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Coming Of Age In On The Bridge By Todd Strasser

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In the short story On the Bridge by Todd Strasser, the character Seth demonstrated coming of age as the story progressed. At the beginning of the story we are introduce to both Adam and Seth. Adam is the kind of kid that would fit the personality of an outlaw, someone who disobeys orders and does not let anyone get in his way. This is shown in the very first sentence of the text when Strasser writes “I beat the crap out of this guy at the mall yesterday.” When Seth asks Adam why he had done such a thing, Adam replies “He just bugged me, that’s all.” This definitely shows Adams immaturity and methods of dealing with people. Seth on the other hand is a lot more calm than Adam but is getting influenced by him to do bad things. Seth is shown getting …show more content…

Adam was pointing at him.” This was kind of the turning point in the story because Seth realized that he was about to get into a fight with people much stronger than him. This realization prompted Seth to not want to continue living this “outlaw” lifestyle. This is the first time we see Seth being a leader and not a follower. This is re- instated by his actions later in the short story when Strasser writes “Seth shook his head. He didn’t believe Adam. He started to walk toward home.” This scene shows that Seth feels betrayed by Adam after Adam blames Seth for throwing the cigarette butt onto the car. Even though Adam was the one to throw it, Seth was the one who was attacked. Although it is not super clear, we can conclude that Adam and Seth are no longer friends at the end of this story. This is shown in the last sentence of the Story. “Seth smirked. He took it off and threw it in the garbage

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