Shreya's Coming of Age Blog

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