In a nostalgic article “Endless Summer”, Rick Bragg uses imagery to reveal how the characteristics of a long lasting summer have been changed over time, and often generations now take summer for granted. As a child, Bragg thought of summer as a symbol of time and slowly watched it “stew and simmer” away. He goes into further detail about how as a child he would play in a mud hole to pass time. This opposes his views later stated about how kids today would rather be found inside on electronics to pass their boredom. Bragg’s also states that kids today will never feel “mud mush between their toes” like he felt as a child.
In the story “Growing Up” by Gary Soto, the message trying to be sent is to not take anything for granted. “‘Dad im not going this year’, Maria said to her father. He sat at the table with the newspaper in front of him”. Maria had the impression that she is too mature to go on their trip, so she decides to decline. The climax is at that time since her dad takes it wrong.
In the poem, “Saturday at the Canal” by Gary Soto, the act of irritation, an emotion often found in adolescents, was demonstrated. Through lines of imagery, the narrator who is a 17-year-old in highschool, expressed many variations of irritation. An example of this is when the narrator internally said, ”I was hoping to be happy by seventeen” (Line 1). As soon as the narrator said that they were hoping to be happy by seventeen, an issue many adolescents and highschoolers face got brought up. Adolescents often hope for better opportunities or even freedom when it comes to maturing but, maturing is realizing that not everything goes accordingly.
“Where Is it Written” by Adam Schwartz, is a story about a young boy whom faces family problems. Sam first wanted to go live with his father because he wanted to get to know him as much as he knew his mom. Then, Sam wrote a letter in forming her of his decision. Eventually, family problems came in between his decision. Coming of age is an important theme in which the process of growing up through psychological problems will change a person’s mentality.
In the poem “On turning Ten '' by Billy Collins and in the short story “ Marigolds” written by Eugenia W. Collier, both authors talk about how life has changed and the end of their childhood based on situations of their past life. In the poem and the short story, both authors explore the impact of losing innocence by describing their memory and discovering the truth. Both authors show how emotional it was to face the truth and reality based on his and her memories. In “Marigolds”, she starts losing her innocence when she “Never heard a man cry before” (Collier 42) and how she discovered Miss Lottie wasn’t frustrated with the situation at the end but was upset. In “On Turning Ten” he realizes “I skin my knees.
Childhood never lasts forever. No matter who you are, where you come from, and who you think you are, age will catch up to you and tear you down like it has everyone else. Although aging is brutal, there is an incredible range of emotions throughout. A primitive way to differentiate the two is by happy and sad. These are not mutually exclusive and this is unequivocally displayed in the Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison.
“Sometimes, we need to be hurt in order to grow. We must lose in order to gain. Sometimes, lessons are learned best through pain”(SoraTemplates). In fact that’s what Chay and Henry had issues at school, family, and peers. Henry a fourteen-year-old and his brother had a dream to hike Katahdin Mountain.
It is often said that older kids can never seem to act their age .This is seen in the novel The Watsons go to Birmingham 1983, by Christopher Paul Curtis when the Watson’s are in Flint the author uses symbolism to show that growing up can sometimes be hard. Kenny uses coming of age as a symbolization that growing up can be hard. When kenny goes behind the couch to the pet hospital, “I only wanted to come out of the Pet hospital to eat and go to the bathroom.” (196).
The author, Sandra Cisneros, uses literary techniques in “Eleven” to characterize Rachel by using metaphors, comparisons, and repetition. In the beginning of Sandra Cisneros’s short story, she states that when a person becomes an age older they will not feel a difference. The character Rachel explains that in different situations, for example, “Like some days you might say something stupid, and [you will feel ten]” a person might feel different from their actual age. She then competes growing old to layers of an onion, rings of a tree, wooden dolls that fit inside each other because, according to her, “that’s how being eleven years old is”.
Through the writer’s use of literary symbolism by associating maturing with life experiences, readers are able to visualize how life
Maturity is the feeling of needing to prove that one is sophisticated and old enough to do certain things. In the short story “Growing Up,” Maria’s family went on a vacation while she stayed at home, but when she heard there was a car crash that happened near where her family was staying, she gets worried and thinks it is all her fault for trying to act mature and angering her father. Society wants to prove how mature they are and they do so by trying to do things that older people do and the symbols, conflict, and metaphors in the text support this theme. First and foremost, in “Growing Up,” Gary Soto’s theme is how society acts older than they are and that they just want to prove they are mature. Maria wants to stay home instead of going
Growing up is a universal experience, but the maturity that comes with age can be seen either as a blessing or as a curse. In the short story “Marigolds,” by Eugenia Collier, the author explores the natural journey to maturity through the childhood of Lizabeth, a 14-year-old girl who will soon be a girl no longer. As Lizabeth matures into adulthood, the reader can observe her growth into maturity and begin to learn who she truly is. Collier uses Lizabeth’s personal story to convey the omnipresent idea of growing up and maturity, and through her experiences, the reader can discern that maturity comes from understanding one’s place in the world. Additionally, Lizabeth’s first exposure to womanhood shows that a realization and understanding of
Most people can tell how people act, but do they really know the struggle they are facing? In the story “Eleven” Rachel was having a hard time showing who she really was and she also went through many emotional changes in her eleventh birthday. In the story Eleven we learn birthdays are very special, but they do not represent emotional changes through the author’s use of simile, symbolism, and imagery. In this interesting story Eleven by Sandra Cisneros use simile, and symbolism to state, birthday are very special, but they do not represent your emotional changes.
Many of the crucial changes and additions to my identity occurred as I turned 12, 13, 14, and now 15-years-old. I became more responsible and mature like most tennagers, but I also learned to show empathy, respect, perseverance, and many of the attributes that are fundamental to my identity. These attributes have been shaped by all the love in my life . It causes me to thrive even when something happens which might initially cause me pain and hopelessness. However, Eliezer had lost this love and support.
Each has written about the speaker’s experiences of growing up to become adults. Although they share similar theme, which is about the coming of age, each has portrayed the theme in different ways. Both “Crystal Stars Have Begun to Shine” and “12 years old” support the same theme, “coming of age” by struggles and expriences during relationships. However, each has different tone and way of showing the theme.
