Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? 'AndThe Eve Of The Spirit Festival'

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.

It is while growing up that children and teens are most vulnerable. Because they lack life experience, foresight, and the ability to think clearly, young people often make decisions that are unwise and even downright harmful to them or others. This lack of maturity and its consequences is demonstrated in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, where teens’ poor decisions lead to the deaths of many. The play’s tragic end is not the result of deliberate malicious actions, but rather the consequence of the emotional, untamed impulsivity of the play’s younger characters. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the reader experiences how the impulsive nature of the youth results in them making poor decisions that can end in tragedy.

Abraham Lincoln said, “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” Often times in our society young people push off responsibilities, it's easy to do. Technology and other innovations have made it convenient for us to become distracted and to push things off. However when growing up, sometimes taking responsibility cannot be avoided. In coming of age stories, the author uses symbolism to exemplify how the protagonists experience new independence and responsibility while they transition from childhood to adulthood.

In order to understand Romeo and Juliet, it must be remembered that these two heralds of love were little more than children. In Renaissance England, the category of adolescence was not recognized (Cox 391). A person went from childhood to adulthood without the liberty that is allowed to modern adolescents. Nowadays, the teenage years are accepted as a turbulent period in which defiance of authority and assertion of "self" are not only allowed, but also expected. Adults explain away even the most inexplicable behavior of teenagers as "just a phase". However, as this was not done in Shakespeare’s England, both Romeo and Juliet were expected to take on the roles of adults, and were chastised for their refusal to enter in the adult world as their parents would have them. Juliet is first presented to the audience as a young woman who has come to marrying age: “Well, think of marriage now; younger than you, / Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, / Are made already mothers…Thus then in brief: / The valiant Paris seeks you for his love”(1.3.69-74). Juliet is presented with the idea of marrying Paris with

In the short stories, “Saving Sourdi,” by May-Lee Chai and “The Moths,” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the main character of each short story goes through their own coming of age experience where they are forced to mature in order to overcome an obstacle. Chai explains her main character, Nea’s, struggle as she is forced to mature and overcome the departure of her older sister, Sourdi, from her life after she gets married and moves away. Viramontes, on the other hand, depicts her narrator’s struggle as she is forced to mature and overcome the death of her Abuelita on her own. Despite their very different approaches, both Chai and Viramontes successfully convey their main character 's struggles in their journey from youth to adulthood.

Coming of age is an influential part of many people’s lives. They begin to leave behind their innocent childhood views and develop a more realistic view on the world around them as they step forward into adulthood. (Need to add transition) Many authors have a coming of age theme in their books; specifically, Harper Lee portrays a coming of age theme in his book To Kill A Mockingbird. Through the journeys of their childhoods, Jem and Scout lose their innocence while experiencing their coming of age moment, making them realize how unfair Maycomb really is.

Adolescence, the part of life we are most willing to forget. The awkward years of being stuck between, not yet an adult but certainly not a child. These years, however awful they maybe, are essential to the character that later develops. During adolescence we make decisions that shape the course of our life, from the personal interactions between friends and family to the academic decisions that impact future career, choices you make as a young adult impact you forever. Partially due to the importance of these short few years, it is not surprising how often children can make poor choices that derail their entire life. Increasing at startling frequency, these stories foretell of a dismal future. Due to this cautionary tales of adolescence have been rising in pop-culture. One of these is “Where are you going? Where have you been? By Carol Joyce Oates. This story tells of Connie, a young adult trying to make the leap to adulthood. Connie in her attempt to breach the gap ends up in drawing attention of Arnold Friend sealing the fate of her poorly executed coming of age. Connies ill fated coming of age in “Where have you been? Where are you going?” by Carol Joyce Oates acts as a cautionary tale about modern perils of adolescence.

Coming of age is a recurring theme that is universally known throughout many different pieces of literature. Whether it’s influenced on true experiences, childhood memories, or even based on one’s current juvenile reality, many of theses works have a correlation between them that include many similar ordeals and struggles that the character goes through in order to metamorphosize into taking their first step out of childhood. One prominent theme that often appears is how one experiences and faces a time of tribulation and other walls that stand in one’s path. In effect, hardships mature and enlighten one, causing the loss of something such as childhood innocence. Lastly, these three combined points finally lead to one’s metamorphosis out of childhood. All in all, these three factors take one out of childhood, and slowly allows one step out into the reality of this world.

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.

In many cultures, coming of age is often celebrated because children become young adults who grasp self-awareness and accountability. At the same time, childhood is threatened by responsibility, which is dreaded because there is an unpredictable world of adulthood waiting with no guarantees. James Hurst demonstrates the journey of growing up through life experiences everyone goes through in the short story, “The Scarlet Ibis”. Throughout his use of mood, setting, and symbolism, Hurst shows that maturing requires reflecting on past experiences and losing innocence, which then can transform one’s outlook on life.

Throughout many cultures, age has been seen as a determinate factor of maturity. And with this maturity, comes power. This belief is clearly defined in Joyce Carol Oates’ short story, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been”. In this story, the main character, Connie, struggles to reach maturity. Wielding her sexuality in hand, Connie charges into the battle for power, leaving her vulnerable to Arnold Friend’s temptation. Through the use of a symbolic figure, Arnold Friend, who represents the devil, Oates is able to manifest the power struggle between youth and maturity and how Connie strives to obtain the power that comes with maturity.

The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a story that explores the themes of fantasy versus reality, freedom, and confinement. The idea of fantasy vs. reality and freedom is relatable because all around the world, there are kids that struggle with growing up and try to be more mature than they are. “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” follows a fifteen-year-old girl named Connie who’s at odds with her sister and mother and ignores the values handed down to her. Unknown to her family, Connie spends her nights exploring her independence and individuality by picking up boys at the diner. She’s an average teenage girl whose concerns are never about her family and more about her appearance, boys, and her sexuality. Connie believes she’s mature enough to be attracted to older men, but when Arnold shows her sexual attention, she realizes that she has no idea what adulthood requires. This short story describes what it might be like for

Literary elements take up substantial fragments in stories today. In the novel “To Kill A Mockingbird”, there is a young boy named Jem Finch and throughout the story, you start to realise that he’s growing up, not physically, but mentally, we call that ‘the coming of age’. Jem’s coming of age experience is developed at Mrs.Dubose’s (a bad tempered old lady) house through conflict, irony, and symbol.

<br>This shows how Juliet has passion and faith in her relationship with Romeo, while her parents are old-fashioned; her father arranges a marriage for her, and her mother takes the side of her husband, rather than that of her daughter. This scene also shows how Juliet has changed and has gained the courage to speak against authority.

As an adult reader who has crossed over to the reality of life, reading about these characters can be a transparent, futile exercise because as adults looking back at youth we have the experience to know where these characters are headed before they even start their journey. However, for young adults who are still in the throes of existential angst this is a powerful novel that handles teenage rites of passage and coming-of-age issues such as loyalty, friendship, belonging, and even death and loss very well.