The Problem of Youth
-The theme or the main idea of this passage is the problem of youth.
-According to Fielden Hughes, the older people create the problem of youth.
-The writer says “There is only one difference between an old man and a young one “that is the young man has a glorious future before him and the old one has a splendid past behind him.
-When the writer himself was a teenager, he felt that he was young and uncertain.
-A teenager probably wants to be a problem as it gives him a certain identity and be regarded as something interesting.
-The writer finds the young “exciting”. They like to lead a free and easy life. They never commit themselves to selfish ambitions or love of comfort. They are not social climbers who are always striving to improve their social positions. They have no “devotion to material things”.
-The writer is writing from the point of view of the older people. His intention is to build a better understanding between the old and the young.
-The writer uses the argumentative type of prose writing in this passage. He is arguing that the problem of youth is due to the misunderstanding between the youth and the old.
-The writer uses the expression “they…cosmic beings” to refer to the young people and “us suburban creatures” refer to the old ones. By the expression “cosmic beings”, the reader come to visualize an image of strange beings from another planet, which are different from us, ordinary human beings, referred to as “us suburban creatures”. The writer uses these expressions in the sense that the young are different from the old although they are human beings.
