Cause/Effect Essay: Teenage Rebellion
Seatbelts and Ammonia
I’d be lying if I said my older sister and I weren’t alike. We both have the same small, pursed lips and the same eyebrows and hairline. Our eyes both slightly curl at the corners, and our ears stick out a bit too much. Beyond looks, though, even our mannerisms are the same. We both chew our gum annoyingly loud and laugh with the same obnoxious giggle. I’m aware of these similarities; I have been since I grew tall enough to see my reflection in the mirror over the bathroom sink. However, a few years ago, the day I turned thirteen, I dyed my auburn hair, the same shade a share with my sister, a deep, rebellious, black. I plucked my eyebrows so much they disappeared. I watched my sister’s girly, flirty habits and suddenly saw them as revolting. I finally decided to chew with my mouth closed and suppress my giggles until I suffocated. As a thirteen year-old girl with a new haircut and a new attitude, I suddenly saw the world as an enemy. Anything that I had been taught or had accustomed myself to was to be rejected. My life had become, forthwith, a rebellion. Although the causes of teenage rebellion are both complicated and personal, they are surprisingly consistent. Teenagers rebel due to pressure to conform, demands and commands, and insecurity. Teenagers, overall, rebel because they have a voice they feel is not being heard. Perhaps the most obvious cause of teenage rebellion is the amount of pressure pressed upon them to conform. Fashion magazines tell teenage girls that they must wear their clothes to be cool. Movies and TV shows say they must be thin, blonde cheerleaders for the boys to like them. Boys see from sports broadcasts and music videos that to get the girls, they either have to be rich, a sports’ player, a musician, or all of the above. Past the media, though, is the pressure at home. Moms and Dads raise their children to be the people they want them to be. Whether it be a sports star, a math whiz, or
I’d be lying if I said my older sister and I weren’t alike. We both have the same small, pursed lips and the same eyebrows and hairline. Our eyes both slightly curl at the corners, and our ears stick out a bit too much. Beyond looks, though, even our mannerisms are the same. We both chew our gum annoyingly loud and laugh with the same obnoxious giggle. I’m aware of these similarities; I have been since I grew tall enough to see my reflection in the mirror over the bathroom sink. However, a few years ago, the day I turned thirteen, I dyed my auburn hair, the same shade a share with my sister, a deep, rebellious, black. I plucked my eyebrows so much they disappeared. I watched my sister’s girly, flirty habits and suddenly saw them as revolting. I finally decided to chew with my mouth closed and suppress my giggles until I suffocated. As a thirteen year-old girl with a new haircut and a new attitude, I suddenly saw the world as an enemy. Anything that I had been taught or had accustomed myself to was to be rejected. My life had become, forthwith, a rebellion. Although the causes of teenage rebellion are both complicated and personal, they are surprisingly consistent. Teenagers rebel due to pressure to conform, demands and commands, and insecurity. Teenagers, overall, rebel because they have a voice they feel is not being heard. Perhaps the most obvious cause of teenage rebellion is the amount of pressure pressed upon them to conform. Fashion magazines tell teenage girls that they must wear their clothes to be cool. Movies and TV shows say they must be thin, blonde cheerleaders for the boys to like them. Boys see from sports broadcasts and music videos that to get the girls, they either have to be rich, a sports’ player, a musician, or all of the above. Past the media, though, is the pressure at home. Moms and Dads raise their children to be the people they want them to be. Whether it be a sports star, a math whiz, or