The Image Of The Adolescent Minority

In our society there are two kinds of minority status. One of these I will call the “hot-blooded” minorities, whose archetypical image is that of the Negro or Latin. In the United States, “Teen-agers” are treated as a “hot-blooded” minority. Then, there are the “longsuffering minorities,” whose archetype is the Jew, but which also, I should say, includes women. Try, for a second, to picture a Jewish “teenager,” and you may sense a tendency for the image to grate. “Teenagers” err on the hot side; they talk jive, drive hot-rods and become juvenile delinquents. Young Jews talk volubly, play the violin, and go to medical school, though never on Saturday.

The minor...