Theme of Coming of Age in Literature Essay Example

📌Category: Literature
📌Words: 898
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 23 February 2022

Coming of age is a process that happens all throughout your life. It is normally considered the time when a teenager or young adult goes through challenges, overcomes obstacles, and has important experiences that cause them to grow. A few examples of coming of age experiences are graduating high school, getting your first job, loss of innocence, and accomplishing goals. “John F. Kennedy inspired us then and now” by Robert Silverstein, Mark A. Goldstein, and Randolph Arndt, and “Through The Tunnel” by Dorris Lessing are both great examples of loss of innocence and achieving goals. Coming of age doesn’t depend on physical age alone, it's about having more experiences, trying new things, overcoming obstacles, and more.

In “Through The Tunnel” we learn about an 11-year-old boy named Jerry who was visiting the beach with his mother for summer vacation. Jerry had always stayed with his mother on the safe beach where they would swim and sunbathe but this time Jerry felt drawn to the rocky area next to a large cape. Jerry runs into the cool water after his mother allows him to explore. When Jerry got out of the water to take a break from swimming he saw a group of older boys diving from the top of the cape into the water, he thought it looked fun so he jumped in after them. Once in the water the older boys dove down deep and swam through a tunnel that cut through the wall of rock separating the different parts of the beach. Jerry wanted to follow them but was unable to hold his breath long enough, so when the boys left without him he cried and tried to get their attention by acting like a fool. When they didn’t turn around and stay with him he decided to train himself to hold his breath for a long time so he could be like them. Each day he practiced and then would time himself to see his improvement, “He sat by the clock in the villa,  when his mother was not near, and checked his time.   He was incredulous and then proud to find he could hold his breath without strain for two minutes.” (Paragraph 32) Jerry, after training to accomplish his goal, Jerry finally attempted to swim through the tunnel. He squeezed his way through the tight sharp rock and made it to the surface on the other side, his nose bleeding intensely and his head throbbing but he had done it. He was so proud of himself that he didn’t even want to go show the older boys who were playing a little way down the beach. He didn’t need approval or attention from anyone but himself. This is an example of coming of age, Jerry set a goal for himself to attempt to achieve and he successfully achieved it. He now had increased confidence in himself and a sense of self-approval and independence. He no longer needed the boys to see and acknowledge that he was able to swim through the tunnel.

Another example of coming of age is the loss of innocence that everyone experiences at some point in their lives. Loss of innocence is usually a point in someone’s life where they realize how imperfect or bad something is, in this case, the person realized how terrible the world was after the president of the United States was shot and killed. The article “John F. Kennedy inspired us then and now” is about how the former US President John F Kennedy impacted people’s lives and how people’s lives changed when he was murdered. The following quote is of Robert Silverstein and their experiences and how the world changed when they learned that the president had been shot while they were at school. “At that moment, I knew that Camelot was gone and with it the comfort and security of a life of innocence. The years that followed proved me right. The deaths of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., escalating war in Vietnam, urban riots not far from where I lived, campus unrest, Watergate and, ultimately, the terror attacks on 9/11 all showed that the world I had known in my childhood died in Dallas 50 years ago,” said Robert Silverstein. (Paragraphs 2 & 3) For Robert Silverstein, President Kennedy’s death was the event that started the change in the world that led them to believe the world was a terrible, dangerous, and scary place. Loss of innocence is an important part of growing up because it teaches people to be careful and to not trust everything and everyone they see. It helps people become more aware of the world around them so that they can be cautious.

Coming of age experiences happen to everyone, even me for example. When I made the transition from elementary school to middle school I was worried about getting lost in the big building and being late to class constantly. To prevent this from happening I made it my goal to memorize my schedule and where I needed to go throughout the day. Within the first few days, I was able to easily get to my classes on time and prepared. This taught me to be organized and make plans for tackling difficult obstacles. 

You will never truly come of age, people constantly experience new things and overcome obstacles. Your mind is constantly maturing and will never stop. Part of life is having new experiences, witnessing important events, solving problems, and overcoming obstacles in life. Whether that be by accomplishing goals like Jerry from “Through The Tunnel”, losing your innocence like Robert Silverstein in “John F. Kennedy inspired us then and now”, or by applying for a job, buying a car, or taking responsibility in a tough situation. You will always be growing up.

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