Coming Of Age In The Outsiders

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Envision a long and winding path in the middle of a forest. One that does not go in a clear, straight direction, but one, however, that is unclear and often uncertain that veers off into many different directions with faded, unclear paths, scarce of where they will lead to. The lives of many are often like this path. Before people are able to progress towards adulthood and Coming of Age, they must go through this path, with the direction that they want their life to go to often unclear, that wii go off into many different directions instead of one clear direction, until they are able to decide, for themselves, their own direction in the path. The main characters in the classic novel The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, the characters in the historical …show more content…

Coming of age occurs when people decide the path they desire to take in life through relationships, society, and favorable assets.
To begin, when people are influenced by the relationships in their lives, one can be guided through the path they want to take in life, thus coming of age. As an illustration, in The Outsiders, Ponyboy is a fourteen year old boy who lives in a lower class neighborhood. The young people in this neighborhood are commonly referred to as Greasers, who are thought of as …show more content…

By choosing this path in life, because of his relationship with his brother, Ponyboy is able to come of age. In another sense, the main protagonist Lily Owens, from the Secret Life of Bees, lives with the horrific realization that she unintentionally killed her mother years and years ago. Now fourteen, Lily lives with an abusive father who treats her with harsh punishments. Since Lily’s father, T. Ray, does not believe in girls going to college, she believes that she is destined to go to beauty school. However, when Lily tells her teacher, Mrs Henry about her ambition to go into beauty school, her teacher retorts, to Lily’s surprise, "’Please, Lily, you are insulting your fine intelligence. Do you have any idea how smart you are? You could be a professor or a writer with actual books to your credit. Beauty school. Please.’ It took me a month to get over the shock of having life possibilities.’ [...] I planned to be a professor and a writer of actual books” (Kidd 15). Because

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