The Theme Of Coming Of Age In

Literature Essay, Research Paper

The Theme of Coming of Age in Literature

There comes a time is each person’s life when they reach the point where

they are no longer children, but adults. The transition from a child into a

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

time when this transition occurs is different in everyone, since everyone is an

individual and no two people are alike. Certain children reach this stage

through a tragic, painful event which affects them to such extent that they are

completely changed. Other children reach this time by simply growing older and

having a better understanding of the world around them. The coming of age

really is indefinite and cannot be marked in general overview. This stage in

life is one of the most important and most popular themes in literature. The

coming of age theme is found in one of the one of the best coming to age stories

that have ever been written. Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird is a sensitive

touching portrayal of a young boy who grows up through shocking yet realistic

events.

Although many people are only aware of the coming of age theme through

literature and other forms of entertainment, there is also a very realistic part

to this event in a person’s life which is often ignored. The coming of age is

an event which is often celebrated in many different cultures, through rituals

or ceremonies. The rituals, also known as passage rites, mark the passing of a

person from one stage of life to the next: birth, infancy, childhood, adulthood,

old age, and death. The coming of age is celebrated along with birth, and death

because it is known as a universal life crises. Evoking anxiety, these crises

often elicit passage rites. Arnold Van Gennep stated that “Passage rituals have

three steps: separation from society; inculcation-transformation; and return to

society in the new status.” (1995, Grolier Encyclopedia)

All passage rituals serve certain universal functions. “They serve to

dramatize the encounter of new responsibilities, opportunities, dangers. They

alleviate disruption in the equilibrium of the community. They affirm community

solidarity, and the sacredness of common values.” (1995, Grolier Encyclopedia)

In addition, cultures use initiation ceremonies to mark the transition

from childhood to adult status. Rites for males are usually more elaborate and

dramatic and generally involve the community more than do those for females.

Among the African Gusii, for example, girls are at about age nine, boys at

twelve years old; Thonga boys may be sixteen. Boys rites often involve

seclusion from women, hazing by older males, test of manliness, and genital

operations, including circumcision. Girls rites are just as bad if not worse

with things like removal of the clitoris. In some places in North America, the

ritual is individual where as in Africa and Oceania the ritual can be collective.

A plain Indian adolescent boy undertakes a vision quest; he goes out alone into

the wilderness, endures hardship, and seeks a vision from his animal guardian

spirit; if he gets one, he returns a man.

Yet a different way for these rituals is group rituals. These often

takes months or even years, as among many Australian aboriginal tribes. Novices

learn great quantities of information and obey countless taboos. Instructors

are men who are strangers to boys. Ritual pulls the boy from childhood,

especially from his mother. He moves from the category of women and privileged

children toward the privileged one of the adult males. Such rites maintain

adult male togetherness and strengthen cultural continuity. They resolve boys

conflicts about sexual identity and establish clear attitudes toward fathers and

mothers. Such rites dramatize the power of older over younger males and state

that “only women can make babies: but only men can make men.” (1995, Grolier

Encyclopedia) Such passage rites symbolize death of the child and rebirth as a

man, as well as male envy of females. Versions in modern Western society

includes religious, confirmation, fraternity initiation, and military training.

In addition to the different ways that culture celebrates the coming of

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

“The Circus” is a touching story about a man’s kindness and how the realization

of this played an important part of his son’s coming age. In Dan Clark’s “The

Circus” , it is obvious how this young man realizes what being kind really means.

Clark states that “We didn’t go to the Circus that night but we didn’t go

without.” (1995, pg. 4) quote demonstrates that the young man realizes that it

is more important to be generous than it was to go to the circus. This was the

first step of this young man’s transition into the adult life. More often than

not, the plot, charact

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