Joanna's Coming of Age Blog

Having read both  Black Swan Green and The Catcher in the Rye , I wonder how Jason Taylor and Holden Caulfield would interact with one another.  Since Holden and Jason are both teenage boys who are coming of age, I think they could potentially relate to each other a lot. Both characters are frequently influenced by their sisters; in The Catcher in the Rye , Phoebe ultimately shows Holden that he must rejoin society and in Black Swan Green , Julia's guidance helps Jason to realize that the Falklands war shouldn't happen. Holden and Jason are also hyper-aware of how various societies function. At 16, Holden knows that him and his peer's lives have already been planned out. At Jason's school, a strict social hierarchy dominates his perception of the world.  However, I don't think the two would necessarily get along. In some ways, Jason Taylor embodies the "phoniness" that Holden supposedly despises. For example, Jason hides his poetry behind the pseudonym ...

Throughout Fun Home , Alison Bechdel references many prominent myths and works and literature that compare to her experiences and relationships.  I was organizing my bookshelves this past week when I stumbled upon my Harry Potter books. As I painfully relived my elementary school obsession, I came to realize that Alison and Bruce's relationship actually kind of reminded me of Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort's.  Throughout  Fun Home , Alison Bechdel characterizes her father, Bruce, as her polar opposite; "I was the Spartan to my father's Athenian, modern to his victorian, butch to his Nelly, utilitarian to his aesthete." However, as the story progresses, it's clear that the two are as similar as they are different. Alison and Bruce both have struggled to conform with their respective genders, and they share a mutual love for literature. In the same way, although Harry Potter and Voldemort epitomize the fight between good and evil, Harry Potter and Voldemort sha...

With the titular bell jar and scattered mentions of flowers, I was frequently reminded of this image of the enchanted rose from  Beauty and the Beast which I think perfectly encompasses the way Esther Greenwood views herself.  Sylvia Plath incorporates tons of metaphors in The Bell Jar , including Esther's comparison of dying flowers to dead bodies when she's volunteering at the hospital. When Esther throws the dying flowers away, it's due to her belief that giving them to patients would only depress them. This seemingly insignificant moment revealed Esther's mindset to me; like a withered flower, Esther would rather not be there at all than be present but visibly unhappy in the eyes of those around her.   Why does Esther feel this way? In class, we discussed how Esther's metaphorical bell jar left her feeling vulnerable to prying eyes. In New York, Esther felt she was being constantly surveilled for her next career move or academic achievement. This paranoia was ex...

In The Catcher in the Rye , Holden Caulfield frequents the habit of bringing a topic up, perhaps even expressing an interest in it, but explaining to the reader that he is deliberately choosing not to engage because he 'doesn't feel like it.'  This attitude is most notable in Holden's school work. The story opens at Pencey Prep, where Holden has just been kicked out of after failing four of his five classes. It's also revealed that Pencey is not the first school he's been kicked out of; presumably, it won't be the last. Why is this? Holden doesn't seem particularly unintelligent and even informs the reader of the initiative he takes when he writes extra-curricular essays.  There could be many explanations.  At first, I assumed that Holden was protecting himself from failure or disappointment. Maybe Holden uses his actively-maintained passivity to convince himself that he only does badly because it's him who refuses to break a sweat. This self-sabotag...

Similar to many other coming-of-age narratives, in The Perks of Being a Wallflower , Charlie struggles to conform with his peers. In the opening scenes, we learn that Charlie often writes to a nameless Friend, including on his first day of high school when he’s ultimately unsuccessful at making any in the flesh. In his letters, Charlie constantly talks about the other kids at school, clinging onto any seedling of connection he has to their lives; in the cafeteria, he talks about a girl who he knew in middle school and a boy that played football with his older brother. Despite being the central protagonist of the movie, Charlie’s words bring everyone’s existences to life but his own. Charlie is eventually drawn to Patrick, a carefree and outspoken senior in his woodworking class-- in other words, the polar opposite of his own self. Patrick introduces Charlie to the rest of his friend group including Sam, his equally easy going stepsister (who Charlie develops a crush on), and Mary Eliza...