Can you believe it?  Even more quality work from Human Relations students.  I hope you get something positive from their efforts.

 As he watched his wife writhe and scream in agony, he felt guilt chipping away at his soul. He had wanted her to have this baby so badly and she had given in to him; but now, as he watched her, not knowing she would be dead in three minutes, he would gladly take back the pressures he put on her. She clenched her teeth, stifling another scream, tears running down her cheeks.
The doctor continued to tell her to push and she did, but not without immense pain. Suddenly something happened and the medical staff was whirled into frenzy. A nurse began to push him back towards the waiting room, indefinitely blocking the view of his wife.
 Something’s gone horribly wrong, Jeremy thought as he gave up and waited outside. The nurse hurried back into the hospital room. Through the doors, he could hear screams from the doctors and nurses frantically calling out for specific instruments. Jeremy watched the clock as three minutes passed, but to him, it felt like three hours. A doctor with blood all over his white apron and green O.R. scrubs came out carrying his new-born daughter.
 “Congratulations.” He said plainly as he held the baby out to him. Jeremy smiled and his thoughts of despair dissipated as soon as he saw his daughter’s sparkling blue eyes. The intense joy that came to him then would be something that he would never forget. He would cherish this moment and replay it, moments before his death, 38 years from now. The baby smiled and giggled. Her eyes had no fear in them and she was comfortable outside in the world he began to realize. She did not cry once and this surprised him. He glanced up at the doctor’s face and his smile disappeared. The fear he had previously vanquished returned in full force.
 “There were some complications…”

“No, honey, don’t go near that!” He yelled out in caution, but it was already too late. Estella had crawled her way headfirst into the edge of a coffee table. She fell backwards and her face crinkled in wonder. She began to cry, but not for very long. She was a tough child; there were no doubts about that. She was also learning at an exponential rate. Jeremy was always being surprised by her intelligence and her resiliency.
 “Ohh, come here, sweetie,” he said as he picked her up and gave her a hug. She giggled and was off crawling off before he had chance to react.

 Jeremy scanned the headlines, reading about the latest viral epidemic, feeling anxiety over his stock picks, and seeing what the doctors recommended for a healthier life. Suddenly Estella stood up and tried to take her first steps as a biped. She fell quickly but her resiliency kicked in and she was back on her feet in no time. Jeremy threw the paper down and screamed in joy.
 “You’re doing it, honey, you’re walking!” he cheered and smiled. Estella smiled as well and continued to try to walk with her father praising her in the background.

 Estella ran and ran around the yard with her father close behind chasing. They had played this game frequently and Jeremy never caught up to her. He snarled and roared, portraying the hungry lion. Estella squealed and screamed, laughing and running at the same time, playing the graceful gazelle. In a burst of speed, Jeremy caught her and wrestled her to the ground gently. She exploded with laughter and he proceeded to tickle her until she was exhausted.
 “I want to be just like a gazelle, daddy,” she said. Jeremy smiled at this.
 “I want to be fast, and pretty, and…” she paused, having slight trouble pronouncing the last word that she had heard on the National Geographic that she always loved to watch on gazelles.
 “Graceful.”
 “Yeah! That’s it,” she said and Jeremy smiled. He stroked her beautiful blonde hair and spoke words of encouragement that Estella would remember for the remainder of her life.
 “The world is what you make of it. From what I can see, it will be one of beauty and splendor.” She smiled at this, even though she didn’t fully comprehend the significance or the words within it, she attained the basic idea and it pleased her.
 “Besides, you’re already fast, pretty and graceful to me anyhow.” Estella noticed how beautiful the day had become and she knew that she would remember this day until the end of time. She smiled at him and felt very warm on the last day before winter came.

 “Estella, honey, don’t sit in front of the television all day.” Jeremy scolded lightly. Estella took barely any notice. Jeremy opened the envelope which had sat on the kitchen table for the past half hour. It was her first real report card and he was anxious to see how well she was doing. For the second time in his life, the smile faded from his face as he was dealt some bad news. Her report card was not the way he expected it would be. In fact, it was downright horrible.
 “Estella, we need to talk about your grades,” he said as calmly as he could.
 “It’s not my fault,” she replied, her eyes glued to the television.
 “What?” he asked, not knowing what she meant.
 “George Olson keeps calling me names and that’s why I don’t do very well in my classes, he distracts me,” she replied vacantly. Jeremy got up and turned off the television. Estella immediately reacted adamantly.
 “What’d you do that for?”
 “Your grades. You need to pay attention when I’m talking to you, it’s rude not to. Now…” he started but before he could say what he had wanted to say, she had already gotten up and turned on the television again.
 “Estella!” She looked at him with wide-eyed innocence.
 “Daddy, wait, my favorite show is on, just let me watch it and then we can talk about my report card, okay?” Jeremy snapped the television off as his anger built up within.
 “Go to your room.” She looked at him with dumb-founded awe. His hand shot out and he pointed in the direction of her room.
 “Go, now! We’ll talk about your grades after you’ve had some time to think about them.” Estella flashed him a look of utter hate and stormed off to her room. Jeremy immediately felt some twinge of guilt and began to wonder if he had been too harsh or not. A half hour passed and Jeremy found himself walking towards her door. He raised his hand to knock but by then she had already opened the door.

 Estella swept past him in a fury. Jeremy could tell that she was very angry with him.
 “Estella, please,” he started but she cut him off with calculated coldness.
 “I’ll do what I want to do, dad, you don’t own me, besides, they’re my friends and they understand me, unlike some people…” She continued to walk towards the front door, where her friends were waiting for her. Jeremy didn’t like the look of some of them and some of the others were infamous for crimes around the neighborhood. Jeremy wondered how a girl like Estella could get mixed up with a crowd like that. He stood by the front door, catching it as it swung back to him.
 “Be home by eleven!” he called out and Estella flashed him a single finger. Jeremy sighed and watched his only daughter fall from grace. The car full of teenagers sped off towards some unknown destination and Jeremy hoped that things would be all right.
 “Was that your dad?” one of the boys asked, his nose ring accentuating his facial scar.
 “Yeah, he’s such a push-over. He thinks he knows what’s best for me.” The boy laughed and reached into his backpack. He retrieved a small bag and out of that he secured a small square mirror, a razor blade and a dollar bill. Reaching into his bag once again, he pulled out a bag of white powder. Estella had no idea what he planned to do with such a miscellaneous gathering of items, but she was intrigued nonetheless. The boy began to pour some of the powder out onto the mirror and cut it into strips.
 “What is that?” Estella inquired. The boy laughed at her naiveté.
 “This is the food of the gods, baby,” he smirked and began wrapping the dollar bill. Moments later he put it to the mirror and snorted up a row of the white powder. He tapped his nose and exhaled loudly, sniffing constantly. Estella was somewhat excited by this new and unheard of activity.
 “Want some?” he offered. Estella faltered.
 “I don’t know, I probably shouldn’t,” she replied and he laughed once again.
 “Don’t worry about it, it’ll make you feel real good, just relax, come on, try some,” he held the mirror out to her again and Estella faltered once more.
 “Come on. Trust me. I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you,” he replied sweetly. Estella looked at the mirror once again and an impulse told her to try it. She gave in. As the powder went up her nose, Estella felt a hot surge running through her veins and she leaned backwards against the seat and closed her eyes.
 When she opened her eyes, she found herself on a disfigured and decrepit couch. A girl was passed out to her left, a boy to her right. Estella stood up and her pants slipped down slightly. She glanced downward and noticed that her pants had been torn and the front button had been popped off. She noticed something else, something that made her stomach twist: blood. Estella knew then that she had been taken advantage of. She immediately felt dirty and ashamed. Estella left the room and walked out of the house, which she did not recognize. As she noted the street signs, she figured out that the walk home would be a long one.
 I’ve been so stupid, she thought as her mind began to run through the events that she remembered. Hours passed and she found herself at the front doorstep of her house. She opened the door and crept inside. Estella found that Jeremy was asleep and that made her feel somewhat better. She didn’t want him to see her in this condition, to know of her shame and her mistake, and to admit that she was wrong and he was right. Estella made her way to the bathroom and took a shower. As the water ran over her still beautiful blonde hair, she began to cry softly and silently.

