Summary Of I Am Not A Brat By Maria Yagoda

While reading, “I’m spoiled, but I’m not a brat,” by Maria Yagoda it made me think a lot about my personal upbringing and how I could relate with a lot of what she was talking about. Being of the generation where enough was not truly enough, I understand all of the points she brings up about having a choice to either do her chores or play outside, or being “shielded” from bad experiences by her parents. Maria Yagoda, being only twenty-two argues that her generation—which is also most of this classes’ generation—has been over protected in the sense of having everything laid out in front of us. In her article, Yagoda explains many of her own personal experiences which provide insight on how spoiled some kids are today, but doesn’t clearly explain …show more content…
When reading the article I feel that—as a reader—I am being grouped into her idea of how “her” generation grew up, but in reality everyone has his or her own experience and it’s always different. Yes, some parents did coddle their children, and she makes that painfully clear, but there are some parents who taught their child to be independent at a young age, and she fails to elaborate on that beyond of the point of attending public school. The evidence she uses is slim, and almost dull for that matter. Her use of “they” is rampant throughout the article, but who is “they?” I believe that we—the audience—are the “they” that she describes. She is grouping everyone into her mold of what growing up in a privileged family was like which does not help her argument. Her use of ethos is limited due to the fact she is only twenty-two and states little about her credentials as a writer beyond being an editorial assistant. It’s almost as if this is a blog article and she ranting about her past and present …show more content…
Her style is a reminder to us all not to use personal examples as a way to persuade readers into her mold of what “spoiled” children can accomplish. But what about the kids who we’re not privileged as children? Do they achieve less? This is the kind of writing that could be confusing to people because we don’t have a clear picture on what she is exactly trying to portray. People of working class families will argue that she only talks about children of the fifteen percent whose parents could afford lavish trips to France and other exotic locations. Her only mention of families below her income status is when she attended public schools with people of different demographics. Her call to action so to speak is “no matter how spoiled you are as a child, you learn to function when you’re forced to live by yourself in the world,” but what about the kids who had to work out of necessity, and didn’t get all of the extras that privileged kids did? Without getting a clear picture of families who did not grow up privileged, the article is one sided and almost