Essraa's Coming of Age Contemplations

  Throughout the novel, Jason Taylor has always seemed to push himself to be the person he’s not, however, his coming of age highlights the fact that you can only really be yourself. For the majority of the novel, the reader follows Jason’s narrative, learning about the established social hierarchy at school through names. In fact, a main motif of the book is the emphasis on distinction of kids through their names, which serve as their place in the social world of school. These are distinguished through students using either first names, middle names, last names or insults towards each other to serve the purpose of separating them on a social level. For example, Moran is called Moron for no reason other than the fact that the spelling is similar. Jason applies this name rule to himself in many ways as well: Hangman, which is indicative of his stammer, Maggot when he feels down and useless, Unborn Twin who is an imaginary perception/sidekick of Jason’s essentially and Eliot Bolivar,...

With this graphic memoir, Fun Home , I feel like a central theme to Alison Bechdel’s life was her growing up and discovering her Gender Identity and sexual orientation through coming of age and how that identity differs from society’s expectations. These expectations seem to be enforced by mainly her father figure within her life, her dad Bruce. Alison has over time experienced shame and discomfort in growing up conforming to her female body and identity. When she admires the way a woman wearing male clothing looks, her father’s bitter tone of questioning if she wants to look like that pushes her away and creates a sense of guilt in genuinely feeling like she doesn’t belong in her body. Moreover, her going through puberty only heightens this sense of annoyance she feels as a woman going through the changes women go through. In addition, Alison also finds it shameful when she’s attracted to a picture of a nude female model which only intensifies her father’s projected thinking on her. I...

 The Bell Jar, while still feeling unresolved to some extent, does have significant themes in which Esther found herself and came of age despite some belief that she did not fully yet. While it's plausible to think both the fact that she did somewhat come of age or she did not yet come of age, there is something to work with in figuring this out near the end of the novel. There are certain significant themes that contribute to the novel and Esther's coming of age in particular as well. One key theme in the book is the unusual path of Esther's growth, where one would expect growth from persevering through hardship. However, Esther's growth comes as a form of rebirth, where recovering from her attempt at suicide sets her up for her true desire of just wanting to be alive. It's strange but Esther views her first time in New York, her first marriage proposal and her success in college as "disorienting" and strange and leads her to a maddened state of mind. I b...

       Through the time we spent reading the novel, “The Catcher in the Rye”, I noticed some key themes that make this book a coming of age novel through a different perspective than what we’re used to seeing in coming of age. The main theme we can probably see a lot with Holden and his attitude towards everything he faces in life, his distaste for almost everything around him, is really just his way of isolating himself from the rest of society. It’s almost like alienating himself out of fear, his way of brushing everything off and blocking out everything he deems as “phony” is really a way of protecting himself from the fear of becoming phony in the first place. One thing he says to Mr. Spencer that signifies this is that he feels like he is on the “wrong side in the game of life”, as a sense of not belonging anywhere and is too scared to grow up and essentially find his way in a world where he doesn’t even belong in. I strongly believe that Holden has bottled up e...

     On the topic of "coming of age novels", one that pops into a lot of people's minds is The Giver , a widely known novel to many students. The plot features 12 year old Jonas confronting the antagonizing force of his dystopian society, and ultimately coming of age through breaking through the controls and limits set by others on his life and everyone else's in society.       The novel takes place with Jonas, the protagonist of the story, living in this futuristic society with his parents, who have been assigned roles in society, and his 7 year old sister, Lily. An important part of the novel’s progression comes from the upcoming “Ceremony of Twelve”, where once any member of society hits the age of twelve, they are given a new role and expected to follow through with it as a member of society. The most important and highest role of honor, “Receiver of Memories” has been given to Jonas, as he’s noticeably unique from the rest of the people aroun...