In the short story, “Teenage Wasteland” by Anne Tyler, the son of Daisy, Donny, is experiencing many troubles in school with his grades and his behavior. The school has called in Donny’s mother several times to meet about these issues. The school suggested Donny see a psychologist and that Daisy be more involved with Donny’s schooling. After all of these meetings, study sessions, and psychologist appointments. The psychologist says Donny, “[is] merely going through a difficult period in his life” (para 11), so he suggests a tutor named Calvin Beatle.
A reader of this story may think that Cal tried to help and support Donny in order to bolster his self-esteem and confidence. Cal only enabled Donny with his problem in taking responsibility for himself and his actions along with failing to help Donny emotionally. The title Cal has is tutor, but he seems to be failing to teach Donny anything. Cal, “set down so many rules! They were not allowed any questions at all about any aspect of school, nor were they to speak with his teachers” (para 43).
The rules Cal set for the parents are odd; any parent would want to know about their child’s improvement with this so called tutor, especially if they are paying for these tutoring sessions. Cal’s rules made it so the parents would not be informed about anything concerning Donny and the improvement he was supposed to be making with this tutor. With Cal’s “tutoring”, Donny went from getting D’s and C’s that he acquired under his mother’s teaching, to F’s. Under the care of this “tutor”, Donny has done worse academically which cannot be improving his self-confidence.
During the course of Cal’s tutoring, Donny’s grades have slipped which cannot be improving his self-confidence at all. Cal has been hired to help Donny academically and to help him emotionally. Donny failing at a prestige private school would make him feel like a failure in life. Any man, woman, or child, who fails at something would not be happy nor proud of themselves. Donny being a failure could not possibly boost his self-esteem or self-confidence. Do to Cal’s failings as a tutor he could be hurting Donny’s self-esteem, which is going completely against the job he has been hired to perform.
Cal is being hired not only to help Donny academically but to help him find a better sense of self-worth. Daisy seems to think that Cal is doing exactly that because of, “Donny’s face when they picked him up: alight and full of interest” (para 33). Donny’s behavior after he leaves Cal’s home leads Daisy to believe that Cal is successfully reaching Donny. Before Cal became Donny’s tutor, Donny was having troubles, behavioral wise, like smoking in the furnace room and being off grounds and returning with the smell of beer on his breath.
Donny’s explosion is because the school did a locker check and found beer cans and half a pack of cigarettes. Donny has a continuing problem with using alcohol and cigarettes and his school expellees him. Yet Donny is saying, “It was a put-up job! See, there’s this guy that doesn’t like me. He put all these beers in my locker and started a rumor going” (para 90). Donny is refusing to take responsibility and attempting to push blame onto another person and Cal is encouraging him. Donny is refusing to take responsibility for the beer and cigarettes found in his locker and is attempting to push blame onto another student.
Cal is taking Donny’s side and encouraging this story, “Mrs. Coble, take my word, the situation is not so unusual… You can’t imagine how vindictive kids can be sometimes” (para 93), even though Donny cannot name the boy when his mother asks him. This seems odd considering that Donny seemed to know that the guy did not like him and was willing to set Donny up in such a way.
Donny’s claim that another student did this has a lot of plot holes, especially taking into consideration his previous problems with the contraband; hy is Cal backing up Donny’s story? Cal is enabling Donny’s inability to take responsibility for his actions by supporting his story in which Donny cannot even name the assailant. Donny needs to learn that at this point in his life he needs to start taking responsibly for his actions, but with Cal enabling his behavior how can Donny see what he’s doing as wrong? A reader of this story may think that Cal tried to help and support Donny in order to bolster his self-esteem and confidence.
Cal only enabled Donny with his problem in taking responsibility for himself and his actions along with failing to help Donny emotionally and academically. Cal, “admitted he’d made no head way with Donny” (para 107). Cal wasted the Coble families time and money and only hurt Donny. Cal was hired to help Donny, at the beginning of the story it seemed like he was making progress. Donny seemed to be happy, finally building up his self-esteem. Sadly, Cal failed Donny academically and hindered his future possible growth as a man able to take responsibility for himself and his actions.
