Skip to main content

Coming-of-Age

 All posts from this point on are for Coming-of-Age novel

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Impact of Deviating From the Hero's Journey

In the billions of stories that exist on this planet, it is not surprising how many of them deviate from the structure laid out by Joseph Campbell in the Hero's Journey. However, what is surprising is the lasting popularity of stories that feature flat characters (who are supposed to be the bane of writers everywhere). In fact, character-driven stories have only been popular relatively recently — think of how modern fairytale rewrites like  Cinder  or  Land of Stories  treat the characters compared to the originals. Somehow, despite the two-dimensional nature of their protagonists, many stories with little character growth are still wildly popular. By the time of Joseph Campbell, character development was considered an integral part of a good story. And yet, characters like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty have stayed in the cultural consciousness despite their lack of personality or character growth. The power of not having character growth like in the Hero's Jour...
6 comments
Read more

Esther Greenwood and the Miraculous Recovery

Even before Esther is officially deemed fit to be released from the asylum, she knows that the bell jar that had been suffocating her before had lifted. Although she doesn't know for certain whether it will ever return, she feels newly empowered to continue with life. The reason for this is that she no longer has the looming pressure of people expecting her to be great in the future. These expectations that people had before of Esther were a major part of why she attempted to commit suicide. Esther was a high-achieving, straight-A student who was able to go to college through the many scholarships that she earned. She is able to skip being graded on a required class because of everyone's belief that she would have aced the course anyway. As a result of her previous achievements, she begins feeling pressure to be great even after graduating college, which she's not sure how to do in the absence of grades and papers. During her New York internship, when Esther realizes for th...
6 comments
Read more

Benji's Father Hates Sag Harbor

 In Sag Harbor, Benji and Reggie's father doesn't quite seem like he fits in. Unlike many of the other people in Sag Harbor in the summer, he doesn't have the same generational tradition of coming out. He married into the tradition, unlike their mother and other families that come out.  Benji's father's philosophy about life is at odds with Sag Harbor. His greatest pride is that "Nobody ever gave him anything, and he never asked" (pg 217). Sag Harbor is almost entirely comprised of people who have inherited their beach houses from their parents or grandparents. Benji doesn't really seem to be aware of this, and his father doesn't ever openly express his feelings about Sag (although that might just be because most of his dialogue occurs when he is in Sag Harbor). However, there is still the impression that he feels that the people of Sag Harbor are 'weak'. For example, when he is talking to Benji about women and complimenting Mrs. Rusell...
3 comments
Read more