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A “Coming of Age” Separate
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Coming of age is different for everyone. Coming of age can mean many things, but for many cultures it represents transitioning from being a child to an adult. To me, coming of age means maturity, new responsibilities, and finding yourself. It is an important time for youth as the figure out who they will be as adults.
Many cultures and people have different times and signs of coming of age. Most of the time, coming of age begins when one reaches sexual maturity. In western societies, coming of age is in the teens, typically 16-18 year olds when they gain the ability to drive and are legally adults. Often, different cultures coming of age is marked with a ritual or celebration. For example, Quinceaneras and Bar Mitzvahs are often thrown to celebrate the coming of age. Personally, I don’t know if I have come of age or not. But, I often think that my coming of age started once I went to middle school and continues now as I move through high school.
When one comes of age, they are often treated as an adult and expected to have the maturity of one. In psychology, maturity is defined as the
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Their beliefs may change, their values may change, and many other aspects of them change. I am very different from who I was as a child with new beliefs and identity. My religion changed, I began to accept most of the facets of my identity ,and I began to accept my flaws. I also have different values and views on the world and found new hobbies that later led to my changing what I want to be. I have noticed that many people begin to start to identify themselves, the facets of their personalities, and traits. People discover their sexuality, gender, and views at this time. They find where the fit in. When one comes of age, they begin to figure out who they are. Their views and their perception of themselves may change and these changes can continue even further into
Maturity is not a fickle expression such as happiness or frustration, but rather an inherent quality one gains over time, such as courage or integrity. Before maturity can be expressed, the one who expresses it must have significant confidence in himself, since self-confidence is the root of maturity. Being flexible and formulating one's own opinions or ideas are aspects of maturity, but neither is possible without self-confidence. The greatest aspect of maturity is the ability to make decisions which society does not agree with. Whether or not one follows through with these ideas is not important. What is important is the ability to make the decision. These decisions represent the greatest measure of maturity.
Many people have been questioning on whether maturity depends on one’s age. I believe that maturity isn’t dependant on someone’s age because one matures based on things they’ve undergo, and how their environment can be.
To reach maturity requires a loss of innocence. For example, when a child finds out there is no Santa Claus, he is caught between a magical belief and a reality that he is unwilling to accept. It's a coming-of-age experience that changes his outlook on life forever. The child has lost some of his previous innocence and must face life's harsh realities. This process can be confusing and painful. In some ways, a loss of innocence forces us to become more mature by gathering wisdom and knowledge from a metamorphic experience. Metamorphosis is as much a spiritual change as it is a physical one. It is a natural process that helps a person grow and develop.
Your age doesn't determine how or if you are coming of age, Your mindset and mentality to move forward determines that. The Novella “The Body” by Stephen King is about a group of boys who all come from abusive, dysfunctional families and this book is their journey to discover a dead body. They are young and their immaturity makes them excited to see a dead body, but along the way, they begin to realize various things and begin to grow. In this book, the four boys Gordie, Chris, Vern, and Teddy come of age. In this essay, there will be brief descriptions about three of the four of the boys from this novella. Chris came from a bad family and was thought to come out the exact same way as his family and was doubted his whole life. Teddy came from
But is emerging adulthood a period that every young person experiences through their life, in every culture and exactly the same ages or are there any restrictions for young people to experience this emerging phase. Marriage was the significance that a person entered adulthood, it usually happened between the ages of 16-18 for females and 18-20 for males. This small window before marriage only allows for a period of adolescences but no emerging adulthood. So this means that emerging adulthood is not a universal phase but one that only is experienced by those people that delay taking any adult like responsibilities until past their teens. Because some countries are extremely industrialized the requirement of people to have a higher education is reinforced, many emerging adults remain in school until their early or mid twenties to obtain a gainful position. This allows them to explore relationships and different jobs before they consider taking on the responsibility to marry and procreate and support a child financially. Although marriage is mostly calculated by some, there are cultures such as the Mormon Church that have a short emerging period. Due to cultural beliefs, there is no premarital sex and usually aim to have large families, so the pressure is on the young people to wed early and procreate because this is what is expected of them from both their families; it’s the
What is maturity? When does one mature? Maturity defined by a dictionary means “fully developed physically; fully grown,” but it also depends on the way one acts. Although one is grown up, it does not mean one acts poised and sophisticated as expected. After the Trojan War, the main character Odysseus is on a long journey to return to his home, Ithaca. The problem is the kingdom is overrun by suitors; his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus, do their best to keep them out of the palace. In the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus transitions from being immature to mature as he is placed in Xenia,the Greek custom of hospitality for guests through encounters with Polyphemus, Circe, and Alcinous.
