The book "Borrowed Light" by Anna Fienberg tells the story of an adolescent young girl Callisto May. Callisto is so used to pleasing other people that she has lost track of how to be herself. There is now no-one close enough to help her with her troubles, but Callie finds enough courage to fight through the fog of secrecy and silence that is suffocating her family.
"Callie is an ordinary young woman who made a mistake which is, unfortunately, also quite common." Numerous amounts of young girls fall pregnant without warning, this is why you could say that Callie is in fact an adolescent young girl. No one would like to believe that teenage pregnancy is ordinary and it shouldn't be, but regrettably as ages have passed the line has been crossed and careless teenagers are more progressively falling pregnant. Callie shares the contributing issues which lead to pregnancy and sometimes abortion, but it's even more regrettable that these mistakes are becoming more common throughout our culture. Low self esteem, lack of knowledge and peer groups can shape a young teen's future and in "Borrowed Light" these factors lead to her pregnancy.
Self esteem is the opinion you have of yourself and is affected by how others think of you and what you think your place in society is. Those who suffer from low self esteem are often the same except they think very little of themselves and lack confidence. But the major issue is low self esteem amongst teenagers as it plays a crucial part in their school life.
Callisto suffers from low self esteem, she believes she has a poor body image and sometimes these two are too hard to handle alone. She definitely feels the pressure of this as do other young girls who focus on their body weight and image often wondering why they do not look like the models they see in Cosmopolitan. After hitting puberty, self esteem is a concerning issue for teenagers as they begin to question body, friends and forget how to enjoy life. Body image affects everyone and can often lead to eating disorders and lack of self confidence. The media presents a world of flawless beautys and teenagers expect to be the same but it's in the moment that they realize they can't look like Jessica Alba or Paris Hilton that they fall short and lose confidence. There are many contributing factors that affect low self esteem and these are the highest.
Adolescents attempt to form a logic of recognition and evaluating themselves to media, others at school isn't the answer, they should accept themselves for who they are. Low self esteem hits those who suffer from it hard were disappointed with their weight or figure. These girls across the world feel the consequences of being too thin or too fat, but never just right.
Callie throughout the book grips on those judgments that can turn a teenager. You can see her low self esteem in relation to Tim as she does not believe she is worth of his attention. All these thoughts she expresses in the book just show how much she withdraws on recognition and a sense of belonging.
As a teenager she also comments regularly on her body image often picking at her flaws. Low self esteem often leads teens to being anti-social and worsens the situation but in Callie's case she feeds off Tim and makes no judgment for herself due to the fact that she has no self-confidence.
Individuals with low self esteem are the most affected as they tend to leech on others and live off friends' advice, for they do not have the self confidence to lead themselves. Peer pressure affects everything, how they behave, think, dress and speak. Peer groups have both negative and positive effects depending on those involved.
Callie suffers from all the symptoms of a low self esteem teen and she tends to make unintelligent decision. From the very beginning Callie knows Tim to be a self absorbed jock that cares little and gets everything that he wants. But still Callie is mesmerised by the fact that Tim is fascinated with her and can't pull away from the attention. She can't feel alone and needs to be acknowledged except Callie isn't being her complete self and after realizing she is pregnant this becomes a concern.
She was pulled towards Tim and sucked in, her lack of self confidence leads her to take anything she could get and throughout the relationship Callie has to compromise more and more. She is pressured and follows Tim's every command and really goes wherever and does whatever he wants.
Many choke at the thought of their daughter falling pregnant at a young age and others just sigh sympathetically for the family. Callie's mistake like many others is an accident basically caused by ignorance and lack of preparation.
"Callie is an ordinary young woman who made a mistake which is, unfortunately, also quite common." Pregnancy is at its highest point for young teens and the awareness is right behind with most parents realizing what they can do to prevent such acts. Callie is an ordinary young woman she deals with depression, stress and anxiety but all this doesn't make her different or an outcast. Callie makes a mistake but so does everyone else resulting in the figures of teenage pregnancy that we now see in today's news.
Yours in Whyville,
Jank03
