Coming of age

“Of all passages, coming of age, or reaching adolescence is the purest, in that it is the loneliest. In birth one is not truly conscious; in marriage one has a partner, even death is faced with a life’s experience by one’s side,” said David Van Biema in. Throughout these “coming of age” years, young people are trying to adapt to the world around them while struggling to fit in. Young adult literature often helps students to understand and cope with social issues, pressures, and other problems…

While often romanticized in light-hearted novels and young adult movies, the infamous coming of age story is one that is often anything but glamorous. Inevitably, everyone faces the prospect of growing up, and, often times, the struggles with identity, responsibility, and purpose that come with it. For some, they are forced to uncomfortably reflect in order to understand the necessary progress they must make. For others, they must recognize the value of their principles and ideals, even if…

August was quite the milestone, as many would agree. Coming with the privileges such as: no curfew, purchasing tobacco, being able to fight for your country, and being an official adult, among more. Only then, is when life actually gets tough. Constant stress, confused thinking patterns, figuring out your future, finding a job, and paying bills top the dreaded list of adulthood responsibilities. After weighing out the good and bad of such a glorious age, I have discovered life has stressed me…

Coming of Age Aging is a biological process that all humans encounter on a daily basis. Most reach consensus that humans learn more information with every passing year, like the memory cloud on an IPhone. Sandra Cisneros uses age to justify people’s actions, as they grow older, in the short story “Eleven”. Cisneros takes the perspective of an eleven-year-old girl and demonstrates how age might be perceived during youth versus the perspective of someone later on in life. She also illustrates how…

The writer Seneca, who is also known as Seneca the Younger, was believed to be born between 1 and 5 A.D. and was relocated to Rome at a young age. Seneca was very educated in philosophy and was raised to believe that you should live for knowledge, not extravagance and that one living under the Sextii philosophy, they should also avoid politics. Seneca wrote as a philosopher but was often ridiculed for being a hypocrite for his lifestyle. Seneca began his disfavor by Romes emperors by defaming…

the Rye”, by J.D. Salinger, the main character Holden Caulfield experiences all of this within a span of five days. “The Catcher in the Rye” is quite simply the epitome of a bildungsroman, or a coming of age novel. It is the story of a teenage boy grieving over the death of his younger brother and coming to terms with growing up. His obsession with purity and his…

times can change even the strongest of people, for the better or for the worst. In the novels Maggie-Now and Joy in the Morning by Betty Smith, many characters demonstrate that enduring hardships lead to one being more self-aware. Insecurity, coming of age and resentment are all symptoms that characters in the novels endure during hard times. Feeling insecure can take a toll and discourage anyone. In Maggie-Now one of the main characters Patrick Dennis made a move to a new country that he has…

Adolescents who are able to develop a strong sense of self will usually do so before transitioning into young adulthood, which is generally before or around the age of 18. Young adults will face yet another “crisis” known as “intimacy vs. isolation,” which usually occurs around the ages of eighteen and thirty five. After one has successfully resolved the “identity vs. identity confusion” stage, they are able to seek out healthy and satisfying relationships. Punishment…

There is no one event that marks ones true transition into adulthood; it is series of events, but there are moments that prove you have nearly completed that transition. The transition into adulthood is a gradient, like fading from white to black. It means gaining self confidence, gaining respect in the community, and less reliance on parental guidance. Events that show that one is transitioning into adulthood include getting a drivers license, getting your first car, registering to vote,…

Other famous crawls take place on 6th street in Austin, TX. The person who is becoming the legal drinking age gets a free shot at every single bar only on this night. By the time the reach near the end of all the bars the emerging adult is extremely intoxicated, most likely feeling sick and completely inebriated. They call it “The Crawl” because the lucky individual…