Welcome to the Dollhouse

A Need for Change

Popularity has a very high price tag today. The pressure and importance of fitting in has become a big challenge for the everyday teen-ager. We are taught at an early age that being different from the rest leads to criticism and ridicule from others. America boasts equality and freedom of speech, but the consequences for being different from the majority are huge. Alienation from society causes a devastating effect, especially where children are involved. America would be a much better place to live if people would accept people for what they are instead of criticizing people for what they are not. Many of today's problems can be solved if people can be secure enough to the point where they can accept the fact that people are different, but at the same time equal. Unfortunately, the majority of people today are very cruel to each other. The character Brandon is a great model of how cruel kids can be. Everyone at one time or another has come across a person like Brandon. He portrays the kid in school that is always getting into fights, trying to prove himself to his peers. He represents the bully who does not quite fit in so he results to violence to balance his insecurities. In middle school this misguided child threatens to rape the poor innocent Dawn. He has so much anger built inside of him because, similar to Dawn, he cannot get into the "in crowd." The news that he is not invited to a popular girl's party breaks his heart. He tried to be gracious to Cookie, the most popular girl, in hopes that she might accept him, but in turn he gets rejected and the hurt it caused was evident in his expressions of disappointment. He finds it extremely hard to accept that he is not popular. For some reason society judges popularity as a measure of self-worth. This causes serious emotional effects on children such as Dawn and Brandon. They would do anything to fit in and be respected. This is the cause of Dawn's desperate and