República Bolivariana de Venezuela

Universidad Pedagógica Experimental Libertador

Instituto Pedagógico “Rafael Alberto Escobar Lara” de Maracay
English Department.
Inglés como lengua extranjera
Sección 001

Professor: Joyce Muñoz. Authors: Ester Ramírez

V-27.168.066.
Raquel Padrón.
V-28.219.796.

Teenage Wasteland

Part II
A. Exploring Themes

1. How does the description of Donny’s changing appearance in paragraph 1

relate to the story?
Answer: “Teenage Wasteland” is a song from the band The Who. When we see the
members of this band, we can notice that they used to wear their hairs like Donny’s
hair. In summary, Donny is copying the style from The Who’s members or from
bands related.
2. How do Donny’s problems affect his sister, Amanda?
Answer: The parents’ attention was focus on Donny therefore nobody has time for
her. She may felt uninvolved in her own family, thus Amanda would develop the
Donny’s problems or even worst problems.
3. Is Cal generally successful in helping his students? Explain your answer by
giving examples from the story.
Answer: In the whole story, we didn´t learn about any Cal’s successful in helping his
students, otherwise, we learnt about his failures. For example: a Cal’s student was
knifed in a tavern, one was shipped off to boarding school in midterm, two were
withdrawn by their parents, and Donny mentioned that a Cal’s students had been
studying with Cal for five years. The examples above make us think if he was really
trying to help his students. On the whole, he doesn’t seem a good influence nor a
good tutor.
4. Does Daisy’s personality contribute to Donny’s problems? If so, how?
Answer: From our point of view, her personality was hesitant. Hence, it contributed
to Donny’s problems. She didn’t know what to do with her son. For that reason,
Daisy followed the Cal’s instructions although she didn´t agreed with them. Besides,
Daisy was unable to take a decision by herself. As a result, she didn’t get a favorable
resolution of Donny´s problems.
5. What is the role of Donny’s father in the story?
Answer: Donny’s father is almost non-existent. He is always working. The only
exchange of words between Donny and his father in the story is when Donny’s father
scolds him. His father told Donny to watch his words in from of his mother, and
that’s it.
6. How does the ending related with the title of the story?
Answer: As we noted above, Teenage Wasteland is a song from The Who. Therefore
this group sings about a land where teenagers can go and get lost. In the story, Donny
left behind his home. We never know where he is, but he is getting lost like the
teenagers from the song.

B. Analyzing the Author's Style.

1. Does the narrator display total or limited omniscience? Explain your answer.
Answer: The narrator displays a limited omniscience. The narrator isn’t in the story;
however she knows the thoughts and opinions from one person.
2. Which character point of view dominates the story?
Answer: Daisy. The narrator let us know about Daisy’s thoughts and Daisy’s
feelings, but this storyteller never expressed other character’s views.
3. How does this character’s point of view affect the way we see Donny?
Answer: Daisy is the Donny’s mother; consequently we are seeing Donny’s
problems through her eyes. We can’t understand Donny because Daisy never
identified with Donny. Maybe we can infer the Donny’s reasons and feelings when he
left his house, however we won’t know his standpoint. All in all, considering that we
read the story from the mother’s point of view, Donny seems like a mystery.
4. Choose another character and say how the story might be different if it were
told from his or her perspective
Answer: The Donny’s perspective is a good example. As we noted above, if the
narrator had let us know about Donny’s thoughts, we could understand why he left
his home and what he was expecting from his parents. We could learn whether Donny
was saying the true when the locker check happened.

INFERENCE

1. What can you infer about the teenage years from the title of the story?
Answer: When you don’t use your time wisely, we used to say that “you are wasting
your time”. That’s why we can infer that a wasteland is a land for those teenagers that
are wasting their lives. The main reason for this is because their parents. Hence,
according to the title of the story, the teenage years are unhappy. They are waiting for
better years.
2. What is implied by Donny’s keeping “all three of his appointments” even
though he criticized the psychologist and his tests? (lines 57-58)
Answer: From our point of view, Donny needed someone to understand him. He
wanted someone to talk with about his feelings, but at the same time he didn’t want to
let his parents know about it. Besides, he didn’t look for more problems with his
parents and at school.
3. What can you infer about the Cobels’ financial situation in lines 47-52?
Answer: Although Donny was in a private school, his parents didn’t have enough
money. They didn’t seem a rich couple neither a rich family.
4. What does Daisy’s wince imply when she hears the rock music? (112)
Answer: Daisy didn’t like the environment. She didn’t like Cal in general, but she
was trying to do the best for Donny.
5. The history teacher refers to Cal as “a crutch” (line 179) and “like a talisman”
(lines 181-182). What is she implying about Cal’s effectiveness as a tutor?
Answer: A tutor is like an instructor, teacher, or trainer; but the history teacher said
that Cal was just a crutch. Thus she was implying that Cal didn’t working well as a
tutor. In short, according to Miss Evans, the Cal’s effectiveness as a tutor was poor.

Part III

A. Conditionals

Complete the following dialogue with the correct form of the verb in parentheses. If
the condition used is real, write R above your answer. If the condition is unreal, write
U.

PARENT: If you are not home by twelve tonight, you will be punished.
R

TEENAGER: Why are you always so mean to me? Everybody else is allowed to stay
out much later. And I know that even if I get home early, you will be on my back.
R

PARENT: No, we won’t. And remember, if you had come home on time last
Saturday, we wouldn’t argued now.
U

TEENAGER: You’re always looking for an excuse to punish me. If you weren’t so
unreasonable, I would listen to you more.
U
PARENT: Perhaps if you cooperate with us more, you will see we aren’t so difficult
to get along with after all.
R

TEENAGER: This is getting us nowhere. If I were you, I would trust my child,

you’re both jerks!

PARENT: If this conversation continues we will say even more hurtful things to
each other, so let’s stop now.
R

B. Building Vocabulary Skills

The following idioms appear in the story, and most are explained in the
accompanying glosses. Complete the sentences with the correct idioms from the list.
Be sure to put the verb in the correct person and tense.

get along (line 104) hang out (line 210)

goof off (line 118) show up (line 246)
go along with (line 147) be in on (lines 300-301)
take on (line 149) get rid of (line 302)
take over (line 182) kick out (line 311)

1. He always shows up when he needs money.

2. When we were in the army, we relied on our captain to take over in a difficult
situation.
3. As people mature, they tend to take on more responsibility.
4. If you had goof off our plan to demonstrate, you too might have been arrested.
5. We like to be in on at our neighborhood club on Saturdays.
6. Will she be kick out of the class because of her disruptive behavior?
7. Please reveal to us how you get along for so many years without having a single
serious quarrel.
8. My husband has great difficulty in get rid of his old possessions.
9. Since I was elected to office, I’ve gone along with all the latest political gossip.
10. How can you expect to pass your exams if you’re always hanging out?