Finding a person's identity and experiencing loss are two key factors of coming of age. These two things are in every person's life, even if you don't think they are. Finding your true identity involves things like dealing with loss, which is something everyone experiences. It is extremely challenging, but you often overcome these challenges and become a stronger person than before. In this essay, you will see how two characters, Christopher from “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” by Mark Hadden and Romeo from the story “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, experience loss and find their true identities in their separate novels. The novel “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime” is about a 15 year old boy named Christopher who has aspergers syndrome. His way of thinking has himself very involved in academics, but not as much the social side of things. He initially believes that he is only good at academics, and can't do anything outside of them. Christopher thinks about a comment that was made to him “But if you are going to do detective work you have to be brave, so I had no choice.” This quote resembles that he can do anything if he puts his mind to it. As the story progresses …show more content…
At the beginning of the play Romeo loves this girl more than anything, he is heartbroken to find out that she doesn’t feel the same way. Romeo states, “Out of her favor, where I am in love.” This quote resembles Romeo's sadness, as he is rejected by what he thought was his true love. However, Romeo finds a new love interest in Juliet who has mutual love. The two bond throughout the play, but unfortunately Romeo experiences a different type of loss this time, when the two are unexpectedly separated by death. Romeo goes through a lot, but as you can see Romeo’s character development throughout the play, shows that loss can result in a better situation, and you can grow from