In the two works, We Real Cool and A & P, coming of age is a highlighted theme. The narrators are young adults or teenagers making bold decisions and throwing logic away to satisfy their own desires. In We Real Cool, the author recognizes what they are doing and is blatantly breaking the rules and doing what he or she wants, knowing that in the end it will lead to the ultimate sacrifice, a young death. He seems to think it is worth it, though, because he does it anyway with little to no regret. In A & P, Sam is a typical grocery worker who gets hooked on a few girls when they come in the store while he is working dressed in bikinis. He doesn’t know them at all, but he creates descriptions of them and how they our based on their looks.