 Dad,
 I’m sorry I’ve been such a horrible daughter to you. I know you wanted more out of me. I’m leaving, but I want you to know that I’m gonna make it out there. I’m sorry I didn’t have the courage to tell you this in person, or ask you for the money, but, I’m going to pay you back. I’m gonna follow my dreams and make you proud. I promise I will make you proud.

 I love you,
 Estella

 Estella left the note sitting on the kitchen table and gathered up all the cash that she could manage to take from her father. She took the keys to her car off the key rack and took one last look at the home she was leaving for good. With tears stinging her eyes, she left the home she had spent twenty-two years of her life in and set out to make something of herself.
I need to get out of here, Estella thought frantically as her boyfriend began to pound on the door harder and harder.
 For the both of us, she thought, slowly rubbing her distended belly. His yelling and pounding stopped suddenly and she realized that he had left.
 Probably to go to a bar or something, she mused as she glanced at the bruises on her face in the bathroom mirror. With her resolve set, she left the apartment and her boyfriend of three years behind in a trail of car exhaust and shattered dreams.

 Estella cried and cried as she rocked herself in her white padded room. Even though she had lost the baby, she still felt somewhat heavy, weighed down by her painful addiction. The needle marks had begun to heal upon her arms and the cravings were going away slowly.
 Who’s right to say I belong here anyhow? I’m not the one with a problem, there are plenty of people worse off than me, she reasoned and continued to rock herself.
 Besides, everyone gets in a jam sooner or later, and they just need an escape, a way out, her thoughts were beginning to sound hurried and frightened and Estella wanted to go to sleep so badly. She continued to rock herself upon her padded mattress and stared out of the unbreakable window to her right. The moon was out in full and the stars had begun to illuminate the night sky with their beautiful dying light.

 Estella turned away from the moon and scratched her arm with a wrinkled and calloused hand. The machine kept beeping and it had become sub audible, but now she could hear it again. The cancer treatment had caused her hair to fall out and this was probably the biggest devastation to her.
 There has been a lot of tragedy in my life, Estella thought as she remembered the death of her father so long ago. She had never gotten the chance to reconcile her mistakes or let alone pay him back for all he had done for her. She didn’t even make it out to the wake because she had been too busy being stoned out of her mind.
 Estella began to cry again, something that she was doing more and more often when she looked back on her life.
 “Oh, father, I wanted to make you proud, to see you happy, like you used to be when you thought of me, but that chance has passed now,” she said aloud and felt hot, salty tears sting her eyes once again. She wiped them away and began to walk out into the hallway with her medical bags trailing her on a hooked apparatus that resembled a coat-rack with wheels. She spied a young and beautiful pregnant girl that looked lonely.
 “May I sit here miss?” Estella asked politely, noticing the bruises under her eyes. The girl nodded and smiled. The two of them sat in silence in the middle of the hallway as most of the patients slept. The girl began to cry suddenly and Estella, without even thinking, put an arm around her, comforting her. The girl began to mumble self-directed insults and said that she would never amount to anything. Estella hushed her and told her something that she had remembered from a long time ago.
 “The world is what you make of it. From what I can see, it will be one of beauty and splendor.” The girl looked at Estella for a while, her eyes drying quickly. With a smile and a nod the girl felt much better. Estella felt a tugging at her heart and realized that this girl resembled a younger version of her. For a moment, she almost believed it was her.
 “That’s a very nice thing to say. Where did you hear it?” the girl asked, breaking the momentary silence. Estella smiled warmly though her heart ached at the same moment.
 “The kindest, smartest man I’ve ever known. My father,” she replied. The girl smiled.
 “Tell me about him.” Estella looked at her with eyes that were beginning to swell with tears. She looked off into the distance and began to tell the girl about her father. They talked the night away and Estella ended up telling her life story. The girl listened intently and Estella felt good about something in her life for once and her mind drifted back to the happiest times she could remember. Especially the memories of when she was young and of the day that would last forever.

PURPOSE

Mirror Image

A hidden treasure in everyone’s mind.
An outline to my life.
Spastic defense tactics,
They mess with you mind.
That was my intention.
I live beneath you.
I don’t need love.
It’s only a bandage over a wound,
And a metaphor of a metaphor.
I’m noting like I am.
The person looking same isn’t the same person looking.
Crying for a lost love,
Weeping for love to come.
I should read the end of the movie before I read anything else.
Grade point averages line the floors of the schools
Always trying to be better, the best.
She can’t be anything but that.
She’s afraid that after here people will forget her.
They’ll forget her greatness to rule the world.
She’s influenced,
To run, forget.
Forget your beginning.
Where you became you.

Translation:

To be honest, I don’t remember what the first two lines mean, or where I got that.  But I know that the third, fourth, and fifth lines describe my defense towards people.  When I write poetry and post them up on the web and let people read them I make sure that it is different, vague, or very metaphorical so that people can’t truly read into me.  I’m able to get my emotions out while letting people wonder what I’m thinking.  The line I live beneath you, just emphasis that I can give off this example to people of how I am, but I’m not like that on the inside.  From the line I don’t need love to they’ll forget her greatness to rule the world, is describing me giving up on my purposes.  Those things are what I strive do get or things I believe in.  I wrote this poem at the end of last year, and I was just sick of pretending to be okay, that my life was okay.  So as a result I just wanted to leave.  I wanted to be as far away from the school, my friends, everything that pressured me.  I wasn’t talking about suicide here, more just moving on to better things, like my own life, where I made my decisions and I didn’t have to worry about the little things that made no differences in my life.  At that time, my purposes changed and I didn’t really believe in them.

PERSPECTIVE

Spread Your Wings Baby

I try to make everything peachy
But hiding isn’t accomplishing it
You put down my life
But don’t forget I’m part of yours
And yours isn’t much different
I laugh at your hypocritical stanza
I cry at your binge drinking confrontations
I’ll rip that smile off your face that tells me to spread my wings
Because I know you’re lying to my face
Midwesterners scare me
They get all cranky when you tell them your getting away
There’s offense taken
There are hymns answering my praise
An owner’s manual to life would be handy
Thought I’d probably burn it
Your like a fish stuck in a fishbowl for life
What’s wrong with having or not having direction?
Because you seem to disagree with both
The clouds purged my attitude
At one moment I was happy with my family
Then later I thought about how screwed up we are
I’ll spread my wings and not come back
Because I know that’s what you’re afraid of.

To understand this you need to know that this poem was about a fight, or more like a discussion my mother and I got into about many different subjects, from Bryan to what I wanted to do after I graduated.  I see my mom about once a week for only a couple of hours.  We both work ourselves to the bone so when I get the chance to see her I try to have fun and not bring up things that are going to upset us (the first two lines).  This doesn’t work because I bottle things up and never tell her.  I’m very intimidated by my mother, always have, and always will.  During this discussion she put down my life, myself, the choices I want to make, and have made.  So I was EXTEREMLY hurt.  But I thought about it and I noticed that she did this all because she was weak and made bad decisions as a kid and is afraid that I will do the same, though there have been no resemblance’s to what I do and what she did.  So she was telling me to go to a big college far from here, then she was telling me that these colleges were too big, and too far away from home thus, the fact why I laughed at her hypocritical stanzas.  Then she told me I was going to be poor the rest of my life because of the people I’m interested in, more put-downs.  So to sum it up…my mom put down my dreams of aspiring and going for what I wanted to.  From that point on she has made me consciously question all my dreams.  I have given up on becoming an actress, and she brought me the idea that we are all born into a “class” some people just never learn that that is where they belong and others just fall into place.  Am I going to give up like that and just fall into place?  That night hurt me deeply.  Maybe that’s what she wanted so I would question all me actions.  But why should I give up my dreams because she screwed up her life as a teenager?

