Adolescence In The Metaphor And Horton's Short Story

In today’s world, the main element contributing to someone’s behavioural growth is external factors: being exposed to different situations, environments and people enables individuals to acquire an understanding of how to live in a society. Adolescence, the transitional phase from a child to an adult, is marked as the main time period where individuals decide the path of their life. Teenagers go through, and are expected to cope with hormonal changes, puberty, social and parental forces, work and school pressures, as well as many conditions and problems. In Budge Wilson’s short story The Metaphor, and Jillian Horton’s short story The Bicycle, the main characters, Hannah and Charlotte, are experiencing the effects of adolescence first hand.

Within both short stories, the protagonists’ elders dictate their home life. Charlotte’s mother, an imposing figure that hates disorder and embodies perfectionism, prevents her daughter from developing a personality at home. In Charlotte’s household “ [complaining] is weak, [rejoicing] is childish, [laughing] is noisy. And moving around raises dust” (Wilson, 184). Similarly in The Bicycle, in Hannah’s entire day revolves around the schedule that her Tante Rose implements. As soon as she arrives home from school she “[sits] down at four-thirty and [works] at the piano until seven at night.” After a short break for food, Hannah resumes her “work again at eight-thirty and [goes] until ten” (Horton, 33). Hannah and Charlotte have absolutely no freedom in their lives at home. They are constantly being told what to do, how to behave themselves and what to do with their lives. With the absence of freedom, Hannah and Charlotte defy their parents to begin a new chapter in their life. When Hannah says that “[she] [will] ride [the] bicycle, just once, to prove that [she] [has] at least a little control over [her] own life” (Horton, 35) it demonstrates how she has evolved from a little girl, to a mature young woman. In addition, Charlotte begins a new chapter when “[she] says nothing” to her mother after being lectured about the rational behind Miss Hancock’s death, while she “extravagantly, without a modicum of rationality, [begins] to write” (Wilson, 194) her final metaphor. As Charlotte and Hannah are both raised by strict individuals who do not allow them to do as they want, they have branched off from their elders into their own. They factor in the little things that make them happy to create their future lives. Therefore, Charlotte and Hannah’s life drastically changes with a little independence in The Bicycle and The