Coming of Age is when a character in a story goes through a life-changing event they learn a life lesson from. There are many types of books and short stories that are based on Coming of Age, "The Flowers" by Alice Walker is one of them. In the story the main character, Myop, is wandering through the woods. However, she later decides to shorten her walk, after she starts to feel uncomfortable and fearful, of her surroundings. Soon she decides later to find her way back home until she stumbles across something... a dead body. At first Myop was astonished of what she had uncovered . It was something she had never encountered before. After examining the body she began to realize that it was actually something very interesting. Seeing the lifeless
At birth everyone is given a set of identities but as they grow up and find their place in the world with people they love those identities will change. I believe that changing identities throughout life will help a person develop into a better person. If a person has identified as multiple different things in his or her past then he or she will be more willing to accept and appreciate those who are different. I grew up being taught to always treat others the way I wanted to be treated and at times that can be hard, but I have always strived to be a kind and caring person.
Adulthood is not easily defined when it starts and finishes. If this cycle was based on biology it would be easy to define. Once again social pressures define this stage as well. Americans tend to look at it in three stages; Early adulthood, Middle adulthood, and old age. In early adulthood, we learn to manage the day to day affairs for ourselves, often juggling conflicting priorities such as, job, partner, children, and parents. During this stage, we learn to start putting everything we have learned together and manage ourselves. Early adulthood tends to end around forty years of age and Middle adulthood begins roughly from forty to sixty years of
Extensive demographic and cultural shifts have taken place over the past few decades that have made late adolescence and early twenties into a new transitional developmental period known as emerging adulthood for young individuals across industrialized societies. Arnett (2000) argues that emerging adulthood is a “distinct period of the life course” that is “characterized by change and exploration of possible life directions” (469). Additionally, a critical area of identity exploration during emerging adulthood is love and romantic relationships. Arnett contends that “demographic changes in the timing of marriage and parenthood in recent decades has led to prolonged periods of adolescence and delayed adulthood transitions” (470). By postponing
How can a word our society uses so much have such a loose definition. Teacher’s and parents refer to their children as mature or immature. But maybe one teacher’s definition of maturity is the child, —or adult, can press on while a fellow student is in trouble, to ensure he himself does well. While another’s definition is that the child expressed maturity for stopping and helping the other child in his decisions to avoid trouble. A common idea is that to show maturity one must weigh out all the possible outcomes and then ...
DeCuir-Gunby (2009) states that identity is “a formation process begins at birth, peaks during adolescence, and continues to develop throughout adulthood, thus allowing an individual to fully negotiate multiple identities.” During adolescence, the peak of identity development, it is the most judgemental and children
Everyone that have ever lived to adulthood, understand that difficulty of the transition to it from childhood. As of right now, I am in the prime of the “coming of age “transition. The overwhelming pressure of our society that forces the adolescence to assimilate the social norms is felt by many. Just as in our first steps, our first words or anything that is expected in our human milestones, coming of age is one of them. It may variety from different societies, religious responsibility or modern legal convention; everyone had to reach this point eventually.
Adolescence is not cultural universal. In some societies, young children go straight from childhood to the adult life once they have done the necessary puberty rites. Puberty rites are formal ceremonies that mark the entrance of young people into the adult life. People at the age of 13 to 14 that completed these puberty rites can become accepted into the adult society.
When you turn eighteen you are expected to just be mature. You’re allowed to buy a house, a car, get a credit card, it seems like you can do whatever you want. Maturity basically gets thrown at you, so hopefully you are prepared for it. High school responsibilities, like getting a job, budgeting your time and learning to drive teach you skills that you can use in your adult life, if you choose to apply them. Maturity is about choice. You can be given every skill that you need to survive and if you are mature enough you will use them.