The Breakfast Club consists of five main characters. The Princess, The Jock, The Basketcase, The Burnout, and The Geek. These characters are affected by numerous factors, such as: parental influences, peer pressure, culture ideals, and psychodynamics. Bryan was interpreted to be the geeky one of the group. His parents pressured him to get superior grades and nothing less. Bryan’s parents were not only hard on him about school but they were very controlling and it caused him to go the extreme of attempting suicide.

Bryan probably just wanted fit in and even hang around the popular kids, but it wasn’t his choice. Even with excellent grades, Bryan felt he was falling short of his parents’ expectations. Trying to please a figure of authority is overwhelming and causes great stress if you are incapable of doing so. The pressure came to a boiling point when Bryan tried end his life with a flare gun. The weight his parents put on him to get perfect grades lead him to a breakdown. Bryan getting bullied and pushed around at school definitely didn’t help.

High school is a balance of being socially accepted, maintaining your grades and somehow getting enough sleep, all while staying out of trouble. Now add on additional stress from parents and try not to let it affect you. Stereotypes play a big part in the culture of High School. Being socially unaccepted and going through these four years of misery all alone, can take its toll. Bryan is a hell of a kid, but gets no recognition, only rejection. Bryan proves the cliché true, “Don’t judge a book by its cover. ”