Popularity of Adam Bagdasarian (Essay Sample)

Sometimes it's hard for children to fit in.  When they have difficulty integrating with others, people have a tendency to make worse decisions.  This ties into the Popularity story by Adam Bagdasarian because the main character Will is in a hated, non-popular group.  Will soon becomes jealous of the popular group and tries to enter the popular group.  Just so he can fit in.  Even trying to join the popular band was tough on Will.  He had to leave his comfort zone and do things he didn't like.  Such as calling Mitch a Tweety bird.  In spite of getting into the popular group, he feels that his popularity will not last.  A theme that could be presented is that you don’t always have to fit in.  You could be different.

At the beginning of the story, Popularity of Adam Bagdasarian, the main character, Will struggles to integrate and be himself.  “Somewhere inside me, I knew that ten-year-old boys were not supposed to spend their recess circling oak trees in search of four-leaf clovers.“  This shows that he is not thinking that he fits in.  I think this because he said that he is “not supposed to spend their recess curling oak trees in search of four-leaf clovers.”  That means he doesn't want to go after four-leaf clovers anyway.  Neither does he want to be with the Allans.  

In the middle of the story, Popularity by Adam Bagdasarian, the main character, Will continues to have a hard time fitting in and being himself, so he plots and plans to make a change.  “Still, during recess we were the only company we had, so we tried to make the best of it.”  This points out that he is with the Allans because he has no one else to be with other than them.  Obviously he does not want to be with the Allans.  This is the reason why he tries so hard to get into the popular group.

At the end of the story, Popularity by Adam Bagdasarian, the main character, Will finally fits in, but isn’t sure his new popularity is lasting.  “And I did not trust one of them, because I knew then that I was standing on sand and was only a yellow shirt and pair of pants away from the oak trees where the two Allans were still looking for four-leaf clovers.”  Him saying this shows that he does not think that his popularity with last and is scared that he will have to go back with the Allans.  This shows that he is afraid the popularity will not last.

In Popularity, I learned that there is not always a need for integration.  And integrating doesn't mean you'll be popular and happy.  I sometimes thought integrating would be fun and make someone cooler.But the reality is that integration does little.  And in fact, I now think that integration is perhaps not the best choice.  Integration could cause trouble.  Like being depressed because you got expelled from the popular group.  This story teaches me that you should not be ashamed of yourself because you do not fit in.  Furthermore, this story taught me that being different and doing what you think is best is always the smart move.