Bullying In Mary Cooty's Reviving Ophelia

Improved Essays
Margaret grew up in the Northwest, she had a younger brother named Neal, they both went to school, nearby where, and everyone knew each other. In some cases small schools where everyone knows each other is good other times it can be a curse like we hear from Margaret in Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher PH. D...
Small towns, lead to small schools and in most cases this means everyone knows each other’s business. In Margaret’s situation it meant becoming an outcast by the whole class. Margaret developed sooner than her classmates and puberty was difficult for her, more difficult than most teens. As she continued to develop she started to get noticed and not in a positive manner. Kids started picking on her, it erupted like wildfire and before you knew it the whole school was teasing her and taunting her by saying things like she had cooty’s or germs. This seems like a small, insignificant game until you realize that
…show more content…
Margaret, might have been able to deal with the harassment better if she had other outside activities where she had other friends like community sports, youth center, or big brother big sister organizations that would have given her the tools she needed to support herself through her teen years. Society tends to see bullying in one of two ways, either people understand how impactful it can be or there are those who think bullying is a rite of passage or part of growing up. It is crucial for society to understand the ramification of bullying, so that as a community, parents, teachers, youth groups, etc. can all work together to make it clear to kids and parents alike that bullying is pushing children to suicide attempts and suicide. Change is hard but with guidance and understanding it can be done and it most cases it leads to great success in creating a safe and loving environment for our

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    John’s mother Aileen was a school teacher at Paul VI High School in Audubon, New Jersey; and his father Jack was a nurse at Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center in Camden, New Jersey. John was part of a successful middle-class family. At the age of seven, John attended a private institution named Mansion Avenue School. On his first day of school, he met his teacher Ms. Goodman.…

    • 931 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This shows that Margaret does not like to be around the other kids, and believes that because she does not have any friends to eat with, the lunch room and other public settings with a lot of kids are places where she can be ridiculed and teased. When Margaret gets to the island, she meets Boyd and they become inseparable. In the end she has to leave him, and she is very sad because he was one of her only friends and she does not know when she will meet another friend that understands her like Boyd does. Not having a lot of friends causes Although Boyd and Margaret were close friends, they sometimes fought because of Margaret’s uncontrollable temper. Margaret made fun of Boyd for cherishing the Ratt comics because she believed they were just a story, until she found out the truth.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Globally, over 3.2 million students are victims of bullying each year . In fact, one in ten students end up dropping out of school in order to avoid repeated bullying (Eleven). In the book, Speak, we see Melinda Sordino experience bullying from her classmates due to her actions at a summer party; she had called the police causing tons of people getting in trouble. Despite students not knowing her reasons for doing so, Melinda becomes constantly taunted and looked down upon by other teens for her response. One example, on page thirty, includes Melinda at a football game saying, “When the pep rally ends, I am ‘accidently’ knocked down three rows of bleachers.”…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    This is the reason this has got so out of hand. Teens dealing with everything all by themselves because they fear or no one helps. Teens rely on each other and somewhere along the line turn on each other for a reason or another and that is when everything goes down. Something interesting at Madera High that was pointed out by Martinez was that most of the bullying occurred between friends or acquaintances, not so much strangers.…

    • 353 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As we become more knowledgeable on the subject of bullying, we can notice how the effects it has on both the victim and the bully can be dangerous. In his article, “Bullying”, John Greenya suggests that the connection between bullying and school violence has become a growing problem that schools aren't doing enough to prevent. He does this by first explaining that “today, bullying is widely regarded as a serious problem in the United States”, then by stating “bullying not only begets depression and suicide but also serious crime, researchers say, not to mention poor academic performance, truancy and higher dropout rates” (Greenya). Greenya finally describes how “in the past, bullying has simply been dismissed as ‘Kids will be kids,’ but the findings from this study suggest that…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This Jungle Book Mashup Will Blow You Away The Jungle Book is an extremely popular creation. Whether you are talking about the classic book, the brand new movie or the cartoon version, its popularity is one of the largest in the world. One of the best parts about The Jungle Book cartoon movie is the fantastic music that was created.…

