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Environment and Experiences Shape Our Attitude
During our adolescence, we learn many things from what brands are considered
to be cool to what is right and wrong. Some teens begin to mature, which may include
starting relationships and becoming independent while others may stay in their juvenile
stage, constantly making childish jokes and doing reckless things. However, it is also
during these years that we begin to pick up on things that we think are applicable to life
and may help us in the future. Growing up, we wished to be loved and achieve
acceptance from our peers. The environment and culture that one is raised in and the
experiences he or she go through shapes his or her understanding of the relationships
and situations he or she encounters and his or her attitude towards them which may
have a positive or negative impact on their future.
In movies such as "Mean Girls" and "High School Musical", there is often a
popular crowd that everyone wishes to be a part of and accepted in. It is not uncommon
that a young child or teen dreams to become famous one day. As human beings, we
seek acceptance from those around us. We want to be loved, recognized, and feel as if
we fit in. In the same way Dick Prosser in The Child by Tiger, a short story written by
Thomas Wolfe, seeks acceptance from his community. He lives with many white men,
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however, his skin color lowers his importance and status in society, as one of the white
men in town narrates, ""That Dick was the best man he'd ever had, the smartest darky
that he'd ever known" (Wolfe 26). He was referred to as darky by his white peers due to
the pre-set stereotypes in...