Baby Genius-Personal Narrative Analysis

My early freshman and sophomore days were spent with one hand over my mouth and a tight-lipped smile. I was trying to hide a part of me that was so integral to my individualism: my age. People told me my smile gave it away; I was almost two years younger than most people in my class. I had started school early, skipped seventh grade, and was ahead in math leaving me to be the youngest person in almost every social setting. Whether the answer was 12 or 15, it was almost always a surprise to people.

It was not my age that made me so uncommonly insecure, it was everyone’s reaction to it: “No... Really?,” “I just can’t believe it,” and “Wait you are that young? You are practically a baby.” The question of age was always preceded by my most enthusiastic …show more content…
Good grades began to be associated with my age and thus I gained the nickname, “Baby Genius.” Even my close friends admitted to sometimes resenting the age difference between us. People would focus more on the fact that I was so young rather than the fact that I worked hard to get to the place I was. In fact, people’s assumption that I didn’t have to try for my grades and that I was just ‘born smart’ fueled my academic drive even more. I challenged myself to do my best in everything I did as a testimony to the fact that age didn’t affect the quality of work I was capable of.

My previously assumed flaw of being young turned into a source of great motivation to me as I entered my junior year. I was no longer afraid of smiling, ‘how old are you?’’s, and people’s reactions. Yes, I still am younger than the majority of my highschool and college classes but I am content with it now. It allows me to break down social presumptions that age equals maturity and that it is abnormal for someone so young to achieve great things. My smile is now something that I am proud of, for it doesn’t symbolize my youth anymore but the difficulties I overcame to be the person I am