Coming Of Age Texts
Maturation is an important part of life, especially when it transitions a child to an adult. Coming of age texts mark this transition in characters to show the universality of adulthood through different settings and cultures. Normally they follow a transition from childhood to adulthood, but rarely does the development follow a birthday or milestone. Coming of age texts, whether they be novels, poems, short stories, or movies, have a central motif of knowledge to demonstrate that the most important part of maturing is what you know. The Knife of Never Letting Go, Room, “On Turning Ten,” and “St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves” use age, or other signs of a physical development, contrasted with more abstract signals, like knowledge to show how little age matters in defining when a character has matured.
…show more content…
In The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Todd Hewitt lives his life in anticipation of his thirteenth birthday, when he, according to Prentisstown, will become a man. When Todd escapes Prentisstown before his birthday, he is not able to complete the ‘ceremony’ that transitions a boy to a man, only to later realize that his journey and what he knows about his society, makes him more grown up than his birthday. When he acquires knowledge, he is able to judge his town and decide for himself if he wants to be a ‘man. ’ When he decides he does not want to be, he asserts his maturity and wisdom (Ness 444, 465). Todd’s decision proves that adulthood is not necessarily marked by a formal ceremony, but can be attained through his newfound enlightenment and
In The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, Todd Hewitt lives his life in anticipation of his thirteenth birthday, when he, according to Prentisstown, will become a man. When Todd escapes Prentisstown before his birthday, he is not able to complete the ‘ceremony’ that transitions a boy to a man, only to later realize that his journey and what he knows about his society, makes him more grown up than his birthday. When he acquires knowledge, he is able to judge his town and decide for himself if he wants to be a ‘man. ’ When he decides he does not want to be, he asserts his maturity and wisdom (Ness 444, 465). Todd’s decision proves that adulthood is not necessarily marked by a formal ceremony, but can be attained through his newfound enlightenment and