Coming of Age in Literature Essay Example

When someone comes of age, it isn’t all of a sudden that they one day wake up as an adult.  This takes time, and one goes through situations that build up into the moment when one transitions into adulthood.  Every individual has different life experiences that lead to their unique way of coming of age, but one thing they all have in common is the realization about the world or their life through the understanding of their experiences.  Epiphany moments are moments where individuals come to the point in life where they comprehend their situations.  These moments are built through experiences the individuals have gone through.  Through emotional and mental growth comes epiphanies, leading to one’s loss of innocence and their coming of age.

Coming of age moments are represented through stories like “Safety of Numbers” by Lucy Tan, “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes, and “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier.  In “Safety of Numbers”, the narrator is portrayed as someone who is in the rebelling against authority phase.  Her coming of age moment is shown through her comprehension of her mother’s backstory and her understanding of her mother more, a moment where she grew emotionally.  “One Friday Morning” is about a girl (Nancy Lee) who worked very hard to win an art scholarship, but later lost it over something she can’t control.  Nancy is portrayed as someone resilient even in the face of inequality and prejudice through her determination to make sure no other girls get treated the same way she did because of their skin color.  Her coming of age moment came when she found out the reason why her scholarship was revoked, resulting in the emotional and mental growth.  Lizabeth in “Marigolds”, was a girl who in her childhood, didn’t comprehend and acknowledge the situation around her.  In her “last act of childhood” (Collier pg. 8), she had destroyed marigolds in a fit of emotional rage which opened her eyes to the real world, not the one that she viewed through her childhood innocence.  Realizing what she had done after the act was her epiphany moment, the moment where she knew that she could never be as innocent as she was before.

Emotional growth is caused through experiences individuals have experienced, that resonate within them on the emotional level.  In “Marigolds” by Eugenia Collier, the author uses symbolism to develop the theme (actions have consequences) and to show how Lizabeth transitioned into adulthood.  This short story revolves around Lizabeth and the point in her life where she was transitioning from childhood to adulthood and how her actions led to her epiphany moment, the comprehension of what is going on around her.  Her destruction of the marigolds was,” the moment when childhood faded and womanhood began.  That violent, crazy act was the last act of childhood.” (Collier pg. 8).  The marigolds symbolize childhood and innocence so the moment Lizabeth destroyed them as an outlet for her emotions, her childhood and innocence were shown to have ended.  Collier included this literary element to show how something that may not seem important may have a lot of meaning.  By using symbolism, Collier is also making a comparison between marigolds and Lizabeth.  The marigolds to Lizabeth were just flowers in the beginning, but in the end, they meant more like her childhood.   The destruction by Lizabeth and her realization of what her life was like after, shows how every action has consequences no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time, and this realization leads to Lizabeth’s coming of age and epiphany moment.  Another example of emotional growth is shown through how Nancy was treated in “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes.  In “One Friday Morning”, irony is used to express the double standards of people by the author.  Nancy had won an art scholarship that was later revoked by the art committee because of her skin color which is a clear example of verbal irony because of the “American dream of ‘Liberty and justice for all!’” (Hughes pg. 5).  While the U.S. claims liberty and justice for all, Nancy’s revoked scholarship clearly shows how there wasn’t much “liberty” or “justice” for ALL people especially since the reason behind the lost scholarship was over her skin color.  Using irony, the author is bringing out the double standards people may have because of race.  This experience with racism opened Nancy’s eyes to what she had previously never experienced.  This emotional jolt, caused by her happiness at winning the scholarship then losing it, led to Nancy’s coming of age moment and her loss of innocence. This story by Hughes shows and spreads the message that racism is still here in our society, no matter how much or how little, it is still here and change needs to happen.

Mental growth is similar to emotional growth, but what is different is that this type of growth relates more to the understanding of something that individuals may not have experienced themselves directly.  In “Safety of Numbers” by Lucy Tan, the author uses tone to develop the narrator’s character.  The narrator in “Safety of Numbers” has been rebelling against her parents to get a sense of freedom, like sneaking out and inviting her friends over when her parents were not home.  Her epiphany moment that leads to her coming of age was when her mother shares her past with her,” My father caught me.  I was on my way to Tiananmen Square…locked the window…by the time he let me out, four of my best friends were dead.” (Tan pg. 7).  The tone of this quote has a sad and melancholy feel to it, which draws the reader into the story and understands that the way her mom acts is because of her past.  The writer’s purpose of using tone in this quote is to show how even after all these years, what happened that day still haunts the mother.  This event, the Tiananmen Square protest, still haunts people today and by referencing this event, the author is conveying how all people have their own stories that they have not shared.  After this piece of information was revealed, the narrator understood her mom more and with this understanding, she decided that she wants to live her life without being afraid and this was her coming of age moment.  In “One Friday Morning” by Langston Hughes, Nancy Lee also had her coming of age moment through mental growth.  The author uses diction to express how Nancy became determined to make sure no other girls get treated the way she was treated.  Nancy’s meeting with racism opened her eyes to how the world isn’t fair to those who they believe aren’t as important.  Using words like “fight” shows Nancy’s determination to fight racism and bring justice,” This won’t keep me down…I’ll fight to see that these things don’t happen to other girls as this happened to me.” (Hughes pg. 7).  The diction used by the author conveys how strongly Nancy felt about this and her determination to help stop racism.  This is an example that shows how the understanding of the situation causes mental growth which leads to the loss of innocence.  According to Hughes, actions around individuals can lead to said individual’s transition to adulthood.

Coming of age, in general, refers to the transition from childhood to adulthood.  This transition can be caused through experiences individuals have gone through that lead to their emotional and/or their mental growth which leads to the transition.  These epiphany moments are all caused by different experiences, but the one thing they (the experiences) all have in common is being the catalyst for the change into adulthood.