The nonfiction story, “Salvation”, by Langston Hughes, the short story, “Initiation”, by Sylvia Plath, and the novel, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee suggest that coming of age occurs when a person learns that standing alone is better than going against one’s morals to fit in. “Salvation”, a non-fiction story by Langston Hughes, shows readers coming of age means going against one's morals to be like everyone else can lead to an unpleasant ending. In Salvation, Langston is taken to church to see Jesus spiritually. When Langston doesn’t see jesus, he lies that he had seen him because he didn’t want to stand out or be the only one who hadn’t seen Jesus. Later that night, Langston “for the first time in (his) life” cries in bed alone. He doesn’t cry because he hadn’t seen jesus, but because he “couldn’t bear to tell her that” he lied. Langston “deceived everybody in the church, that (he) had seen Jesus. Not only did he feel guilty for lying he “didn’t believe there was a Jesus …show more content…
Thus when Millicent finds out that joining a sorority means leaving her old friends and going with the popular boys to parties, she opts out. Millicent saw that joining the sorority meant “leaving Tracy on the outskirts. Because that is the way it would be”. That bothered Millicent because Tracy and her were good friends. Not only that, but she loathed the thought of people only liking her or approaching her because she was in the sorority. She decided “not to join the sorority after all. And she could still be friends with everybody. Sisters with everybody” without having to be in the sorority. This short story shows coming of age doesn’t mean to have the courage to do what everyone else is doing, but instead, to stand on your own and do what makes you