The Woes of Youth

When I read the brief biography of Anne Tyler that accompanies her short story “Teenage Wasteland” in the textbook, it said that the story was published in the teen magazine “Seventeen”. At the time, which publications showcased the work seemed negligible, however, once I read the story I realized that it was clearly geared toward a high school-aged audience. The story seems to be intended as a sort of parable that illustrates the importance of not allowing one’s problems from high school (whether they be far away or close at hand) to characterize one’s life.
Telling the story from the perspective of the mother allows a young reader to see some typical teenage behaviors from the point of view of a parent. As Donny shirks his schoolwork, is disrespectful to his family, and disregards the rules, we cannot help but feel sympathy for Daisy. Though Daisy has nothing but good intentions for Donny, each one of her solutions eventually fails and causes her to gradually lose confidence in her parenting abilities. Furthermore, it is mentioned that Daisy also had a bad experience in high school. Tyler occasionally alludes to the fact that Daisy has yet to overcome the hardships that she faced in her youth. When she visits the principal’s office to discuss Donny’s problems in school, she seems to be more concerned with what the principal thinks of her than with her own son. Her self-conscious attitude almost makes her seem immature. In addition, when she returns to the principle’s office with her husband, she mentions how she feels as though she is about to be the one getting in trouble as she sits nervously on the couch outside on Mr. Lanham’s office. Her sentiments in this moment connect her and Donny, as if to suggest that she understands what Donny is going through and has not yet fully overcome it for herself.
Donny continually mentions his frustration at feeling trapped by the rules at school and the rules at home. Cal also brings him to the realization that his self-esteem suffers because all authority figures around him expect only the worst from him. Donny begins to see this anguish as the hand that life has dealt him and not merely a phase that will pass with time. His frustration leads him to his destructive behaviors such as being an irresponsible student despite his intelligence and deliberately breaking school rules. Making a habit of truancy only increases his problems because the authority figures in this life then become more frustrated with him. Donny is never taught any healthy coping mechanisms to get him through high school by either Daisy or Cal. Daisy is still grappling with the effects of her own high school experience and is too emotionally weary from failed attempts to help her son that she fails to realize that he is merely experiencing unoriginal, teenage angst. Cal seems to both have an agenda to keep Donny coming to him for financial benefit and be unfit to give Donny sound advice because he too is riddled with problems of his own.
Daisy is a foil to Cal because she (like Donny) seems to still be running away from the problems that plagued her in high school whereas Cal apparently wants to be a teenager forever. By ending his marriage and spending his days slumming with delinquent teens, he is likely desperately trying to regain the edenic youth that rock stars sing of and disillusioned adults such as himself seek either because he experienced no such thing in his own youth or because he fears losing himself in the quotidian mediocrity that seems to characterize the “real world”. He teaches Donny to blame all of his problems on the authority figures around him instead of doing what is expected of him. Had Donny learned to find a way to get through four years of high school safely, he could have moved on from his problems to bigger and better things instead of running away from his life altogether. (670).