Teenage Wasteland

At the beginning of the story, I felt really bad for Daisy. She must have felt so awkward in the principal's office. I did feel she was doing the right thing by checking Donny's homework and helping where she could; however, I also felt bad for her daughter, since Daisy wasn't spending as much time with her anymore.

Once Donny got caught drinking and smoking and Cal came into the picture, I began to get very annoyed with all the characters. Cal wanted to help the kids but he was a friend when they needed a parent. And because Cal was the one with the psycology degree, Daisy and her husband leave him to raise their son. However, I found most of Cal's methods to be very counterproductive. In an effort to raise Donny's self-esteem, Cal causes Donny to believe that he can do no wrong. He also turns Donny against any form of authority, including his own parents.

When Cal and Daisy discussed the rules she and her husband enforced on Donny, I was about to throw up. I was so disgusted by the way Cal taught all of them to equate trust with love. I was practically screaming at the book that love is unconditional but you don't earn trust until you prove yourself trustworthy. I know I have this view because my mom always told us, "With priveledge comes responsibility." Donny wanted all of the priveledges of being an adult without any of the responsibility. I think that by not punishing Donny and by giving into his every demand, Daisy and Cal actually hurt Donny. I was also dumbfounded when Donny tried to protest that the school was out to get him when he was expelled. By this point, I was comepletely fed up with all the characters in the story. I just couldn't believe that Cal, who was supposed to be an adult, supported and encouraged "Donny's side of the story." It was disgusting.

I pitied Daisy thruout the story, though. I could tell that she really just wanted to do what was best for her son. I just really wish she had gotten some better advise. Cal, on the other hand, I loathed. Every decision he made concerning Donny only hurt him. He tried to be a friend instead of a mentor and was more worried about being cool than making sure that the kids were punished when they needed to be.

The title refered to the song by the Who and to the lack of substance in the teenage culture. All of the kids at Cal's house had been taught to believe that every bad thing that happened to them was someone else's fault and that their poop didn't stink. I think the author highlighted many things that are wrong with this generation with this story. The big push to help a child's self esteem has resulted in a generation of narcissic, irresponsible and easily offended adults. Many of the teens at Cal's and in America today needed to be told "no" and made to suffer the consequences of their choices.