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What Is Jane's Coming Of Age

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In Jane Eyre, we see Jane grow up, essentially, by learning the hardship by criticisms of society through experiences. Jane’s coming of age is internalized, meaning her factors of growing up weren’t something as extreme as in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man but domestic. Since Jane Eyre was written in first person, the reader gets to look at Jane’s thought process when making decisions. Compared to Stephen, in A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man is heavily influenced by religion as an external factor since he went to a boarding school. As a result, Stephen can be seen as a byproduct of rigorous religious teaching. Even though their stories might be different, both books show the characters growing up through their narration and characterization. …show more content…

Stephen’s coming of age is very forced due to the sins he committed because of his consciousness and awareness that comes with his religion. Those sins made him guilty which lead to his succession from the church/school. Religion was something that became ingrained in his daily life to the point where it controlled many of his decisions, “Sunday was dedicated to the master of the Holy Trinity, Monday of the Holy Ghost, Tuesday of the Guardian Angels, Wednesday to Saint Joseph, Thursday to the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, Friday to the Suffering Jesus, Saturday to the Blessed Virgin Mary.” (Joyce 105) Stephen commits the sin, having sex with prostitute, because he felt trapped by the religious atmosphere he was always in and needed to experience a different side. Stephen’s perception of religion also changes as he becomes older which causes him to question the ideologies of the religion more specifically, sin. In the book, specifically chapter 3 where Father Arnell is preaching about sin, Stephen realizes the severity of his sin but also the ability to repent his sins which brings up the idea of authenticity. Stephen wants to get rid of the sin but the process to him is skeptical. The pivotal part in the book was when it changed from third person limited to first person, a …show more content…

Within the narration, there was imagery that the author was conveying through the protagonist’s dialogue which both books did. In Jane Eyre it was her paintings which described her progression throughout the book so the reader can pinpoint what stage of the coming of age process the protagonist is in. For A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man, the reader doesn't know the age of Stephen throughout the book so the reader can use clues from his narration to attach description of his surroundings to an age. An example is “Moocow” (Joyce 2) and “Pick, pack, pock, puck” (Joyce 27) which shows the sensory description which children usually do. Both characters are also characterized similarly by having parallel stories relating to family for example both growing up poor, attending boarding schools they hated and eventually leaving, and family problems such as Jane’s aunt being cruel and Stephen’s father being alcoholic. Stephens and Jane's internal development is visible through their advancement mainly climbing the social class, evident from an early age of their family struggles. Through the first-person narration in Jane Eyre, the reader can characterize Jane through her perspective but also what others say to her. For example, in the beginning,

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