SELF-ESTEEM

The Cunning Sea

Trapped under a mask of truth,
Burden and shut down.
Hug-less I feel weighted down by craziness.
Succumbed to feelings that beat at my chest like wild drums.
Crushed emotions, entangled, wound around my brain and body.
The warm sea beckons,
As so warm arms.
A fascinating smile,
As the sea calls out my name.
Settling down she went and came.

Translation:

When I wrote this I was very depressed.  As you may have noticed I use metaphors of hiding behind masks.  Again people think they know who I am but no one truly knows.  The second line basically says that I feel exhausted.  I also feel like I have no one to turn to and my crazy lifestyle keeps piling up and I have no where or no one to turn to.  This poem is an extreme case as in the sea is my ending spot.  I commit suicide in this poem by drowning myself in the sea.  Again this is an extreme case of low self-esteem.  This poem shows the effects of low self-esteem.  It shows that I was unable to separate what I am and what I do.  Though thinking about that I don’t agree with it.  A person is what they do.  We do things because we enjoy them to some sort, other wise why do them.  Self-esteem is knowing when to say no, and knowing yourself, or attempting to learn who you are, learning how to deal with that.  Again in this poem I don’t know when to say no and I think I know who I am, part of who I am, but I don’t know how to deal with this part of myself.

SOUL

She walked into that school everyday
She could feel the cold
The walls were splattered with aggression
Bias, prejudices, and hate
Looking for that school spirit
It was long dead.
Laughing at her
Because she tried
They just stared in return
How she felt pointless up here
But she was going to try
To unify

Translation:

Looking at our school is a good example of no soul.  Living in a small town people are sheltered and blind to the real world.  We are a very sports oriented town.  The majority of us are white middle-class people.  Coming into the school everyday you see this.  To me it’s sad.  The poem is a short ditty on how I try to accomplish unity in our school but when I do people look at me or take me wrong, for example the Homecoming King Vote ordeal.  Many people may think that I’m out to get the football team, but that’s the last thing that I want to do.  All I want to do is allow everyone’s voice to be heard.  Still if then the whole school votes for a football player at least the entire school wants him, and not forty guys.  Everyday I experience soul, in the absence of it.  I try everyday to bring people together.  Hopefully one day, my small attempts will change Evansville into a more open non-conservative town.

CHOICE

It was coming
The week of celebration
Used to do the stuff that happens on that night
Gave it up
Wasn’t worth it
But now
She wanted to set loose
Wanted to be that generic teenager
With that comes being careful
Not driving
Worry about the authority
Why?

Translation:

In this poem the girl is wondering whether or not she should go out drinking after Homecoming.  She used to drink when she was in middle school but saw no point in it.  She was always hiding, lying, and didn’t see the point in that.  She decided she would wait until she was 21 to drink again.  But she was sick of being this good kid.  She wanted to let loose and get plastered off her but fit into the stereotypical teenager.  So now she has to choose.  Is she going to drink or be responsible and live by her values and beliefs?

OTHER-ESTEEM

She was going to strip that mask off forever
Showing people the real her,
She was going to stop being fake
Thinking about whether they want to see that
So many people like who she is now
She’s got the right attitude
Good grades
Good relationship with others
But it’s all not her
It’s her, but it feels so fake
She wants to show her emotions
When she feels them
She wants someone to lean on
She wants someone to talk to.
Giving up her self to her.

Translation:

This poem explains the idea of other-esteem.  In her eyes, she feels like she is being fake to these people.  She’s not showing them her true self.  But to the people who see her they may think that she has a good other-esteem.  So what does she do?  She wants to be able to show her inner demons when they roar, and talk to someone about her problems but then would be think of her differently?

