Luca's Coming of Age Blog

  In  Black Swann Green,  Jason is constantly aware of his social presence. This translates to the clothes he wears and the things he says. Throughout the story, we see Jason moderating his actions and dialogue in order to fit in with the rest of his classmates. Although he tries his hardest, kids his age still ruthlessly bully him for having a stammer. Jason spends a lot of his year dealing with the bullying, but it isn't until the end that he starts to stand up for himself. Jason starts to ignore the insults made at him by simply waiting for the bully to be done and not saying anything back. By doing this, whatever a bully says to him starts to have less meaning and affects Jason less. Slowly, Jason starts to gain some confidence at school. Jason's growth can be considered a coming-of-age narrative. In the beginning, Jason exudes little confidence, which makes him an easy target for bullies. When a bully sees someone who they think will react strongly to their harassment, it

  I think that Alison and Bruce have similarities. Their gender identities don't sit right with them, and they feel corrupted by this feeling. Bruce had it more challenging than Alison, as he grew up in a world where he needed to suppress his true self in order to conform to society's expectations. Alison, in a way, feels the same as her father. Alison finds a picture of her dad in college in what appears to be a woman's bathing suit, with another man she perceives as Bruce's lover. This opened Alison's mind to the idea of her father being trapped in something that wasn't him. She deals with this uncomfortable state of uncertainty in the early years of her life. When she and Bruce are sitting at a restaurant, and he questions her about wanting to look like a masculine bus driver, she, out of fear, responds, "no." Bruce's tone suggests that he notices something in his daughter that he sees in himself and resents the idea of her feeling the same way

 I n the story  The Bell Jar , Esther is shocked by many things she sees while in New York City. Her upbringing in the suburbs does not prepare her for the kind of life she is expected to live in New York.  At the time, there was (at still is) an expectation for women to maintain their purity and refrain from having multiple sexual partners and meaningless sex. Towards the end of the book, we realize that these double standards are some of the causes behind Esther's turmoil and her fear of pregnancy. We learn that her fear of getting pregnant and losing her freedom significantly contributes to her suicidal thoughts.        When Esther learns about Buddy's previous affair, she is disgusted and swears never to speak to him again. She calls him a hypocrite and pins her dislike of gender roles on Buddy. Her opinion on married life and being a mother develops by being around Buddy in the medical world.       After witnessing live childbirth, Esther begins to fear having kids. A

 While Holden may only be sixteen years old, his outlook on life makes him seem much older. He has this idea that he is different from everyone else because he does not conform to what society expects, and he criticizes those around him, which makes him feel better about himself.  Another one of Holden's ideas is that children are innocent until corrupted, meaning children are the purest forms of life in society. Still, they soon enter a world of stress, dishonesty, and a "phony" lifestyle. Holden sees himself being a kind of savior to the children in the world. He pictures children running around, playing in a rye field, and suddenly jumping into an abyss, and he wants to catch them before they fall. This "falling" is Holden referencing the way children mature in real life, becoming hypocritical adults instead of innocent children. The image of the children playing before falling represents their youth and their carefree way of life. Holden wants to save the ch