    • 1101 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the United States in more recent years there has been a lot of debate on gun control due to events like the most recent school shooting. Both sides, Democratic and Republican, have argued for and against two very radical solutions: increasing gun control to the point of taking away guns from everyone that is not military or police, and arming teachers across the country. While both of these solutions have their benefits and flaws, one very important aspect of the active shooter epidemic seems to be overlooked, and that is the mental state of these people that will eventually turn into active shooters. When looking at the mentality of these people, there are two parts of the issue that are rarely addressed when trying to find a solution,…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Bullying: A Hate Crime

    • 141 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Bullying has happened a lot, and sometimes it is taken past the, school level to the law enforcement level, because it has became a crime, most of the time, a hate crime. There are many types of bullying, teasing, name calling, inappropriate sexual comments, taunting, threatening to cause harm, social bullying, leaving someone out on purpose, physical, and so many more. After two high profile teens committed suicide in 2010, Tyler Clementi and Phoebe Prince, Criminal charges were brought against the students who had bullied them online and in person. Only 18 states include cyber-bullying in their anti-bullying legislation, while it makes up a small portion of overall bullying incidents. Online Bullying was reported less frequently than in-person…

    • 141 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    To be honest, I hate school with a passion, yet I love learning as much as living. As a child, schooling created a feeling of loneliness and sadness that echoed throughout my life, even now. I didn’t meet the standard levels for literacy and was separated from my classmates in elementary school for special reading and writing classes. Also the lack of freedom to say and move the way I wished to, and the rebellion that stemmed out of me in middle school due to these limitations. Finally, the conforming in high school to appease my mother, friends that drove me over the edge, yet even now I feel the same bull-crap in college.…

    • 1681 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Brilliant Essays

    Annotated Bibliography

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Formally Charging Students for Bullying: What Doesn’t Kill You, Does Not Make You Stronger I think that bullying is a situation that is not taking as seriously as it should. Whether or not students should be formally charged for bullying is a very controversial topic right now. Many people believe that bullying is one of the biggest contributors to youth suicide and studies have proved this to be true (“Bullying and Suicide”).…

    • 660 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Brilliant Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Whether people are aware of it or not, bullying happens everyday. Select people believe bullying to be a criminal offense and it should be punished as such while others believe it will only add fuel to the fire. Bullying and it’s effects aren’t always the bully’s fault and taking this to an escalated level could prove to be a heavy price to pay. The simple truth is, by chastising today’s youth they will only be alienated and the “solution” will not be effective. Creating a reaction to bullying in a way that leads to criminal convictions is quite an over reaction that comes with a pretty big price tag.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From my own personal experience, bullying isn’t just a problem that will go away if ignored and it’s only going to get worse. That’s why it’s become essential to pay attention and intervene in bullying so that it gets better and not…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to C. Wright Mills, sociological imagination is when people are affected by the history of society and how people affect history itself. It also allowed people to understand history and it’s meaning in life. In “The Promise,” Mills talks about how men feel like they are in a series of traps. He basically says that men are not only trouble with personal problems but public issues as well. The difference between personal problems and public issues is that personal problems only deals with someone’s private life and public issues is when everyone in your society is affected about it.…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Bullying has been a difficult problem for generations, not only in an isolated area but throughout the entire world population. This is a widespread dilemma for many individuals, groups and societies. No one is totally exempt from bullying if someone decides to be the bully. Bullying is one of the most common forms of aggression: 27% of middle school students, 16% of high school students, and one-quarter of workers are bullied (Nansel, Lutgen-Sandvik). Bullying is any repeated act or speech that subjects someone to hurt, indignity, humiliation, intimidation, physical abuse or threat of physical abuse, social or other isolation, shame or disgrace.…

    • 908 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Having dealt with being bullied from 1st grade to 12th grade, I have very strong opinions about how school system handle bullies and victims. My first day of practicum I had a student come into counselor office, she was scared that a girl told her that she wanted to fight her. The student wanted to transfer because she was scared that the student was going want to fight her and pick with her for the rest of the school year. The student stated that she wanted to be home schooled because she believes that everywhere she goes she will experience being bullied. I suggested to the student to talk to her teachers whenever the student started to make her uncomfortable, the student…

    • 1486 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays