Social Acceptance And Its Consequences Essay, Research Paper

There is a moment in every person?s life that defines what

they will be and how they will do in the future. Although

most people are unable to pinpoint the exact day and time

of this moment, it is usually in early adolescence and

involves that person?s peers and developing morals. It is

usually caused by the metamorphosis from a completely

dependent person to a social being where there is an

increased pressure to fit in. The fictitious narrator in Alice

Adams? "Truth or Consequences" ? itself an excerpt from

her book To See You Again ? was unique in that she could

pinpoint this defining moment. Her experience with

Carstairs Jones was a mixed blessing that she was not able

to overcome and, in light of how her life turned out, was a

foreshadowing of things to come.

Throughout the monologue, the narrator drops hints about

how her "normal" past turned out. The many lovers she?d

had ? three marriages and as many abortions. Each time

she was seeking out to gain an upper hand in life and social

status. Once, she writes, "I was raped by someone to

whom I was married." These are not part of what most

people would constitute as a "normal" life. The sublimation

of her own values and morals to become part of the ?in?

crowd at her elementary school started with the malicious

game of Truth or Consequences where she was the victim

of a trick question designed to humilate her. Car Jones

happened to be the rock adjacent to the hard place she

was wedged between. Her ill fate led to the use of Car to

prop her into social acceptance and the toll that Car

imposed on her for her use of him caused confusion that

stayed with her throughout her life.

In her own mind, the narrator decides that all of these

events can be traced back to the incident with Car and, as

indicated by the final line in the story, cause her to be

traumatized and allow these things to happen. "? he could

be as haunted as I am by everything that ever happened in

his life." The traumatization threw the narrator into the arms

of the most popular kid in class and that in turn led to her

descent up the ladder of popularity. She reasons that to

Car, the event was of little consequence and was quickly

forgotten. Just the last ?bad? thing he could do before his

sudden advancement to high school. He just floated above

all of the inconsequential things that he did and followed

what he wished with nary a look back. His poisoning of her

formative year prevented her from doing the same. She

also allows that he could be just the opposite, but not much

faith is put into that, for if it were true, surely something

would have come of it.

The ability to cope is part of human nature and the narrator

felt as though that part of her had been ripped asunder and

left dead. She could no longer cope the same way that

everyone else could. Something inside had died, allowing

all of the unfortunate events of her life to happen. So she

thinks, anyway. While it is probable that this kiss meant

nothing to Carstairs Jones, it did have an impact on how

Ms. Emily Ames turned out.