Teenage Wasteland by Donna Gaines 

The article “Teenage Wasteland” is about four teenagers who committed a suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning by one of the teens in Bergenfield, New Jersey. The author from this article wanted to know the reasons why these adolescents ended with their lives. But during her investigation she found that something else is wrong with them because they weren't just friends they also had an intimate social bound linking them together, and Gaines tried to go deeply into their personal backgrounds of these teens and what she found is some social problems such as: broken families, drug and alcohol abuse, economic problems, and so on. 

This article written by the author Donna Gaines brings the problem of teens running away of reality and taking the worse decisions for their lives. But this is what society may think, but this is not what it really is. They have been labeled as “burnouts, druggies, and losers” which made them feel isolated and have nothing to do in life. Society has an impact over them and shapes their lives putting them near the bottom academically, economically, and socially. This article reflects the kind of problems that many American families are facing nowadays. That is why is very important to know and understand their behavior in society because behind their attitude, there could be something important role missing, especially played by their parents.

Gaines concludes her article by giving her opinion and the possible reasons why they committed a suicide. She believes that teenage suicide will not go away until their bad lives go away. I think that what they need is just more communication, attention, love, and support especially from their authority (parents).