Clique by Freddie Robinson Jr.
Clique ... clique
Peer pressure is a gun
Low self-esteem wanting popularity,
gather together in small clusters
Grapes of wrath ... attack anybody
who try to break the bind
Verbal popping every moving target in the movie theater line
Estrogen cries when the dust clears,
another reject cherry fell off the vine
Teachers can’t separate the sisterhood bond,
boyfriends ain’t nothing but pretty toys
Cat fights and tussles are only loud noise,
a lot of ugly ducklings swimming in the pond
Clique ... clique
Squeeze off another round
Mile high dreams everybody in the group got,
but somebody is creeping ... talking behind their back
A poser is in the midst,
and the leader is gonna handle it
Put a cheesy lip rumor in the mouse trap,
Throw a house party and hire a band
Thieving eyes which covets your man,
catch ‘em in the act, give ‘em a double tap
Clique ... clique
Peer pressure is a gun
that’s loaded with angst bullets
And everybody’s been shot by one
Lip blasting every moving target in the stadium ticket line
Testosterone cries when the dust clears,
another reject berry fell off the vine
Parents can’t separate the brotherhood bond,
girlfriends ain’t nothing but pretty toys
Fistfights and scraps are only loud noise,
a lot of ugly ducklings swimming in the pond
Clique ... clique
Squeeze off another round
Clique ... clique
Peer pressure is a smoking gun
Give your friend a cigarette,
urge them to try one
Clique ... clique
Peer pressure is a smoking gun
Give your friends the bottle of hooch,
urge them to try some
Clique ... clique
Peer pressure is a smoking gun
So hit the brakes hard, you little Bonnie and Clydes
or your life will be in for a shoot ‘em up,
bang bang ride
REFLECTION
Freddie Robinson Jr.'s "Clique" is a very interesting poem about how peer pressure results in school cliques and bullying. The poet draws comparison between peer pressure and gun by using the word 'clique' (which is basically peer group) to replace gun 'click.'
The first two stanza talks about girls clique, mostly refering to the 'popular girl clique', which is the most common type of clique represented in movies and books. In the eighth line, the poet uses the word 'estrogen' which is considered as the female hormone and in the ninth line, the word 'cherry' is an idiom for virginity. The poet describes how people with low self-esteem, desperate of popularity, will gather together and attack those who are threatening to them. Bullies are usually like this: they use their number as power. The two stanzas continue to describes how popular girls of teenagers are, explaining how close their bond that not even their teacher can separate it. However, these girls will not just sit around if anyone tries to mess up with them. If there is a 'poser', as refered in line 18, inside their clique, they will immediately get rid of them and they will "give 'em a double tap" to make sure they are screwed for real. Line 19 to 22 explain how they are going to do it, seemingly taking inspiration in common scenes in movies: the leader, usually the most popular and the meanest girl, will create rumors about the poser, she will hold parties to spy on those who are deemed threatening to the clique and eventually bust them.
The third stanza talks about the boys clique which we can see in the use of the word 'testosterone', in contrast with estrogen. The poet explains how peer pressure feeds into teen angst and everyone must have encountered it. Interestingly, the description of boys clique is not as explored the girls clique. In media, girls clique (or the 'mean girls' trope) is much more popular than boys clique, studies however, found that boys are more likely to create clique than girls. A BBC article describes a study that found how girls are involved in a bigger friend groups while boys tend to stick to one peer group. Movies such as Mean Girls, High School Musical, and Jawbreaker have influenced us into thinking that girls are meant to create cliques, while some studies say otherwise.
The poem continues on a more general point of view, making direct statement about how teenagers pressured each other to smoke and drinking. Smoking and underage drinking are common problems that teenagers encountered, it could happen because of peer pressure. A teen might try smoking or drinking and then urging their friends to do the same thing, although knowing that it's wrong. In cliques, where bond and loyalty is very valuable, if one of them refused to do so, their peers might think that they are a loser and make them an outcast, possibly bullying them.
The last few lines emphasizes the comparison between peer pressure and gun. The poet references Bonnie and Clyde, an american criminal couple who commited roberies and murders in the 1930s. Despite their notorious actions, Bonnie and Clyde still gain popularity especially from teenagers on the internet, there is even a whole separate fandom on them, romanticizing their relationship and action.
Teenagers are very vulnerable to fall victim to peer pressure. This is because they are usually in the phase of looking for identity, where they want to look and be cool, gaining popularity and pride. They gather like minded people, labeling themselves and others in a certain way. Even though there is nothing wrong with making a group of friends, clique becomes a problem when it turns from a group of friends into a group of bullies. It's because these cliques are usually very exclusive, wanting to be friends to boost each other's reputation. Eventually they will pick on those who do not make the cut, this is one of their way to maintain their reputation as the people in power. The thing is, those who are involved in clique are doomed to be like this, because they can't rebel against their own friends unless they want to get kicked out and become an outcast.
Peer pressure is easy to spread in clique because each of the members want to maintain their position in the group. If they are different, they can't be with the clique. Peer pressure can also be a way to maintain exclusivity, those who doesn't meet the standard should not be friends with the popular ones. In the movie Heathers, for example, Veronica is pressured to drink and go to parties by Heather Chandler and when she refuses to do so, Heather threatened to cut their friendship. In this way, peer pressure is a gun, a gun that is hold onto the clique members' head, forcing them to follow their leaders and peers. If not, they'll get shot.
REFERENCE
Ives, Laurel. “Boys More 'Cliquey' than Girls.” BBC News, BBC, 26 July 2018, https://www.bbc.com/news/health-44954170.
Jenkins, John Philip. "Bonnie and Clyde". Encyclopedia Britannica, Invalid Date, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bonnie-and-Clyde-American-criminals. Accessed 7 April 2022.
Robinson Jr., F., 2022. Clique . [online] PoetrySoup.com. Available at: <https://www.poetrysoup.com/poem/clique_932689> [Accessed 3 April 2022].
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