 While watching The Breakfast Club, I observed many human relations concepts.  One concept that occurred frequently was the concept of defense mechanisms.  Toward the beginning of the movie, while the group was talking about activities they were involved in, John said that being in activities was stupid:  “Well...it wouldn't have anything to do with you activities people being assholes...now would it?”  He also used compensation.  He lacks a lot of things, so he makes up for it by being a jerk to everyone.  Most of the time compensation is a healthy defense mechanism, but this time it was not.
It also seemed that Allison used the fantasy defense mechanism.  She didn’t talk much during the movie, which suggested she was a bit of a daydreamer, and then when she finally did talk it was nothing but lies.  Another defense mechanism Allison used was reaction formation.  In the library, when she dumped all of her things out for everyone to see, but then got angry at Brian and Andrew for not being more interested, and said “Never mind...forget it, everything's cool!”
 Before the five main characters of the movie got to know one another, they had a lot of expectations as to what each of the others would be like.  Although, stereotyping isn’t uncommon, it’s something I see everyday at EHS, and even something I’m even guilty of doing sometimes.  Of course, when stereotypes are believed in, it makes getting to know people for who they actually are very difficult. In The Breakfast Club, the person who was the worst about stereotyping was Mr. Vernon, the principal.  From the moment he walked into the library where the students were sitting, he showed little to no respect for them.  When he told them to write the essay on who they thought they were, it seemed he thought he already knew what everyone would write, based on the way he saw them.  Of course, Mr. Vernon wasn’t the only one who stereotyped.  An example was at the beginning of the movie, when John was talking to Andrew, he said, “Well hey Sporto!  What'd you do to get in here?  Forget to wash your jock?”   And then, Andrew’s response implies that he expects John to be a delinquent just as much as John expects him to be a jock:  “Look, just because you live in here doesn’t give you the right to be a pain in the ass...so knock it off!”  Claire also stereotyped John by saying to him, “Only burners like you get high.”
 When they were talking in the library, they also demonstrated how barriers and expectations were present in their school.  When Brian asked if they would still be friends Monday at school, Claire told him that they probably wouldn’t; because that was just the way it worked at school.  Of course, it doesn’t have to be that way either.  The movie ended before we could get a chance to see what would happen at school the next Monday, but I would like to think that they would have gone beyond their rigid social structure to genuinely acknowledge each other in the hallway, and stay in touch with one another.
 As for the characters’ strengths and weaknesses, I would say that everyone’s weaknesses were associated with what they did to get in detention that day.  Claire, for example, cut class to go shopping.  In the movie, we find out that she is very spoiled, and that her parents use her to get back at each other for a nasty divorce they’re going through.  She acts like a princess, and seems to feel like the school revolves around her and her group of friends.  While they’re talking in the library, Claire tells Brian that his group of friends looks up to her group of friends.  She was so caught up in being the school princess she didn’t actually see things as they were.
 Andrew’s biggest weakness, as stated by Allison, was that he couldn’t think for himself.  He got himself in detention by taping someone’s butt cheeks together.  He didn’t do it because he wanted to though; he only did it because he wanted to impress his father.  When his father was in high school, he played lots of pranks on other people, and Andrew wanted to show him that he could be like that too, even though he didn’t want to be.  He “tortured this poor kid because I wanted [father] to think I was cool.”  He was basically letting his father control his life, being a wrestling star and everything that everyone expected of him, and he wasn’t taking the time to figure out what he wanted out of his life.
 As for John, he pulled a false fire alarm.  He seems to always have to be the center of attention and always be a jerk.  Pulling that fire alarm obviously got him noticed.  Toward the beginning of the movie, he implied that he has a bad home life, but I wonder if that wasn’t just part of his act, to complete the image he has.
 Brian needed to realize that his life is not worthless if he’s not the smartest.  He was in detention because he brought a gun to school because he wanted to kill himself over failing shop.  He said that the highest his average could have been was a B, and that no college would accept him based on that.  I think he has a thing or two about mellowing to learn:  perspective anyone?
 Allison is the most difficult of all.  She mentioned that she had nothing better to do on a Saturday morning than go to detention, but she also stated that she was a compulsive liar, so anything can be possible.  I think that she had some confidence issues, so she hides behind all the black clothing and the black makeup.  She also said in the movie that she didn’t have any friends, which also supports that she has little self-confidence.
 Mr. Vernon’s biggest weakness is that he judges the kids, and doesn’t give them much of a chance.  He already has preset judgments made on each of the students, and doesn’t seem willing to see past them.  Another weakness he has is that he doesn’t seem very willing to change with the times.  While he’s in the basement with the janitor, he tells him that the students get worse and worse each year, when in reality he’s the one who is unwilling to change with the times.
 Moving on to strengths, Claire’s biggest strength was that she knew how to get what she wanted.  Even though sometimes she didn’t like the means, it’s true.  She was very popular in the school, and was even voted prom queen; of course, popularity comes for a price.  She even said it herself in the movie, that she didn’t like always having to do everything her friends did, but she obviously enjoyed being popular, so she would anyway.  Her parents use her to get back at one another by buying her all sorts of things.  During the movie, she was wearing a pair of diamond earrings given to her by her father.  Although she didn’t enjoy this means of getting what she wanted, she still knew it was effective.
 Andrew’s strength was that he could see the destruction in his life caused by his father.  He knew that wrestling wasn’t something he wanted to do, and that he didn’t mean to tape some kid’s buns together.  He recognized the control his dad had, and had the willingness to put things right.  This isn’t always the case.  Sometimes kids get caught up in stuff their parents find much more important than they do, but never realize it.  It ends up being a part of their lives whether they want it or not, so they end up accepting it.
 John’s strength, I think, has to do with survival skills.  Coming from a poor home environment, he’s seen a lot of stuff go on, an he’s emotionally that much stronger than others, and he could probably do well living in a tough situation, such as a bad neighborhood in a big city.  John also seemed to have a lot of potential.  He seemed like the kind of person who, if he took the initiative, could really do something with his life.  If he was to start dating Claire, which at the end of the movie seemed entirely possible, I believe that maybe he could have turned his life around.
 Brian’s strength was his brains.  Even though, because of his shop grade, he wasn’t perfect, he still has lots of opportunities to go to really good colleges, and become something real great--as long as he could get over the fact that a B in shop was okay.
 Allison’s strength was that she was able to see things for what they were.  She seemed to me to be the one who stereotyped people the least.  In the library she mentioned that she didn’t have any friends, and the kind of friends that she would have if she had them at all would be the kind that weren’t mean to other people.
 The character in the movie I admire the least is Mr. Vernon.  As a school principal, he was terrible.  Rather than taking the time to get to know the students in his school as the individuals they were, he stereotyped them.  “You see us as you want to see us” using the “most convenient terms.”  I doubt he paid much attention to the students in the school that did achieve great things.  He thought that the kids were all turning on him, but I’m sure he only really paid any attention to the ones who actually were.
 To decide which character I admire most is a tough decision.  For now, I’m going to say Carl, the Janitor.  He was basically the eye of the school.  He saw and heard everything that went on, but wasn’t nosy, power-hungry, or eager to go ahead and turn students in for things.  His philosophy was live and let live.  He also suffered a lot of ridicule, being the guy who had to clean up after everyone.  I thought he handled it very well.
 As a group, Claire, Brian, Andrew, John and Allison made their way half-way around the relationship wheel.  At the beginning of the movie, when they first arrived in the library, they were in the rapport stage.  They were just getting comfortable being in there together, and even started talking a little bit.  When they roamed the halls, the characters began to work as a group.  At the point that there was a disagreement as to which way to go, Allison made John come with the rest of the group, as if to say, “we have to stay together.”  Then, when they got stuck, John created a diversion so he would be the only one to get in trouble, and not the rest of them.
 When the group was in the library, they really opened up to each other.  This is probably where they advanced to the self revelation part of the wheel.  They told each other things about why they were in detention, and opened up about their families, and shared a lot of personal stuff with each other.  They laughed together, danced around, and really bonded.  If the movie had gone on to show their further relationships with one another, they probably would have advanced into the mutual dependency part of the wheel shortly after that Saturday, and eventually fulfillment may have been reached.

Everyone has barriers; we are all expected to be some type of person who fits into our own stereotype.  Stereotypes are bad and good, they allow you to meet people you will most likely get along with but they are also made up of illusions that fool people.  The barriers we have differ from person to person.  I have barriers of staying within my expectations.  I’m expected to be a warm-hearted, approachable, well-mannered girl.  I’m expected to associate with the drama department and the soccer/computer nerds.  But there are times when I step outside of those barriers and expectations and I think it’s good for everyone to step outside their barriers.  It doesn’t require us to be open to everyone and everything but to respect and give all people a chance.
 All the characters in the movie have barriers and expectations.  Mr. Vernon is expected to be “hard core”, a pain in everyone’s butt, and to assume that all high school students are alike.  John is expected to be a criminal, making everyone feel low and ant like.  Claire is expected to be selfish, spoiled, stuck-up, and maybe dumb. Andrew is the jock who always has to be number one and make the small people in the school even tinier.  Brian is the nerd who is expected to get straight A’s and always know the answer.  And finally Allison is expected to sit quietly in the back of the class talking to herself and acting extremely odd.
All of these characters know their barriers and decide to stay within them because that’s what they understand, that’s there safety net.  Each one of them is afraid of going beyond their barriers because if they get rejected from the people they are attempting to befriend and then they lose their old friends it ends up being a double-edged sword.  As I think of them all, I wonder what I would do?  I first thought that I would meet other people.  But it would be hard because you’re juggling different people and if we let them fall to the ground they’ll never trust us again.
The five characters in the movie took a gigantic step in understanding different people and they found out that they are much more similar than any of them thought.  Each character let down their barriers and showed each other that expectations aren’t always what they seem.  The sad thing about the movie that only five kids could put down their barriers, but if twenty-five kids put down their barriers many more would see how we truly are, and that is human.
 If you threw out a hand-full of corn to a group of chickens they would undoubtedly fight there way to it.  If the bell rings and it is the lunch hour humans would undoubtedly fight to the front of the line.  So what makes us so much different?  Not much.  Though I have one question for the pecking order, what is it we are fighting for?  Chickens like humans will fight for food, they both fight for mates; humans fight for status, so as we see, there are so many things we fight for.
 My pecking order for The Breakfast Club is as follows:
1. Mr. Vernon  2. Claire
3. Andrew  4. John
5. Brian  6.Allison
 I question why Claire is higher than the others, and I come up with no answer, it’s just that way.  Today as I relate to people and talk about people I still call the “popular” people” the “popular people” though they seem to be the group that has the smallest door open to anyone else.  If I rearranged the pecking order to who is going to succeed, has good human relation skills, and would be successful in the real world, I would put Mr. Vernon on the top because he has had more experience than the high schoolers and all the others would be at the bottom, together.  They have just begun to chip the iceberg of life and have a long way to go.
 The Breakfast Club pecking order doesn’t make sense but I don’t think any one ever will.  There will always seem as though people are out of place.  Some of those people we will think cheated their way up or lost control of their life and ended up at the bottom.  Pecking orders aren’t fair, there will always be people at the bottom who don’t deserve to be there and vice versa, but it is a part of our lives.

