Teen Angst? Naah.. RR

Critical Thinking Question: Are there groups you belong to in this text? What do they look like here? If your own groups are missing, what would you say they were in the book?

I am currently reading the novel, “Teen Angst? Naaah…” by Ned Vizzini. In this story an average antisocial young boy grows up to find interests and things he loves, as well as go through the things all growing boys need to go through.  I noticed the ways that Vizzini portrayed these different age and gender groups. I myself am a teenage girl and I wanted to compare and contrast the way the author portrays this group, to the way I think it is. I am also a teenager in general so I can compare how they are portrayed in this story and how they feel in this story, to how I feel.

            I found that there was a difference in the way that Vizzini portrayed girls in this book to the way that I feel girls should be portrayed.  He made them look like they had no personalities. Looks were the only thing that mattered when it came to teenage girls in this story.  Being a girl I know that we don’t want to be portrayed as figures who don’t matter or are taken for-granted because of the way we look.

‘You see that? She is disgusting! The lips, the nose- all fake. Not real. Not nice to touch, not at all. I can tell.’ This line just shows how disrespectfully girls are made of in this book. Not nice to touch? Girls don’t want boys to be thinking whether they are or aren’t ‘nice to touch’.  The way that the characters in the novel speak of women is the complete opposite of what we want them to speak. This was showing disrespect to women and their bodies. Pointing out their flaws as well- such as small boobs or not as pretty as he wanted.

            A broader group that I felt was portrayed correctly in this book was the group of young adults or teenagers. Ned Vizzini obviously dealt with most of the stuff that almost all teenagers deal with- such as sex, girls, school, parents, prom, etc. Most young adults would agree with his views and stresses on these subjects and typically feel the same way. This group (although more broad than others) was  depicted correctly. “I was still a virgin. That was something I worried about since I was about thirteen or fourteen; something that particularly worried me because the average American male loses his virginity at age sixteen.” This quote stood out because it just showed how a teenager might look at this issue, as if it was a competition. But honestly I feel that it’s true, (seeing that almost everything as a teenager is a competition).  Ned struggles with his parents, trying to convince them to trust him. Taking his girlfriend to their last prom, he struggles with dealing with girls and also prom (which he doesn’t want to go to).  There are many examples that are correct when Vizzini tries to portray teenagers in general and their daily problems.

            Overall I feel that this book characterizes these groups sometimes correctly and sometimes not. I can understand that Vizzini didn’t portray girls as well as teenagers in general, because he doesn’t know what its like to be a girl- but he sure knows what its like to be a teenager. In this book the groups are overall portrayed in a way that can be offensive, but unfortunately true.