Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson, the “Brain” in The Breakfast Club, is portrayed as a nerd and a goody-two shoes. Brian was the only student who actually wrote the essay and came up with the name “The Breakfast Club.” At first sight, the viewers see Brian as a mature, smart and a teenager that any parent would be proud of. He is genuinely a very nice and friendly student and is about the only one who isn’t judgemental out of the group. Although, he is very intelligent and kind, he is also a little socially awkward, he’s quite oblivious of how to act in social situations and often says strange things. Brian seems academically talented and is heading down the right path in life, at least that was what he wanted the other students to think. The viewers soon found out that Brian was troubled and had problems of his own. He didn’t know how to deal with them as he felt he had no one to talk to, but when the others opened up about their lives, he found that he wasn’t the only one with problems. Therefore when he started feeling comfortable with the group, he confessed that he had suicidal intentions because of his overbearing parents and their high expectations. From his confessions of how imperfect he was, the audience found out the pressure he puts on himself in order to impress his parents.
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All Brian had ever wanted was to be accepted and liked by others, especially his parents. He'd strive to be perfect because he thought that was what he needed to do to gain acceptance, he developed low-self esteem and was depressed because he thought he wasn’t good enough. Being with the other students and opening up to them made him realise that there are people who have it a lot worse then him. While experiencing this, he was able to overcome his low self esteem as conversing with the Breakfast Club helped him accept himself and realise that he didn’t need to be perfect in order to be accepted by others.