The Rise and Fall of the American Teenager by Thomas Hine (Pages 0-63)

Summary
The narrator begins by mentioning that in high school yearbook club he was assigned to write a piece on the misery of teenagers. In the 1930s, teenagers didn't go to school and only worked but the government funded more high schools to have older men work. Author's theory is that teenager is a term that is a cycle of our lives and embedded into it. In the 1940s, the term "teenager: arrived, youth could be described at the time as anyone from 12 to 35 years old. The author speaks of looking at history of teenagers and making it relevant to modern teenager ideals. The rise of the teenager is the education, shape, and continuation of teen culture. The fall of the teenager is all the negative aspects of being a teenager like tattoos, piercings, gangs, and violence. The rise and fall of teenagers could be compared to the rise and fall of man in Genesis, the biblical story. Teenage Mystique allows adults to remind themselves of there own mortality, which makes adults have a negative view on teenagers. It also makes adults presume thoughts about teens like that all teenagers are a same way. Americans culture includes a type of classification where their age group classifies a person and therefore they are assumed to act certain way. Before the twentieth century, teens were looked at and judged for their physical ability or other abilities and declared mature. Currently teenagers are but all into one box of mannerisms and personalities. Statistically, a teen that developed faster than others is most likely to participate in teenager mystique (negative assumptions of teenagers). In the mid 1990's, there was a high population of baby boomer and the crime rate was high, crime is a way for a teen to get a job or do something before he is mature. Pressure is put onto teens to not be like their parents but better, and teens actually adapt to adult habits. The more restraints put on them, the more the teenage mystique. Sexuality has become an issue in this generation with a lack of education. Teenagers crave their parents who many times aren’t there, parents view teens as exotic and stubborn. There is a possibility that teens from this decade may find new ways to deal with other teens in the future, but for now, it is not working out. It takes person a series of events to come of age, historical and cultural influences, and influence teenagers physical development. Modern nutrition has also had an impact on girl’s sexuality because there bodies develop earlier, this creates a gap between physical maturation and marriage age. Adolescent physiology is key to understanding the term "teenager," Anna Geud's theory is that we don't remember our adolescence because of its pain. Physical changes in a person’s body are due to their family and infancy. Aristotle even commented that teens are eager to fulfill their desires; teens have been studies for a long time. Of course, as time evolves, teenager culture does to; new problems arise that make them ungrateful for old problems. All teens are born in different situations, which makes it difficult to put them all into one category or to assume they all have the same obstacles. A person's identity, which is crucial to a person’s life, is undefined in American culture; American culture tries pushes in the idea of self-creation. American coming of age ceremonies like prom and age limitations, create bad habits, as teens grow and lead them to immaturity. The anthropologist term "rites of passage," consists of the same stages of bildungsroman. Coming of age rituals in other cultures are very distinct, Americans rituals are unclear, to teens and to adults, they leave youth disoriented and tattoos, piercings, and crazy haircuts become the answer to the lack of rituals defining coming of age. Even though some cultures deny young people of maturity, at times they find the only way to show it is physical maturity, in some cases youth are separated from there families to come of age. Esidendat argued that age groups are universal when there are two things, first the minimizing degree of family dependence and he inability for elders to share wealth to the young. The United States created the teenager, which becomes someone stuck in between.

Quote
"That in turn has led to the rise of a youth subculture that has helped define and elaborate what it means to be a teenager. Any account of the rise of the teenager is in large part, an account of the changing shape and continuing importance of teen culture"(Hine 7).

Reaction
  In the quotation, Hines summarises his point and defines what the rise of the teenager is. This connects to the authors style of writing because besides writing about the history of teenagers, he speaks optimistically about the rise of the teenager and the power of young people. His sophisticated way of writing is shown through using very specific terms like "subculture," not only is his diction at a higher level but the way he uses syntax to make his sentences to give them a intellectual touch, making the reader take the topic of teenagers seriously.