I’ve always been attracted to men who, as I call it, have the “bad boy look”, so undoubtedly I am attracted to John Bender.  As the movie continues I become more intrigued by him because of the way he interacts with the others, the way he handles himself, and how he controls the others.
 John is extremely good at pissing people off by showing them their selves and I enjoy that because he can read people clearly.  John isn’t afraid to tell it how it is.  As the movie progresses we see the others begin to tell the truth but John does it from the beginning.  As I’ve grown I can relate to him.  He’s very blunt and at times too much, and I have a tendency to be quite blunt.  But I like it.  He has the motto of Bryan and Natalie, “Why beat around the bush when you can cut right through it?”  The other thing that I enjoy about John is, with this bluntness or honesty, he knows that it’s not all peaches and cream but he would rather live a life of truth that a lie.
 The first person that drew my attention was Claire.  Though I try to keep an open mind and not stereotype, I don’t like people like Claire.  I thought that she changed throughout the movie but I continued to see her “better side” come out, meaning the part of her that was too good for anyone else.  This is understandable because her personality isn’t going to transform after eight hours in a high school.
 Claire has rich parents and doesn’t have to work as hard for the things in her life as the other characters and this is the largest reason as to why I dislike Claire.  I dislike her because she is the opposite of me and I don’t think that it’s the right way for parents to raise their children.  They become arrogant and feel as if they are better than the others around them.
 I also disliked Claire because she is very feminine, which I tend to think of myself in the middle of a tomboy and a feminine lady.  I’m not flat out anti-feminine but if I had to choose between baggy pants and a sweater or tight jeans and a restrictive shirt I would feel more comfortable in baggy pants and a sweater.  I also don’t like makeup.  I wear it, but I keep it minimal and if I don’t have to wear makeup I don’t.  Claire is the opposite of this. She is exceedingly feminine and I am somewhat disgusted at women like her and partly intimidated by them.

All of the characters have the weakness of being followers to some extent.  They are all followers of their parents and their stereotypes.  Until that Saturday, even if the characters had doubts about the people that they were associated with, they still had the weakness to stay attached to what they thought was important.  This leads me into another weakness that they all have, weak values, or value confusion.  The important thing that relates to all of the following characters is that they have difficulties in their own worlds and they deal with them in different ways but they are all teenagers in their life cycle, trying to find themselves, trying to figure out who they are, so really none of them are that different.
 Claire (a.k.a. Princess) is a rich, spoiled, popular, stuck-up, girl.  Right there are some of her weaknesses.  She assumes that everyone is different and is nothing alike.  Claire doesn’t want to be like any of the others and I think this is why she assumes.  She pretends or puts up this allusion that everyone is different. Claire is good at standing up for herself when she is alone but when she is in front of her friends she doesn’t stand up for herself.
 Brian (a.k.a. Braincase) is good at jumping into conversations and telling people how he feels.  He knows the value of friendship and seems to find it very important.  Brain knows he’s smart and I saw a modest ego peaking out.  Even though he has the expectations to keep high grades and he knows that when he looks at himself he doesn’t like what he sees I felt that Brian had the highest self-confidence of them all.
 Andrew (a.k.a. Athlete) is unable to think for himself and this is clearly obvious when the others go over to smoke marijuana and as he contemplates whether to go over with the others we see in his facial expressions that he feels obligated.  He blames himself for not living up to his father’s expectations, but really his father is the one who has brainwashed him to feel this way.  One thing that I don’t think parents sometimes realize is how much their children find it important to believe in them no matter what.  Andrew knows that he isn’t going to be number one every time and from what I saw would like to be given praise for trying his hardest.
 John (a.k.a. Criminal) is excellent at seeing the faults in other people but through out the movie we never see him truly look at himself to see his faults.  John is good at pushing buttons and can sometimes go too far.  John has grown up fending for himself and grew up hiding his softer emotions consequently we can see that when people break down he finds them pathetic because they can’t stay strong.  John tends to bottle things up.
 Allison (a.k.a. Basketcase) doesn’t get attention from her parents or her peers and in order for her to get the attention she needs she lies or exaggerates to get people to notice her.  This obviously could cause problems as we saw when she lied about being a nymphomaniac.  Allison comes across as defensive because of her lack of attention.  Allison needs to feel worthy; she needs to feel as though she’s human and she needs to experience contact with others.
 Mr. Vernon (a.k.a. Principal) is an egotistic, close-minded principal.  He blames the kids for changing and making his life a living hell but in reality it’s him who is changing.  He assumes that all kids are alike and what he sees is what he gets, but really he’s no better than the kids who are in detention, he needs to see past all the stereotypes.  Mr. Vernon obviously knows how to discipline but at times can go overboard, for example when Bender and himself go back and forth.  But Mr. Vernon isn’t good at problem ownership and can’t be made to like the bad guy or the wrong guy and to top it all off he's extremely cocky.
 Carl (a.k.a. Janitor) is very open and knows himself very well.  He’s not afraid to admit that his ideas and plans have changed through out his life and he shows that by being a janitor and enjoying it.  Being a janitor he knows more than most people think and I can vouch for all janitors on this, my father was once a part time janitor and he found out so much gossip from the other janitors.
 I think that everyone including the above characters know there faults.  As we grow we tend to begin to look at ourselves.  Over time, maybe months, maybe years we begin to truly see who we are.  In the Breakfast Club they got stuck in a room with totally different people who caused them to look at themselves.  It may be years before they began to know who they are.
 I honestly feel fairly comfortable with myself and have really begun to see myself as I am and not as how I wish I were.  I know where some of my faults are and some of them are still hidden from myself.  An extension to the Breakfast Club is the next important question in knowing yourself.  Now that you know what you do wrong how do you fix it?  Who is the role model you base yourself on knowing that everyone has faults?  I think that this question is harder than looking at yourself.
 We all want to become this ideal person, this person that everyone will like.  It’s impossible; there is no ideal person.  So at times I think, why better myself, now instead of pretending to be perfect, I’m trying to be the person I pretended to be before I knew myself.  So, really we just go in circles, the circle of finding true perfection.

The Night Club we left them after a Saturday detention, now five years later the five members of the breakfast club try to fix the problems we saw them face.  See them the conquer their fears in the best sequel since Alien 25 The Night Club!

“Write an essay on who you think you are…” – Mr. Verner

    In the movie, “The Breakfast Club”, different levels of communication were practiced.  Mainly, I noticed a lot of SHARING FEELINGS.  There is one definite scene in the movie where they are all sitting in a circle, sharing many different views on varying subjects.  For the most part, they were discussing how they felt about the whole “labeling” and “popularity” issue that they faced each day.  The question of “will we still be friends on Monday?” came up and each person demonstrated their feelings in their answer.  Mainly, the answer was no, and a huge conflict started.  There was anger, tears, and fighting, but it was all a part of sharing feelings, a level of communication.
     Opinions were also shared in the movie… opinions on what is or is not “acceptable” behavior.  This level of communication is called RELAYING PERSONAL IDEAS.  Each person shares their views on love and sex during the “circle scene” and for the most part, their views differ.  They explain the reasons why their views are the “right” ones… and arguments occur.  Again, this is still a good, healthy form of communication.
    In life, people put expectations on others and predict their every move.  Andrew especially had problems in this area with his father and being strong and athletic, and Brian had problems as well with his parents pressuring him to get good grades.  Also, the members of the breakfast club put expectations on each other.  For example, Claire was expected to be a spoiled brat with no “real” feelings, according to John.  Brian was expected to be a dork with no desires other than school.  Allison was expected to be a freak without real, human emotions.  They all expected each other to be the stereotype of the label they each were given at the beginning of the movie in the monologue.
Expectations are given every day, even at EHS… people sometimes don’t have the decency to get to know people and dig a little deeper.  I think the majority of the school would benefit from watching “The Breakfast Club” to give them that snap of reality that everyone has feelings, no matter what you expect them to do.

