The opening scene of The Awakening of Spring by Frank Wedekind is one that points out flaws in how society handles adolescence. Wendla argues with her Mother about wearing an old dress; it’s short since she had a growth spurt over the past year. This scene depicts that moment you’re growing too fast and nothing is right. It is clothes shopping when suddenly everything your size is in the adult sections and you have to ascertain your grown-up style. You should be wearing short dresses and no stockings – all those styles teenagers can get away with. Wendla’s mother is overwhelmed by this transition so she pushes Wendla to wear a long, modest dress that will cover up her development. This scene starts with a central idea that permeates the rest of the play: adults aren’t prepared to guide and support their children through adolescence. In this play, they avoid discussing it. This leaves children questioning among themselves and making grave mistakes trying to understand life and themselves.
Wendla dies from trying to abort her child. Moritz fails school and commits suicide. The teachers pin the blame for Moritz’s suicide on his best friend Melchior. These stories are familiar because we hear them every day. Abortion is still an issue with women using unsafe methods to abort their babies. There are over 1,000 suicides at colleges every year and 1/10 of college students have made a plan for suicide. With the increasing financial burden of a college education, I only expect the suicide rate to increase as well. We are still trying to handle these issues over a century after the play was written and we tend to turn to the wrong people as the cause (much like the teachers blaming Melchior for the suicide instead of their callous, dismissive behavior and repressive society).
We have a market dedicated to teenagers but even that gap seems wide. When is it appropriate to get the short shorts? When is it appropriate to wear makeup regularly? When is it appropriate to start dating? Is there an age? Do you wait until your rapidly changing body slows down or jump right in?
Society as a whole doesn’t seem to have an answer as each parent handles adolescence differently. When we were little we thought the disney princesses were mature enough to run off with a prince. When we were 13, we thought we were so grown-up (“I’m a teenager!”). Looking back, the pictures show the baby faces and inexperience we had. Now, we judge the little girls who look 21 but are really 12. As much as we try to be open about sexuality, are adolescents sexualized and prompted to act older than they are?
Despite the radical changes that have been made to our society since the play has been written, adolescents are still facing many of the same problems addressed in the play. I agree that there is a controversial idea of what is appropriate for teens and what isn’t appropriate for teens. Although we are still facing many of the problems today, I believe that we have become more accepting and aware of the problems that face adolescents today. Many programs and changes have been made to help teens with their problems. I would have to disagree that with time suicide rates may increase, I believe that with time there will be more help and acceptance for teens and therefore decrease the suicide rates.
I agree that we still face a lot of the issues that were addressed in the play today, but I think we have become a lot more understanding. In the play, the teachers along with everyone else blamed Moritz for committing suicide rather than his environment. People blindly listened to the pastor, and because suicide is a sin they did not feel sorry that he has lost hope in life and given up, but rather saw his actions as unethical. Now, people question religious figures more, and have morals beyond the ones imposed by their religion. Someone committing suicide is no longer seen as a simply selfish act, but as something that could have been prevented by helping the person out. We are growing, and although issues such as abortions are still present, we have evolved a lot as a society.