Turning Sixteen: A Personal Narrative

Billy Collins’ “On Turning Ten” is a coming of age poem from the perspective of a nine-year-old boy who is unenthusiastic about his tenth birthday. Collins’ “On Turning Ten” uses structural irony to juxtapose childhood with coming of age to suggest that the uneasiness of the inevitable passing of time is difficult to come to terms with, as the imaginative nature of youth is lost. The speaker uses various literary devices to strengthen the use of structural irony throughout the poem.

The first time driving without a license was when I was 15 years old. It was a Wednesday around two o’clock in the afternoon. I was walking toward my aunt’s white Toyota truck. It was during the summer of 2010 and I was helping my father at his recycling company. Everyday,

In Sixteen and Through the Tunnel the authors talk about two people who have similar coming of age events that take place in their lives. The comparison of these two stories can help us better understand the themes and events in these stories.

overwhelming at first, but there was an information desk that was there and I asked the clerk where I needed to be at. I asked the clerk what “room” I needed to be in and she proceeded to scold me that “this is the superior court, not a classroom. There are no rooms here there are departments.” Which I thought he attitude wasn’t needed because I clearly didn’t know what was going on and on top of that I expected common decency especially from a fellow City of Oakland employee. After learning what “department” I needed to be at, I took the elevator up and arrived at in the waiting area.

Everyone knows that growing up is not an easy thing to do. In fact, the teenage years can be one of the most tumultuous stages of a person’s life. Changes take place daily, making it seem as though a person has no control over his life. These years often are marked by feelings of insecurity, hostility, and uncertainty. Despite this, however, the fact remains that the teenage years also serve as a time of personal growth and maturation. Because these years are so important, it is my belief that schools would be wise to consider adding a unit devoted to the study of texts that chronicle this growth process. I believe that many students would benefit greatly from a curricular unit centered around

If there is one story that society loves, it’s a coming-of-age story: a tale that follows a young protagonist (usually a teenager), and chronicles life as he or she grows into a mature and advanced individual. One famous, and rather unconventional, story of this nature is J.D. Salinger’s novel, The Catcher in the Rye. In this book the main character, Holden Caulfield, has a bit of an episode, and feels near hopeless at times as he struggles with his own adolescence. In order to tie Holden’s individual strife with the mayhem of every adolescent mind to form one central message, Salinger relies on a number of novel-based elements. Specifically, he illustrates the complexity and uncertainty associated with the transformation into an adult through the details and symbols of Holden’s journey.

Coming of age really pursaues Taylor, she was given a new responsibility of taking care of Turtle. She knew what she wanted to do in life and chased it. Even though she was given many obstacles, she handled them maturily and became a great mother along the way. In my eyes, taking on a child in a unsuspected way takes courage and only a grown person handles so well. Lou Anne is Taylor's best friend and roomate. When we first met Lou Anne during this journey she wasn't so sure of herself or what she was worth. Lou Anne allowed people to walk over her and wouldn't speak up for herself. As she beame friends with Taylor and let go of her husband, Angel, she started to do things for herself. She learned she could have her own opinion and had a purpose.

Half way through my sophomore year, I got my driver’s license. Every teenager looks forward to when they can go driving around town. I turned sixteen on February sixth in two-thousand fourteen. Teenagers can get a little rebellious on the roads. On April twenty-third of the same year, I learned that it isn’t good to be rebellious.

This book is placed in the genre new adult fiction that is a newer genre of fiction with protagonists in the 18–30 age bracket which does not fit this book since the protagonist at the end might have reached 18. It is a better fit in the young adult genre. The author does not give the reader any idea regarding when in time the story takes place or the protagonist's actual age. It is after indoor bathrooms but before cell phones, my guess is the 70’s and/or the 80’s. I must admit I am a bit biased since most of it takes place in MI where I am from it is such a beautiful state.

Everyone has a coming of age experience in their lives at some point of time or another. A huge coming of age experience is starting to work, take responsibility for your actions and your life, as well as making your own money. I sat down and interviewed Starla on her training courses for her job and on her experiences. I asked her if she went to college or experienced any types of training for a job and If so what was it for, she calmly responded by saying ¨ Yes I went through 9-12 months of training and I trained for medical assistance.¨

Coming of age films refer to the process of growing up and the attainment of maturity. Boy, a film made by Taika Waititi, has story elements of a “coming of age” story not only for its main character Boy, but also for his father, Alamein. Both of them live their lives and form themselves and their life from ideas of fantasy. And when that fantasy is shattered it helps the characters realize how to grow. They grow in different ways, Boy in realizing Alamein wasn’t who thought he was, and Alamein in realizing he himself isn’t who he thought he was.

Sixteen is the last year you go trick-or-treating, the last birthday party, the last time things that had been special your whole life suddenly don’t matter and you realize that time is just passing you by. It’s the age where you get treated like a kid, but are expected to act like an adult.

My parents are always leaving me at a stalemate. I’m involved in ASB activities and sports that demand most of my time. During the week, my mom is driving me back and forth to school several times a day. She also takes me to my practices and games every weekend. However, each ride is accompanied with complaints about how often I’m required to go to school for my extracurriculars. With a questioning glance, she asks, “Do you really need to go to practice today?” I then immediately retort, “Well duh. If you were listening, you would’ve realized that I’ve told you it’s mandatory a hundred damn times.” Or at least I wish I could say that. Instead, I respond with a lame “sorry for causing you trouble.” Times like these make me wonder why I was encouraged to get involved in extracurricular activities in the first place. Surely she must have realized that I’m not going to drive myself to these places? After all, I can’t even drive. Which is another thing that pisses me off. My parents constantly complain about giving rides to me, even though they know that it’s unavoidable. I’m nearly sixteen years old and I spend a lot of time outside and yet, that’s still not enough for them. I could have received my driver’s permit by now, but my parents claim that it’s unnecessary. Unnecessary my ass. Complaints and a reluctant tone tell me otherwise. These type of complaints make me reconsider starting a community service club. I want to benefit others, but it’s obviously not

For our short film, we were given the title ‘The Day They Met’ and the genre ‘Coming of Age’. During the first pre-production meeting, my group responded to the brief by sharing ideas, looking at what the genre and title mean and how we can interlink the two. Coming of age is a challenging genre to do for a short film as often the films with this genre cover a wide time span with strong character development. As a group, we discussed how we could do this in such a short amount of time. We collaboratively shared ideas and came up with a story of a girl dealing with grief, with the acceptance of her loss as her ‘coming of age’. We discussed how we wanted our film to touch upon the emotions of grief, but also capture the beauty of love after death

"Happy Birthday", my mom screamed out and scared me the morning of June 9. But it was surprising and nice of her since she wished me before anyone else. It was my eighteen birthday and it was my day. While looking out the big windows in my room, I thought to myself, I will do what satisfies me today, but wasn't quite sure what? I didn’t receive any calls from my friends, or other relatives. Nobody was home either besides my mom with whom I can’t make plans because she got her own work to do. It depressed me because it seemed like this was going to be one boring eighteen birthday.