“There must be some mistake, I don’t think I belong in here…” – Claire

    Of the five people attending detention on that “fateful” Saturday morning, I found Claire to be the most superficial, snobby, judgmental person I have ever seen portrayed in film.  Okay, so maybe not the most, but I didn’t find her personality at all appealing.  I admire her least because she almost shows utter disrespect for everyone but Andrew, “the jock”, from the very beginning… and only because of his obvious popularity.  Of course, throughout the movie her attitudes toward the other three “members” changed a little, but as the scene in the library demonstrated, Claire wouldn’t be able to change her “miss popularity” ways come Monday.  She even admitted to her breakfast club companions that she wouldn’t even consider them as friends when they returned to school.  Of course, she was being honest, but also cruel in the same instance.
     When she stated “the facts” to the circle of differing students, there came an uprising complete with red-faced anger and tears.  I agreed with Brian when he explained that Claire was conceited; she reminds me of many of the self-centered people at lovely EHS.  People who are conceited have no time to make new friends, or even love another person because they are too swept up in their own popularity and self-love.  I’m not saying that self-love is a bad thing necessarily, but when yourself is all you love, it’s a dangerous situation.  It can blind you and steer you away from true love and lasting friendships.  The worst part is, you don’t even realize it.
     While Claire has such weaknesses as excessive self-love, labeling, and closed-mindedness, she also had some strengths which kept me from extremely disliking her.
     Claire showed a great deal of compassion whenever insults went flying around.  When John, “the criminal”, proved to Andrew that his home life was abusive and dysfunctional, Claire seemed to have scolded Andrew for the false accusations that John was lying.  “You shouldn’t have said that,” she explained to Andrew.
     Also, toward the end of the film, Claire began to free her mind a little more, as she began seeing John in a different light.  Also, she acted out kindness to Allison as she gave her a “make-over”.  Claire was really warming up to everyone, being extra nice to those she would otherwise shun in the halls at school on Monday.

“Just tell me, really, what’s wrong?” – Andrew

     Although Andrew was just as “popular” as Claire, he seemed less self-centered and conceited.  Deep inside, it was visible that he cared a lot about other people’s feelings.
     In the library, during the “circle” scene, he broke into tears while describing the horrible act he had committed to a person whose strength was less than his own.  He felt compassion and deep sympathy for what he had done to an innocent person.  As he spoke, he mentioned how he had been thinking a lot about it – and that he couldn’t imagine the humiliation.  Even though the thing he did was completely out of character and obscene, it was obvious the amount of remorse he was experiencing.
     About half-way through the film, Andrew and Allison go to get drinks for their lunch hour.  Andrew took interest in communication with Allison, whereas Claire would have rolled her eyes and ignored her.  It showed me that even with his status as “jock”, he takes the effort to get to know someone, no matter what their social status.  Even in the library after looking through Allison’s purse… he chased after her when she got up and walked away, concerned about her.  “Would you just tell me what’s wrong?” he asked her sincerely.  He kept asking her questions, showing his true interest… he asked her if it was her parents.  Finally, he succeeded in getting Allison to open up about what her family life was like.
     However, with these strengths exist some weaknesses as well.  He was generally kind to each member of the breakfast club, except for one person – John Bender: AKA “the criminal”.  For some reason, John Bender really got to Andrew, pushing his every button and pinching his every nerve.  John and Andrew come from two opposite ends of the “social spectrum”, making that a possible reason for their arguments.
     Andrew judged Bender too quickly in many instances, giving him the label of “liar”.  Andrew accused John of lying about his abusive home life, saying he was all talk and it was all a part of his image.  Andrew’s rude remark sent John into a dramatic rage, tearing the library apart.

“What’s going to happen to us on Monday?” – Brian

     Brian, “the brain”, really tries too hard to fit in.  He has an open mind and demonstrated that he didn’t see himself as such a loser, but something inside of him just wants to be liked when it gets down to it.  Everyone wants to be liked in life – it helps them along life’s rocky path.  I gathered from Brian’s personality that instead of good grades, he’s just looking for friendship, someone to share his successes with – he needs “other esteem”.
     Of course, he is extremely intelligent and aware of the motives of others.  At times, he even would muster up enough courage to stand up for himself, although this rarely happened.  While in “the circle”, when they all discuss deep thoughts on various subjects, Brian asks the other four members of the breakfast club if they will remain friends on Monday.  When Claire *honestly* responds “probably not”, Brian protests and after another argument, he eventually called her “conceited”, his voice full of shame.

“This is what you get at my house when you spill paint in the garage…” – John

     John, “the criminal”, is to me a person who lacks in self-esteem and confidence.  To the naked eye, John is so sure of his strength and seems rugged and tough.  However, the drama he portrays as he explains the abuse in his family demonstrates how in need of nurturing and love he is.  Without a family supporting and respecting him, how is he supposed to love and respect himself?  To mask his emotional fragility, he sported a leather jacket and a potty mouth throughout the film.  He expected these cover-ups to intimidate the others attending Saturday detention.  However, they all saw right through him.  Given the “forced choice” between a velvet rope and scotch tape, John Bender would definitely be the scotch tape – durable, yet transparent.
     However, John’s character is not fully flawed.  There are qualities about John that I found positive as well.  Although John’s “tough-guy” image is only a façade of his true, inner self, he uses his outward strength and cleverness to help out his peers.  He demonstrated bravery and care for his classmates by diverting Mr. Verner’s attention while the other’s hurried back to the library after a momentary “escape”.  John risked his own punishment on the other four members of the breakfast club… practicing kindness to those he claimed he hated.

“I’m a pathological liar…” – Allison

     Allison, “the basket case”, never really opened up until about half-way through the film.  As a first impression, I found her extremely odd, even a little frightening.  Just the way she would glare at people, or screech out of nowhere.  The other members of the breakfast club didn’t know what to think, making her sort-of “left out” of most of the conversations that were had.  She almost seemed to be doing this on purpose, trying to push the others away, out of her realm of solitary safety.  I found this to be extremely weak of her, a weakness she began to strengthen as the movie progressed.
     However, no matter how much more social she became, she still kept that heir of mistrust.  She even admitted in “the circle” that she was a pathological liar.  At the end, after sharing a kiss with Andrew, she pick-pocketed him!
     With these weaknesses, I found a significant strength.  In lying, she helped Claire to open up and free truth.  I will admit, it was pretty sneaky, but I believe she really did help Claire realize that, in getting things out in the open, she could feel less shame – perhaps even feel pride – in her virginity, and just who she really is in general.  I think she was doing it to let Claire know that being herself is okay, and that she doesn’t always have to answer to what her “popular” friends told her.
 

“They love me around here… I’m a swell guy!” – Mr. Verner

     How did someone as cold-hearted and closed-minded as Mr. Verner ever get a job as a teacher?  Mr. Verner looks to students as the mildew on his shower head.  Students, to him, are scum and are his personal robots, required to listen to his every command.  Where teachers should be open to the differences in people, Mr. Verner is quick to give labels, stereotypes, and insults based on “who they are”.  He is conniving and shrewd, peeking into confidential files. He even tried bribing Carl when he was caught just to keep it all under wraps.
     It was extremely difficult, for me, to find strengths in such a man, but if anything, he had a great abundance of power over the students.  Although the students highly disliked him, they *pretty much* obeyed his commands.  Well, they did, until John gave them a bunch of “wise ideas”.
     Mr. Verner also has a certain confidence in him that is to his own advantage.  He respects himself in just the right amount as he is sure of himself in most of his decisions.  Confidence is Mr. Verner’s greatest strength.

