Teenage Wasteland

Originally published in Seventeen Magazine in 1983, “Teenage Wasteland” is a short story by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Tyler, known for her realistic portrayal of the lives of ordinary people. This guide is based on the short story as it appears in the 2020 Vintage Shorts Kindle edition.

It is some time in the early 1970s when Mr. Lanham, the principal of a private school, brings homemaker Daisy Coble in to tell her that her son Donny is inattentive and disruptive at school. At Mr. Lanham’s suggestion, Daisy supervises Donny’s homework from then on. Daisy is astonished at the poor quality of Donny’s work and his lack of effort. Donny is either uncommunicative with his parents or overtly angry and dismissive of them, making the task even more thankless.

Two months later, Mr. Lanham meets with both Daisy and Matt, Daisy’s husband, to let them know that Donny’s grades have improved slightly, but Donny is now skipping class, breaking into lockers, and drinking off campus during the school day. The news convinces Daisy that she and Matt are failures at parenting and middle-class expectations in general. To make matters worse, Daisy is not attending as much to her daughter, Amanda, because of Donny’s troubles. A psychologist later tells the couple that Donny is simply going through a rough patch—not so out of the ordinary for a 15-year-old—and has low self-esteem. The psychologist refers the couple to Calvin Beadle, a tutor who works with troubled youth.

Donny is enthusiastic during the meeting with Calvin—“Cal” to his tutees—because the man seems sympathetic to Donny’s struggles with rules, authority, and expectations. Daisy is uneasy, however: Loud rock music blares in the background, and several teens are lounging in Cal’s office/dining room. The high bill from Calvin also troubles Daisy because it will mean cutting out extras at home.

The sessions with Cal initially seem to help: Although Donny’s grades are still low, teachers and the principal note that his attitude is better. At home, Donny is still moody and rude to his parents, whom he believes are too controlling. Following Cal’s advice, the Cobles stop enforcing curfew, and they route all contacts from the school to Cal. Donny’s history teacher refuses to cooperate with this plan and insists that Donny’s formerly average grades are so low that Daisy must once again intervene by overseeing Donny’s homework. The history teacher believes Cal is merely a crutch. When Daisy calls Cal to share this advice, he pushes back by insisting that his work with Donny is about the whole person, not just academics. His arguments once again sway Daisy.

Meanwhile, Donny quotes Cal as an authority to counter his parents and also acquires a girlfriend, Miriam, a surly girl whose biker style makes Daisy uncomfortable. By spring, Donny spends much of his time at Cal’s place hanging out with other teens. The teens congregate under a basketball net one afternoon as The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” (popularly known as “Teenage Wasteland,” the chorus of the song) plays in the background when the Cobles come by to pick up Donny. The song perfectly captures for Matt and Daisy their sense that Cal’s crew of teens is not a good influence on their son. Their worries are borne out later when the school expels Donny for having beer and cigarettes in his locker.

On the day of his expulsion, Donny goes to Cal’s house rather than home, so his parents are forced to have a conversation about the expulsion with Cal present. When Donny insists that it was not his fault, Cal backs him up and claims that the private school is just too strict. Donny claims the school set him up, but Daisy recognizes that look Donny gets when he lies. When Donny asks to go to Brantly, another private school, Cal seems excited by the prospect; his eagerness repels Daisy, who begins to think he might be taking advantage of the Cobles.

Daisy enrolls Donny in public school and discontinues the sessions with Cal. Donny achieves average grades again but makes no friends. During final exam week, Donny runs away. The police are unable to locate Donny. Three months after, Daisy wonders if she did wrong in following Cal’s advice and then rejecting it. At night, her last vision is sometimes of the barren basketball court where Donny and the other lost teens congregated over the year. Ominously, the end of the novel mentions that the Cobles’ spiraling unhappiness in the aftermath of Donny’s departure is leading Amanda to grow more distant from her parents as well.