Kruthi's Coming of Age Blog

  One of the most formative experiences for Jason in Black Swan Green seems to be the conflict between the citizens of the town and the Romani people. Stuck in a position where he has ties to both sides, he develops a more mature understanding of the situation than any adult around him seems to have. What stands out to me is the theme of “othering” or alienating others, which Jason seems to grasp very quickly–maybe because he himself is treated as an outsider for much of the novel. A constant fear of Jason’s in his own environment is that he will be considered an outcast for his stammer. That isolation is reminiscent of the town’s treatment of Romani people, and for that reason it seems to strike a chord in him. Because he is constantly judged, mistreated, and misunderstood for something he can’t control, he becomes more aware of how unfair it is to define a group by a single trait or a single thing they lack. In his stencil metaphor, Jason describes how groups define themselves no...

  While reading Fun Home , I came to recognize that Bechdel has a penchant for using complex metaphors and symbolism to describe her situation and relationships. To me, one of them stood out as particularly useful for analyzing her and Bruce’s story. Her vivid description of her childhood home, which takes up the bulk of the first chapter, seems strongly reminiscent of her thoughts about Bruce and his personality. Even though the home is just an object, a passion project of Bruce’s, his relationship with the home speaks volumes about the kind of person Bruce is.  One significant parallel I noticed was Bruce’s fixation on being in control of the things around him, and of being the architect of his life and home. Just as he carefully curates each room in the home, he also curates his appearance and reputation. Through Bechdel’s narration, we get a sense of how important it is to Bruce that every area of the home be organized and beautiful. In the context of the home itself, ...

     The Bell Jar is an excellent novel about coming-of-age and struggling with mental health,  but it would be a shame to leave it at just that. To me, it has various other unseen virtues. For example, I found it to be rather darkly funny and an excellent use of satire. Throughout the book, it is abundantly clear that Esther finds society to be absurd and almost grotesque, and Plath does an impressive job of conveying this through Esther’s language and inner thoughts.      Probably one of the most, if not the most, targeted subject of Plath’s sharp humor is the set of norms and expectations laid out for Esther and other women of the time period. One example is how Esther perceives motherhood and the process of childbirth. Describing the delivery of a baby, she says: “The woman’s stomach stuck up so high I couldn’t see her face or the upper part of her body at all. She seemed to have nothing but an enormous spider-fat stomach and two little ugly spindl...

Allie, Phoebe, Jane, James Castle. All legends in the world of Holden Caulfield. All connected by a common theme: their perpetual youth and purity. Throughout the novel, we get a detailed (and almost exhausting) account of the many things that contribute to Holden’s cynicism. However, a select few are safe from Holden’s overgeneralized criticisms of the world. These few, to Holden, are almost frozen in time, forever innocent and free. To Holden, Allie and James Castle’s early deaths leave only an impression of their character before they died. Allie was young, joyful, and shared many of Holden’s passions. Perhaps he might have grown up and stayed the same, but he could very well have changed into a different person, just as D.B. did. Holden was forced to deal with D.B. growing up and working in Hollywood, destroying his idol: young D.B., who was an authentic, passionate storywriter. But in a somewhat ironic way, young Allie will be forever immortalized to Holden as a result of his unti...