“We will always be the princess, the criminal, the brain, the athlete, and the basket case…” -- The Breakfast Club

     No matter what happens throughout the course of these people’s lives, they will hopefully always keep with them the things they learned that strange Saturday in the library.  As they mature into adults during the years ahead, what they have learned will hopefully shape them into being more tolerant and compassionate to others who are different, and avoid the labels that sometimes are given too quickly.

by Jessica Fitzsimons
HUMAN RELATIONS -2002

I wonder whether the situation is unavoidable, that when an eclectic group of people find themselves randomly grouped together, they’ll oftentimes enjoy themselves much.  However, it is highly unlikely that any one of those people will keep up that sort of relationship after the day is done.
“The Breakfast Club” detailed the exploits of this curious assortment of students:
Claire Standish is entirely convinced that she is a princess.  Her conceitedness can be damaging to other characters, but at other moments it is so ridiculously overplayed that they too have to laugh at her ignorance.  Euripides spoke of what a shame it is, to be born into prestige and power and then have that all lifted from you.  It’s far better to live the life of a peasant because you are based on the ground and the fall hurts less when that time arrives.
 I would surmise that Claire’s attitude is her own problem, but at the same time her upbringing would have prepared her in no other way.  From her early childhood, most could have predicted the way she would act as a snobby, Prom-queen, high school beauty.  I almost feel sorry for Claire, because she’s never had a taste of reality.  She is living the life the rest of the characters dream of, but since she has no comparison, it’s not as wonderful to her.  In life a person needs ups and downs, happiness contrasted with sadness in order to appreciate and find meaning in either.  In that field Claire has been cheated.  In her little bubble world I can understand how her life appears to be falling apart and “so very, very difficult”…but even then, only to a certain extent.
 In the social world where Claire is familiar, she could be the perfect little girlfriend; a person friends could picture turning into the perfect little wifey and mother too.  She has such a pre-determined role that Claire is never comfortably given the opportunity to explore herself.  In that context, I think she is a sympathetic, compassionate girl who likes to tend to others’ needs, as shown in her support of Brian after the gun incident or when she takes it upon herself to do Allison’s makeup.  Though those roles seem shallow, Claire is putting her heart and soul into them, which is why she is beyond crushed by an otherwise bearable rejection.
 That leads into the weak side of Claire.  She is much too easily swayed by others and lacks the confidence in herself to stand behind her ideas and mind.  Claire is pouty and doesn’t look into the future when making decisions.  She can be a very sweet girl, true, but she is also the kind of girl that a guy with an unsatisfied ego might pursue just to mess with her head and be the recipient of her adoration. My prediction is that, as she is, she will be deeply hurt many times in her life as she leaves herself unknowingly open and vulnerable.
 Secondly there is Brian, the exact opposite of Claire the conceited socialite.  Brian has no social graces, but what is inside his head could fill the school LMC.  Brian’s value of education and demonstration/application of knowledge has made him into a vast resource for classmates, though at this time they seem barely aware of the quiet boy.  He is very insecure and bases his self-worth entirely upon his academic achiement.  Without many friends supporting him, encouraging him to develop his personality and let his quirks and character out, he has friends as competition, other high-achieving brainiacs who can’t separate learning from living.
 Brian is sweet and has a good heart.  Though timid he is acutely aware of the events around him.  One scene in particular absolutely broke my heart.  The dialogue about the status of friendships made went as follows:

Brian- “I just wanna tell each of you, that I wouldn’t do that…I wouldn’t and I will not!  Cause I think that’s real shitty…”

Claire- “Your friends woundn’t mind because they look up to us…”

Brian- (laughs at her) “You’re so conceited, Claire.  You’re so conceited.  You’re so, like, full of yourself, why are you like that?”

Claire- “I’m not saying that to be conceited!  I hate it!  I hate having to go along with everything my friends say!”

Brian- “Then why do you do it?”

I found that scene to, in particular, put out in the open the values that each character had and the impressions they had of one another.  Brian was crushed by what Claire simply called ‘honesty’ because it feels so morally wrong to say that’s the way you indeed act.  This arrogance in Claire however, not seeing the mistrust go both ways between cliques, is prevalent among certain groups in every school.  The popular kids assume that everyone else wants to be them, that is after all what makes them “popular.”  The remainder of the masses however don’t even care about them enough to repudiate their claim!  This is a very interesting setup, one that accommodates both parties.  The irony of it however is stunning in my mind, such a perfect little switch, like a trick that nature plays.
 Thirdly, we face Andrew, the pissy wrestler.  He is working continually to please the people around him.  For his mom he pleases his dad, for his dad he pleases his coach, for his coach he pleases his teammates…the list goes on.  All of that sucking up has built up inside him though, and even through snippets of conversation you can sense Andrew’s desire to unload on the othes.  He is seen as a jock and thus allowed to be an asshole.  There exists for some reason a correlation in the minds of other students.  He is quick to bark and doesn’t like to talk about himself personally.  His achievements are on the surface and they’ve made great conversation for him, it is just too bad that Andrew has no idea who he is inside or even what he would want that to be.
 Andrew is a boy I would describe as a smoldering fire.  You can see the smoke come from his head when somebody asks a question a little too personal, for example.  Finally, after the five spend part of the afternoon chiefing, Andrew lets loose in a five minute show of acrobatics and power moves that seemed spurred by an internal drive, action and energy that needed to be released.
 I think that it scares Andrew a little to know that, if he blew his knee as he talked about, there’s nothing left of his personality/reputation to fall back on.  He IS an athelete, and without that he’s a nobody.  I believe that fear is the other piece of what drives him to compete and succeed.  His father is an enormous driving force, but then, why wouldn’t Andrew let himself slip into the injured reserve list?  He doesn’t want the labels he has, but he figures that they are better than nothing.  That’s a difficult choice that I’ve seen many high school friends and classmates have to sort through.  Then again, that is essentially what high school is for.  Preparing one for the adult world and life, and helping us sort our priorities and lives out as we mature and move on.
 John is a very rough character who makes an impression on you from early on in the film.  He has enough personality for two characters, but we keep it in one!  It is difficult to understand what motivates Bender’s behavior.  Early in the video, other characters accuse him of being lazy or scared to try since his low self-confidences must make him believe he will fail.  (i.e. he’s in no clubs or sports).  I see a self-perpetuating spiral of negativity though—his personality is one that jokes and picks fun on his best friend AND his worst enemy.  Those words don’t mean that much though.  Until people like Andrew come back with cruelties that warrent an emotional response from Bender, then another from Andrew, and Bender[‘s on-lines will keep going.
 To Brian, in regards to physics club:  “So it’s sorta social…demented and sad, but social.  Right?”
 To Andrew:  “I wanna be just-like-you!  I figure all I need’s a lobotomy and some tights.”
 Bender is self-assured.  A child that’s been abused will oftentimes go one of two ways—be submissive and passive for years, or else revolt, responding with more violence.  I think Bender’s strength is in his confidence and drive to do as he pleases.  He does as he wants and (apparently…) instead of being hurt by others ragging on him he counters with his own put-downs. True, that’s not healthy, but it puts him in control.  He doesn’t fit into a group well though.  He is a person that tries so hard to be controversial he ends up isolating himself entirely.  He could bed a strong leader if he was inside of the system rather than outside.
 Allison is the character who is most difficult to understand.  The best explanation for her personality perhaps would be a love of attention.  Allison is likeable because she is intriguing.  In the beginning of the movie the only sounds she emits are shrieks and wheezes.  An hours later you  can’t shut the girl up!  She does odd things all in succession, leading the others to believe at times that she is a kleptomaniac, a nymphomaniac, a compulsive liar…And yes, those would be considered her bad traits.
 However, Allison seems like a sweet, fun girl.  She has a great grin that she’ll break out once in a smile.  Her character is almost hypnotizing.  When not in the eye of the camera you wonder what’s going on in her side of the screen.  Allison obviously doesn’t care what people think about or else cares a lot, but wants us to think her possessed in a way.  She enjoys toying with people’s minds, such as when she steals Brian’s wallet and reads off his memorized driver’s license.  But they like her quirks too, so they seem to get along fine in the end…
 Mr. Vernon is a man who is past his prime.  Apparently he has had his fun and gone through school and reached success and now, what next?  He is extremely harsh and degrading towards his students and I would agree with Carl that he wants the students’ approval.  That is, after all, how a principal should judge part of his success.  If students respect him that would be the utmost complement.  He is good at carrying out orders and delivering punishments, but in terms of fostering education he is severely lacking.  Mr. Vernon has a job that is unappreciated and he must feel pathetic being blackmailed by the janitor, who has more access to files than he himself does!
 

