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Coming-of-Age

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

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Helena, Michael, and the Divorce

Black Swan Green ends with the divorce of Jason's parents and his impending move to Cheltenham. Although Jason remains oblivious to the problems in their marriage for a long time, the cracks in their relationship begin to show as early as the first chapter. Despite their argument about both redoing the kitchen and getting a rockery in the backyard (both things that Helena wants, but Michael is against), both of those things end up happening. Even after Helena and Michael clash over her job offer, Helena still 'wins' in the end and ends up working in Cheltenham. These arguments show the beginning of the separation between Helena and Michael, as well as Helena's growing independence, which is what allows her to get the divorce in the first place.  The first indication that all is not as it seems between Helena and Michael is during the first chapter, where Jason is so focused on explaining why he went into his father's office to notice the tension between his parents....
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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...
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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...
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