Critical Thinking Question Essay

There are many negative affects from putting pressure on yourself, and other people putting pressure on you. In the autobiography Teen Angst by Ned Vizzini, the main character is neglected by society, peer pressured, and is in constant competition with himself.

Firstly, in the book Teen Angst Ned deals with many problems with groups and peer pressure. For example, when Ned is with a group of guys they pressure him into doing something that he would not normally do. "It took place the next night when my friend,X, produced a bong and brought me down to the riverbank with Y. X told me that nothing would happen to me because smoking marijuana only affected you the third or fourth time that you tried it…I don't know how much I smoked, but I never wanted to do it again."(Page    ) This part of the book shows how Ned (who is normally a straight A student) didn't have the intention to ever smoke marijuana, but was peer pressured into doing so.

Also, in the book Teen Angst Ned is often neglected by society and often does things that he thinks other people would want him to do/hear. An example of this is on page 192 after he got his results on the SAT test. " I got a 1530, a score I lied about almost as much as my virginity. I figured that if I told people I got higher than a 1400, they'd get angry."This shows that Ned is afraid to say his actual grade on the SAT and has to lie about it because thats what he thinks other people want to hear him say. Another example is one page 1. "I took a bright teal super dorky backpack to high school. A backpack my mother had ordered years earlier from L.L Bean. My backpack got some looks. People would stare at it, wondering "what kind of idiot wears an accessory like that?" Then they would see me "oh…" Many steps below stood a girl. We were the only ones standing on the escalator. The backpack kept tumbling down and eventually hit her. She cocked her head and kicked it the rest of the way down the escalator." This shows how Ned was an outcast in highschool and because he was, people treated him differently, or in this case, treated him with very little respect.

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Authors Note

I chose the topic of gender stereotyping because I remember when i was in elementary school, if a girl wanted to play with the boys it would be considered wrong because of there stereotypes. Girls are "supposed to be" pretty, like pink, have long hair, have crushes on boys, be proper, sweet, nice, and nurturing. Boys are "supposed to" be rough, like sports/ be athletic, and can't like the color pink.

I went up to my best friends little 7 year old sister and asked her if its okay if a boy plays with a girl she says "yes I play soccer with the boys all the time". But when I asked a much younger child (5 years old) they said "ewwww no!" This was appalling to think about. So I have decided to write this picture book on gender stereo typing because I feel the need to educate much younger kids.

In my book, the main character, Zoe ( a young rabbit), wants to play with the boys but they won't let her because she's a girl. Even her friends don't like the idea of her being around boys. I thought this was a more friendly way to introduce this topic to children.