 The character that I most admire is actually Bender.  I am entranced by his bad-boy attitude and his carelessness.  Bender is the kind of boy I date because I never got to be him.  I like the way that he is unconsciously a leader.  People who seem like they’d hate him end up caught in his spell, such as Claire.  He has skills at reading people’s personalities and inner dialogue so he always comes up with surprising comments and interpretations of those around him.  He lets out his conflict with authority and isn’t afraid to let strangers know what’s going on with him.  When he did his monologue on being beat and abused at home, the image of this rough, tough man being diminished and stepped upon so harshly makes one draw in their stomach painfully.  You can feel his pain through that whole speech, yet it is altogether more potent because he didn’t intend it for sympathy.
 Bender’s person is in some ways an innocent.  He blusters through his days without much motivation, direction or purpose.  “Not all those who wander are lost,” would be a slogan to fit the guy well.  He doesn’t seem to have bad intentions other than disrupting life around him in general.  However, he lacks good intentions too.  Bender is not a person I admire in that I would like to become him, but I hope I can represent a few pieces of his personality in myself in order to lighten up and enjoy life more.
 Andrew Clark is the person I least admire, but all the same I could see myself struggling to be his friend or gain his acceptance.  He is the guy that has no personality, but somehow has become king of the class and everyone wants to get with him.  His ego goes sky high with all the attention and he doesn’t have to try hard anymore to please those who worship him.  I absolutely hate getting caught in that trap of trying to please a person just because everyone else is trying to please him too.  That kind of competition is so frivolous and immature.
 I don’t like the way he treats the others, especially Bender and Brian.  Brian and Bender both have some psychological disturbances and Andrew has no right to pick on these people, be they assholes or not, that he knows nothing about.  Each child has a home life that is curious and questionable, but that should put them as equals, not into another competition of “who’s got it worst?”
 When Andrew made the following comment to Bender, I would have punched him in the face had I been there. His superior, snobbish attitude totally pushed my buttons.  “You know, Bender, you don’t even count.  I mean if you disappeared forever it wouldn’t make any difference.  You may as well not even exist at this school.”  I couldn’t believe he had the arrogance to say something so incredibly hurtful and disrespectful.  As a child my mom said I could say I hated an action but never a person, that would be going too far.  In that respect, it would be morally acceptable to me if Andrew expressed to Bender that he annoyed him and thought he made idiotic decisions, however, there he went too far, he murdered his esteem.
 

All of the five students at detention that day would be classified as having some serious anger-management problems.  Because of that, each finds his or her own defense mechanisms to adopt.  Bender and Andrew are the strongest boys and take the most drastic actions to deal with that.  Physical aggression is the chosen medium.  Andrew uses athletics to put his energy towards something positive. Still, even wrestling doesn’t get out everything he wants it to however.  A defense mechanism is, by definition, an unconscious strategy for avoiding or reducing threatening feelings, such as fear and anxiety.  The things our characters do aren’t fully recognized by them, or they might utilize them more in order to further their peace of mind.  Bender uses humor in the same way that Andrew relies upon sublimation.  Bender takes a person he highly dislikes and has little or no respect for (Mr. Vernon) and pokes fun at him.  Sometimes it is subtle so that the principal is left dazed, unsure whether or not he’s just been burned, and at other times it’s so outright that six words gets Bender a detention (e.g. “Does Barry Manilow know you raid his closet?”).  Bender also has suppressed feelings towards his parents.  Some of this he actually deals with in a healthy way by discussing with others and comparing and contrasting the relationships various kids might have with their families.  Apparently Bender has been verbally and physically abused however, and that is not something he puts out into the open for fun.  When he is made very angry by the jock’s taunting, a burst of steam comes forth and this terrible monologue about Bender growing up emerges.
It is apparent that Andrew and Claire both use projection.  They say how much they hate the pressure they receive from friends and family to look and dress certain ways, score enough goals, act the right way and have the best responses ready.  However, instead of changing friendships, they stay in their unhappy but popular cliques, then, when they meet people like Bender, Brian and Allison who fit in even less, they tell them to assimilate!  The irony!  This is projection because the bad qualities they recognize in others they cannot see within themselves!  At one early point in the movie Claire and Andrew accuse Bender of using reaction formation.  He disses the clubs and the people in activities at school because he’s afraid of being rejected if he were to try out.  He acts the opposite way that he really feels.  I’m not sure that is the correct assumption on their part, but it was a good hypothesis.
Brian is a case where he expects his friends and teachers to be upset with him if he doesn’t receive good grades, so before they can disapprove of him, he’ll literally cut himself up.  He is very insecure and his anger in inward-directed.  I think that he wishes he had self-worth that wasn’t based entirely on academic performance.  Putting all your eggs in one basket is never good.
 

 I would like to use the assertive system to analyze the behavior of a couple of the Breakfast club-goers.  Claire  relies entirely on her good behavior to elevate her status.  She was born into a wealthy and prestigious family, but family antics have cancelled out some of those benefits.  Her mother and father apparently fight like drunk possums and her money is not buying any of them the happiness they dreamed for.  On the other end of the spectrum is Bender.  John Bender was born into a lower class, dysfunctional family and he knows it.  He started off school feeling like a piece of crap, I’m sure, because kids have an oddly accurate perception of how others feel about them or their parents.  If he starts out with low expectations, and nobody gives him the benefit of the doubt to be intelligent or a good person, no teacher or adult takes that risk on him, he is almost assured failure even before he reaches the age of ten.  Once again, Bender was caught in a downward spiral nearly from birth.  The relation between Bender and Claire is thus an interesting one.
 The assertive system says that, no matter what privilege you were born into, your social behavior is what other people will judge you on.  No matter where you start, others may classify you as a good or bad person, and that perception is up to you and your actions.  “Your worth as a person never changes.  It is always good, decent, valuable and equal to all other people.”  The way Claire uses the Chicken system to boost her own image is unacceptable in the assertive system and is unacceptable to Bender.  As long as she sees herself as the queen of a group, it doesn’t matter how low down humanity has sunk as a whole. Pathetic.
 Claire begins to see the wrong in her ways after partying with Bender and Brian.  She has a preconceived notion of Bender and at first his actions let him live up to being the punk she perceived him as.  To see his good side though, he first had to push her over the edge, make her hit bottom so that she could crawl up the other side of life, so to say.  Bender was verbally ruthless on the frail girl.  He spoke words before that she would never had thought and forced her into telling her deep dark secrets.  Once that was done, however, and she found herself still alive, she began to consider some other options, one being loosening up.
 Bender was then nicer to her.  She realized that his actions were not meant to directly harm her, and though that’s not nice in itself, it was more kindness than she expected from the guy.  As she advanced on him he didn’t creep her out or take advantage of her willingness, and it seemed that that gained him some extra respect in her eyes, since it is a quality respected also by society.  In turn, Bender was able to see Claire as less of a snob and more of an innocent, so he went gentler on her.  All in all, they recognized pieces of each other that had been hidden in the past, all they needed to do was give each other the chance to drop their stereotypes and look at them with open eyes

By EMILY SAUL
5/30/2002