Dillon Porter

Mr. Beadle

English 115

4th October 2017

Playgrounds: The Truth Revealed

While many people see the playground as a place where children can grow and learn, that

isnt what it is used for by children. A playground is almost like a battlefield, where children

need to survive being teased on a daily basis. Children use playgrounds as a place to hurt other

children with teases and insults, stunting their growth as people and making them scared of their

own confidence. The way that they can use their words can affect you negatively. As a result, the

insults and nagging of children can have a hurtful, negative effect on a childs mind, even though

these kids should be friendly and compassionate to their fellow kids. That is what is so

monstrous about playgrounds, the fact that a childs insult can damage a kid for the rest of their

lives. It makes the kid stunted in their emotional growth, shutting them down.

Right now, while children are being hurt on playgrounds by being pummeled or rejected

from groups, parents would probably be thinking, Oh, that isnt true, kids will be kids. It will

help them grow. Well, I know how playgrounds really are because I had bad experiences with

them growing up. For example, when I was younger, I was a quiet kid who tried to fit in with

kids who were more confident than I was. However, these friends that I tried to hang out with

saw my weaknesses and decided to exploit them for their own amusement. To them, as soon as I

was out on that plain of asphalt, it was no holds barred for them, I was easy pickings. I was

teased for my clothes, my lack of technology (these kids had iPods while I had nothing), my
shyness, and my crush on a girl that I liked. I think they were trying to be funny among

themselves, but to me, I took all of those teases to heart. It crushed me, knowing that I can never

be like them because I was different from them. I became more frightened of the playground, and

dreaded even going onto it, mostly hiding in the library to avoid contact. And when I did go

outside, I tried to survive the onslaught like a soldier on a battlefield. I would try and avoid being

hurt by the insults, but sometimes, even saying a word could get me killed by their musings.

Because of this, I mostly would walk around by myself, and simply think to myself, which is

what I still do today because of how I became more of an introvert.

Coming off of that, some people would claim that a playground isnt an effective space to

begin with, because they would probably think something like, Hey wait, isnt a space only

where you write things? A playground isnt like that! Well, not exactly, would be my response.

A space, according to Understanding Rhetoric: A Graphic Guide to Writing 2nd Edition by Liz

Losh and Jonathan Alexander, can be any area where writing or the exchange of ideas can occur.

Essentially, think a public place where people can talk. They can also be places where inspiration

can be found to write or make something. For example, to go back to the battlefield, artists on

the front lines of WWI made paintings which captured the horrors of the war for the world to

see. They utilized the space of a battlefield and a canvas to convey that message of how horrible

war is to the European people. With their knowledge, they have crafted many paintings about

how the battles were being won. That is how battles were being won.

Now, in terms of why this is a monstrous space, it is because of how cruel the insults can

be. These insults are what make the playground monstrous to begin with: it is the idea of the

insulting that makes it monstrous. According to My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels

Undead by Chuck Klosterman, monsters make up the space in which they are created into, and
are often personifications of our fears brought to life. For example, Godzilla was spawned due to

a fear of nuclear war, and spread by way of cinemas, while zombies are an allegory for our

everyday lives, a fear that we will be consumed by our own work. A playground is similar to

these monsters because of how the space created the image of something kids would fear. A

playground can be likened to a monster that attacks innocent bystanders and feeds on their fear

of itself, and with a childs imagination, it wouldnt be hard to see that reality.

As I am writing this, I am imagining two sides who view my argument: those who agree

and worry about their children, and those who defend playgrounds for what they are perceived

as: places of growth and innocence. And to the latter, I say this: so what? You may view a

playground as a place of childhood innocence and playfulness, but the way that it can destroy a

childs goodness and stunt them is nothing to be scoffed at. The way that an insult or a tease can

alter a child in the same way that a monster can kill, it can lead to larger implications for children

and their word choice in the near future.

 Works Cited

Klosterman, Chuck. My Zombie, Myself: Why Modern Life Feels Rather Undead. Hoffman,

pp. 40-44

Losh, Liz and Jonathan Alexander. Understanding Rhetoric, 2nd Edition: dsaA Graphic Guide to

Writing. Bedford/St. Martins, pp. 6-7