Isolation is a Teen’s Worst Fear “Its an interesting combination: having a fear of being alone, and having a desperate need for solitude and the solitary experience.
” Jodie Foster impeccably describes isolation towards Shenaaz Nanji’s novel, Child of Dandelions.The book contemplates the various social justice issues across the broad spectrum of topics, especially pointing to the events in 1972 in Uganda. Coupled with the president’s goal of the expulsion of all Indians. Alongside this novel is the story 5 to 1 written by Holly Bodger about a dystopian future in the year 2054. The city of Koyangar is where gender roles are reversed, boys must go thourgh the trails to see whom will be picked by the girl.
The novel switches points of view with the protagonist Sudasa, and the mysterious 5 as they must go through the trails. With the fear of isolation from a loved one, to the mental stray of isolation in culture and the fear of isolation from a friend, Isolation is the prominent fear of teens.When thinking about isolation, the physical aspect of it can be the most notable and is the most fearful for teens. In Child of Dandelions, Sabine encounters this type of isolation when her mom must go to Kenya to help her father. The quote, ” But when she looked into Mama’s eyes, the words were trapped in Sabine’s mouth, and what came out was, Oh Mama!….
.. What if she didn’t return?”(Nanji 137). This quote shows that Sabine is afraid of being isolated from her mother because she is questioning if her mom would ever return or not. Furthermore, she is scared of being isolated from her mom because she is choking on her words, and that shows a sign of fear. With all the characters considered, isolation from a family member can contribute to the broad statement of Isolation being a teen’s worst fear.Isolation can be scary when brought upon the subject of friendship.
To teenagers, friendship is a critical element that plays a significant role throughout their life, further elucidating the reason why they care about friendship at a high degree.In the book 5 to 1, the protagonist Sudasa is best friends with Asha. To Sudasa, Asha is one of the only people she can talk to about her problems, and that gives her comfort. However, when Sudasa comes to talk to Asha about the marriage trials, she learns that Asha is going to escape out of Koyangar. Sudasa becomes worries and scared that she might lose her best friend forever.To which Sudasa keeps telling Asha about the bad things that could happen to her and her family could get thrown on the streets.
This can be proven with the quote; “I want to tell her not to go. Not to take the risk. Not to leave me alone bird in a field of cats.”(Bodger 161) With this in mind, these scenarios can relate to what teenagers do to prevent isolation among peers, likewise to how Sudasa acts contributes to why a teen’s worst fear is isolation. Amongst the adequate reasoning that isolation is a teen’s worst fear, it is unquestionable that nothing can be as frightening as the fear of isolation from one’s culture. This is a prominent fear of Sabine’s in Child of Dandelions, because if she immigrants to a new country, it would be profoundly different from her cultural experience. This can be indirectly stated in the novel countless times when Sabine maintains that is she emigrates out of Uganda, then she would not see Katana or Mezee, and how she wouldn’t be around the same culture with that being the languages they speak or the activities they do. Similarly, this happens to teens around the world when immigrating to a new country, as they can develop a fear of missing out on their cultural experience.
They become faced with the dilemma of trying to incorporate the new culture while holding on to their own, and the uncertainty of how the new culture is. When migrating to a new country, the fear of isolation from your culture will be prominent. In conclusion, Sabine’s cultural experience with this can be relatable to past, present, and future events. The argument, a teens worst fear is isolation can elaborate on the fear of one’s family, friendship and culture.
Isolation is one issue that teens will be the most fearful and can affect many vital parts of their life. All in all, isolation is the silent terror of teens, a disease of fear that can manifest into something immense.
