What Does Coming Of Age Mean

Coming of age is defined as the transition from one’s youth to his or her adulthood. Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding all explore this concept. Romeo and Juliet is a story about two star-crossed lovers in the depths of forbidden love despite an ancient family feud. House on Mango Street is a series of vignettes about a young Latina girl’s life growing up in Chicago. Lastly, Lord of the Flies is about a group of abandoned children who work to survive on a deserted island. Each of these stories provides details as to what characteristics define a mature individual, and they also show the various processes to achieve this maturity.

Various novels can be classified as “coming-of-age” texts, this means that these are stories about a protagonist’s transition from childhood to adulthood or just growing up even as an adult. These novels show their growth and change in character over the length of the text. Novels such as The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Salinger, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, and Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston are all examples of coming-of-age novels. In Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God the story is focused on Janie Crawford and her growth over the course of the book.

If society was asked what defines “coming of age,” what would it say? Some would say people come of age when they act more mature, think grown up thoughts, or do certain actions. This quote by someone unknown helps form an explanation of what coming of age is: “Maturity doesn’t mean age; it means sensitivity, manners, and how you react.” In the literature piece “The First Part Last,” the author Angela Johnson writes about two teenagers, Bobby and Nia, who struggle with the difficulties of teen pregnancy. Throughout the book, they both face many hardships that put their relationship, patience, and responsibility to the test. With the help of a red balloon, a basketball, and family pictures in a doctor’s office, Bobby comes of age after paying attention to these symbols and signs throughout the novel.

At one point in life there is the process called coming of age where a child gets closer to being a full fledge adult. Depending on life experiences, sometimes the process is with little steps and other times it can happen all at once at full force. This is an important aspect in books to make characters more realistic and relatable. For instance, in Matched and Speak, both of the main character go through the process. In fact, both characters have similarities as a result of it.

The first lesson that the narrator has to learn is that he should be who he wants not how people think he should be. My evidence is in this part, “I’m only ten so it will be 5 or 6 years before

In coming of age stories, the protagonists often experience a pensive and dramatic moment where either they break through to adulthood or retreat to childhood - it is this moment that unveils the magnitude of growing up for the reader.

Bianca feels insulted, but realizes that Wes is right. As the students in her school are only interested in her in order to get to know Jess and Casey. Due to this she takes her anger out on Jess and Casey and 'unfriends ' them on social media and in person.

Lead character, Bianca, is the main character and the lead protagonist of the movie, “The Duff.” Bianca is short, about 5’4’’, and is a little bit on the heavier side. She dresses for comfort and cares less about her looks and more about her friends and school work. The most worn shirt in her closet is her “party shirt”, a black cotton tee-shirt that has the word “party” printed on the front. If only one article of clothing was used to summarize her whole wardrobe, it would be this shirt. Bianca is often shown as very kind to the people that she cares about, going the full mile for anyone who needs it. In the beginning of the movies she was always at her friends sides making sure they were havening fun and feeling confident. She is an odd mix of secure and shy. Although she comes across and a secure girl, who does not worry about the opinions of others, she become very shy when she is around a boy that she has a crush on. When Bianca tries to talk to her crush, at the start of the movie, the most she could muster was a “Hey.” She is rather unpopular at school and is only know through her two friends that are considered very good looking. She only has two close friends, Jess and Casey, but is valued deeply by them, despite not seeing this at first.

b.) The Duff feeds into the typical stereotypes given to teens in high school. Wes was the popular good-looking guy who also happens to be the star of the football team and also dates the gorgeous prom queen. In some people’s mind being comedic is a sign of popularity. The movie aims for Bianca to break away from labels, yet it labels every other character to a particular high school

The characters

Coming of age has many wonderful and poor traits of every man and womans life. Coming of age can we be excellent for some people and horrific for others, it all depends on the person. Some people face many consequences while others get more superior results while growing up. You have to learn to change from a petty irresponsible child to answerable adult. For example, responsibility.

The characters

young adult is often referred to as the "coming of age," or growing up. The

“The trick is growing up without growing old” (Stengel). The process of coming of age occurs in everyone's life. To mature doesn't necessarily mean to grow in a physical way such as aging but also mentally. One grows as human, from speaking to understanding, to transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. In the novel The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily Owens experiences far more than what she should at the age of fourteen.

age it is also one of the worlds most popular and beloved themes in literature.