Shreya's Coming of Age Blog

This book is different in several ways from any of the other books we have read in this class. Most of the other books took place over a longer period of time, over which the main character goes through a big change. Benji’s story, on the other hand, takes place over a relatively short period of time—a single summer. A coming of age story usually means that there will be some sort of a test, or a challenge that the main character has to get through in order to become a “new” person. But, this book doesn’t really have anything like that. It’s more like a collection of stories from a memorable, but still normal, summer, which aren’t necessarily trying to make point. Benji doesn’t go through a huge, life-altering change like Esther or Holden did. He does grow in some ways, but they’re so small that he doesn’t notice them yet. Instead of witnessing one huge event, the reader sees how Benji’s attitudes and thoughts change subtly through the course of the summer. Also, in several of the

In Black Swan Green , I think two of the most important chapters are Spooks and Solarium. Both of these chapters focus on the coming-of-age process. The most obvious test in the chapter Spooks is the one presented by the spooks. Jason must prove that he is capable of joining them. If he passes, he will be able to join their group and move up the social ladder, but if he fails he will stay where he is. This series of tests will determine whether Jason is ready to join the secret society of spooks. But, I think the real test comes when Jason has to decide whether to ditch Dean or to go to his rescue. By passing the Spooks’ test, Jason will finally get a chance to be popular and be friends with all the “cool” kids. But, going to help Dean will ruin any chance of that. Even if he may not climb up in the social ladder, Jason will make a real friend with Dean. Even though Jason doesn’t want to admit it, I think he is more like Dean than he wants to admit it. He would get along better and

In the novel Housekeeping , I found Sylvie to be a very interesting character. I really enjoyed her attitude and philosophy towards life. No matter what is happening at the time, Sylvie always seems to be happy and carefree. A large part of this is that she doesn’t seem to care what anyone else thinks of her. Thus, she is able to focus on and do what pleases her, instead of what pleases society. Sylvie also doesn’t worry too much about what has happened in the past or what will happen in the future -- she lives in the moment. It’s difficult not to worry about what may happen to you in the future, but Sylvie manages to do it and, as a result, isn’t as stressed as most people are in their day-to-day lives. Sylvie doesn’t lead a “normal” life, but instead lives like a transient, even when she is taking care of Ruth and Lucille. Even when she comes back to live in her mother’s house, Sylvie keeps many of her transient habits with her. She carries oyster crackers in her pockets, knows h

Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar has been one of the most relatable narrators for me. She reminds me of the typical Uni student in several ways. Like many Uni students, she excels at the “game” of school—she gets good grades, all the teachers love her, she’s won many scholarships, and has an internship at a famous magazine. The school system provides a structure for Esther’s life such that she knows exactly what she is supposed to be doing and what her next step will be. Esther knows that she is supposed to get good grades during the school year and then apply for scholarships/ internships for the summer. But, Esther also realizes that her schooling is coming to an end and, therefore, has only a short time to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Esther thinks she knows what she wants to do. She’s thought about getting a scholarship in order to attend graduate school, then becoming either a professor or an editor. However, when Jay Cee asks her about her future plans, E

In The Catcher in the Rye , Holden Caulfield often finds himself alone. He is constantly looking for someone to talk to or just hang out with. Every time he is by himself, Holden tries to find someone, even if he doesn’t know them that well, that he could talk to. In the beginning of chapter 9, after Holden gets off the train in New York, the first thing he does is go to the phone booth. He goes through the list of everyone he knows, debating whether he should call them. He thinks about D.B., Phoebe, Jane Gallagher, Sally Hayes, and Carl Luce, even though Holden doesn’t even like him. Even though he doesn’t end up calling anyone, this scene shows how desperate Holden is to talk to someone. Holden even tries to talk to the cab driver. He asks him if he knows where the ducks in the lagoon go in the wintertime. The driver doesn’t know and gets annoyed at Holden. But still, Holden, desperate for a friend, asks the driver to join him for a drink. When the driver says no, Holden sarcas

Throughout this novel, we see Stephen constantly changing his relationship with the Catholic Church. He constantly bounces back and forth between being an extreme believer and being a sinner until he finally lets go of religion. In the very beginning, Stephen seems to be very devout and is known for his religiosity by his schoolmates. Every night, he visits the chapel to do his evening prayers. Then, right before he climbs into bed, he goes through another small prayer. He thinks “God bless my father and my mother and spare them to me” and repeats this for his siblings, Dante, and Uncle Charles. Stephen’s religion permeates all aspects of his life. It plays a crucial role in his home and school life, he thinks about becoming a priest (as we learn later), and he uses religious imagery to describe important moments in his life. Then, Stephen gets this obsession with sin and impurity. I think that this is partly due to the Christmas dinner scene. As his father and Dante argue, Steph

In James Joyce’s novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , we see the main character, Stephen Dedalus, struggle with the idea of right and wrong. Throughout the first chapter, Stephen comes across several situations where he believes that there must be a right answer when, in fact, there is none. The first time we see Stephen struggle with this idea is when he is at Clongowes. In this scene, he is being bullied by Wells, who says “Tell us, Dedalus, do you kiss your mother before you go to bed?” At first, Stephen replies saying he does. But when the group of boys laughs at him, he changes his answer and says that he doesn’t. Still, the boys continue to laugh at him. This totally confuses Stephen and he thinks to himself “what was the right answer to the question? He had given two and still Wells laughed.” Stephen thinks that there must be one right answer to Wells’ question because there has to be a right answer to everything. Stephen doesn’t realize here that he is being bull