Theme of Peer Pressure in The Ravine by Graham Salisbury Essay Sample

Four teenagers go out on a day trip to a lake where a boy had previously died only two weeks ago, one named Vinny going against his mother’s wishes not to go because of the peer pressure put on him by his three other friends. The story ‘The Ravine’ is a story where a boy named Vinny goes with his three friends to a lake in Hawaii, where a boy had died two weeks ago. Vinny is constantly pressured by his three other friends throughout the selection and goes as far as almost jumping off a 50 foot ledge. However, in the end he did finally realize it didn’t matter what the others thought of him in the end and he ended up safe and not hurt. The theme of the story ‘The Ravine is that you should never listen to peer pressure put on you by others if it lands you into trouble or danger. This is continuously seen throughout the selection between Vinny and his three friends persistently putting him at the risk of trouble and danger. Three reasons to support this theme includes that Vinny went against his mother’s wishes not to go to the lake because of the peer pressure put on him by his friends because he knew they would make even more fun of him if he didn’t go. The second reason is that when the others were jumping off the ledge he knew he would  be obliged to because of Starlene telling him about what Joe-Boy said about him and he knew that if he didn’t, he would never live it down. The third reason is that when Vinny was on the ledge, he decided not to jump, finally understanding that it didn’t matter what the others thought of him. 

The first reason is that Vinny went against his mother’s wishes to not go to the lake because of the peer pressure put on him by his three other friends, even though he knew that if his mother found out, he would get into a whole lot of trouble. This is seen in the selection in paragraph 44 when Vinny was thinking about how his mother would kill him if she ever found out that he went to the lake where the boy had died. On the other hand, he still went because of the peer pressure placed on him by Starlene and Joe-Boy in paragraphs 48 and 49 where the both of them taunted him with his mother to which Vinny responded asking them what if he gets caught and they responded to him with, “So?” which means he shouldn’t care about his mother finding out. Vinny felt trapped and like he couldn’t say no to them so he went along with all three because of the peer pressure. In the selection, it stated that, “His mother would kill him if she ever heard about where he’d come.” and, “But then Starlene and Joe-Boy said, “Come with us anyway. You let your mommy run your life, or what?” And Vinny said, “But what if I get caught?” And Joe-Boy said, “So?” Vinny mashed his lips. He was so weak. Couldn’t even say no. But if he’d said, “I can’t go, my mother won’t like it,” they would have laughed him right off the island. No, he had to go. No choice.” Furthermore, these two pieces of evidence from the selection show that Vinny went against his mother’s wishes not to go knowing he would get himself into huge trouble if he did, but he listened to his friends because he knew they would laugh him off the island if he didn’t go and he would never live it down, therefore he went because of peer pressure.

The second reason is that Vinny listened to the peer pressure placed on him since he went onto the 50 foot ledge to jump like the other three did because he knew that if he didn’t, he would get made fun of by the others and he would never live it down, even though he knew he would get in trouble if his mother found out and he was also deathly afraid of heights. This is seen in the selection when Starlene swims over to Vinny telling him what Joe-Boy said about him which was that he was too afraid to jump. Starlene then told Vinny she didn’t believe Joe-Boy and asked if he was right to which Vinny replied telling her that he wasn’t afraid to jump and that he was due to peer pressure since he knew that if he didn’t, he would never live it down. In the selection, it stated that, “ Come on, Mo, not you, too. Vinny knew then that he would have to jump. Jump, or never live it down.” This evidence from the text proves that Vinny felt pressured to jump since Mo jumped which meant he would also need to jump or never live it down since he would be the only one who didn’t jump. Vinny was also panicked in this part because in an earlier paragraph, 57, when Vinny stated that he was afraid of heights which also shows that that’s a reason as to why he felt panicked knowing he would need to jump or he would never live it down. 

The third reason is that near the ending of the story, Vinny listened to the voice in his head telling him to back down and to not jump. In the selection he was very hesitant since he knew he would never live it down, but then something changed in him and he walked back down the trail. He didn’t care about what they thought, it didn’t matter as long as he was safe and didn’t get into trouble. In the selection, it stated that, “After a long pause he spit the leaf out and rubbed the cross to a blur” and “At the same time the peace was still there. He had no idea what it was. But he prayed it wouldn’t leave him now, prayed it wouldn’t go away, would never go away, because in there, in that place where the peace was, it didn’t matter what they thought.” Another piece of evidence from the text is, “They walked out of the ravine in silence, Starlene, Joe-Boy, and Mo far ahead of him. They hadn’t said a word since he’d come down off the trail. He knew what they were thinking. He knew, he knew, he knew.” This evidence from the selection shows that when he walked down, he didn’t care what the others thought of him even though he knew what they were thinking about him, he didn’t care about what they thought, it didn’t matter

In conclusion, the theme of ‘The Ravine’ is that no one should ever listen to the peer pressure put on them by others if it puts them at the risk of danger or a lot of trouble. Vinny gave into the peer pressure put on him by his friends many times in this selection which includes, rebelling against his mother even though he knew it would land him into huge trouble if she found out,  This theme matters because this story proves that you should never listen to peer pressure if it puts you in danger or trouble since Vinny throughout the story faced the challenge of peer pressure and listening to it even though he knew he would get into a ton of trouble if his mother found out, going up onto a 50 foot ledge because of his friends even though he knew it was wrong, dangerous, and he was afraid of heights. Lastly he finally stopped allowing them to peer pressure him into doing dangerous stunts and putting himself at the risk of getting in trouble by finally going back down the trail realizing it didn’t matter what the others thought of him, he was put into a peaceful mindset when realizing this.