irony in "Teenage Wasteland," in order to emphasize the core themes and motifs. Irony helps to expose the complexity of the issues that are addressed in the story, emphasizing the moral ambiguity that makes the story compelling. One of the notable ironies in the story is the way the parents become infantilized at several moments, first by the school and then by Cal.

From the first meeting Donny's mother Daisy has with the school principal, it seems that the school represents at least in part elements of social control, authoritarian rule, and arbitrary discipline. The narrator wants the reader to sympathize with Donny and Daisy, as Daisy enters the meeting nervous, "clutching her purse," and feeling intimidated -- even though she used to be a teacher (Para. 2). The principal veritably scolds Daisy, or at least that is Daisy's perception.

Yet Daisy is eager to please as if she is a child looking for approval. Daisy even starts to ignore her daughter Amanda, Donny's little sister, who exists as a character mainly to underscore the lack of balance in Daisy's approach. Daisy also finds herself snapping at her husband when he returns home from work. Clearly, the anxiety that the school engrained in Daisy is counter-productive, but Daisy fears for her son's future.

The next time the parents are noticeably infantilized is when both parents are asked to attend a conference about Donny, and the narrator describes them as "two bad children," (Para. 7). Daisy does what she can to try and impress the school, even though she feels like a failure. Her sudden self-consciousness about her and her husband's clothing is a clear reference to social class status. Daisy feels intimidated by the school because she perceives her role in the situation as being powerless; the school represents power and authority.

This is why Daisy tries to put on airs with a "firm, responsible handshake," rather than defend her son in a more rigorous manner (Para. 10). All these references to the patronizing methodologies of the school's relationship with parents help the reader sympathize with both Daisy and with Donny. Cal becomes the next ironic figure in "Teenage Wasteland." At first, he seems like the anti-establishment answer to all of Donny and Daisy's problems. He relates to teenagers because in many ways, he still is one.

Instead of helping the students improve their grades, he focuses on what he calls the "whole child," (Para. 54). His methods seem attractive at first, but prove futile in the end. Yet Daisy trusts Cal, views him as an authority figure, and surrenders her power to him. Cal makes it so that the teachers call him, and not the mother. This is one of the most symbolic signs that Daisy has surrendered control over her son because she does not feel empowered with the ability to parent her own child.

Ironic also is the fact that there are continual references to Donny's lack of self-esteem and self-worth, when it is Daisy who could use a boost in her self-confidence. Later in the story, Cal even talks down to Daisy, sitting her on his couch as if she were a child. On the one hand, the reader sympathizes with Donny, who views school as a "prison" and who longs for more freedom and responsibility from his parents as well (Para. 21).

Donny likes Cal because Cal listens to rock music and lets them play games all day instead of study. Essentially, Cal enables Donny to remain stuck in childhood rather than to learn the importance, value, and pleasure inherent in taking responsibility. Donny needs more responsibility and more maturity that derives from personal accountability, and not unstructured freedom. Yet poor Daisy does not know what Donny needs at all.

She does not even know if she praised her son too much, or not enough; showing that Daisy's own self-esteem in her parenting is lacking. Donny is certainly going through a "difficult period in his life," and is therefore not an abnormal teenager (Para. 11). Yet allowing his sullen and withdrawn nature, and his growing resentment of his parents, to fester, Daisy does Donny a disservice she comes to regret later on.

It is also ironic that Miss Evans points out the uncomfortable truth that Donny is invoking the tutor as a "talisman," (Para. 48). The school had not seemed overly sympathetic until the point; now it is Daisy who is called upon to wake up and take responsibility for her own son. A turning point in the story occurs when Daisy sees Donny's lie clearly in his face, recognizing the "bold-faced, wide-eyed look" he used to have when he was lying as a young boy (Para. 101).

Seeing the lie, Daisy finally takes control of the situation and withdraws her son from Cal's services. She also.