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Recommended: Literary essay coming of age

In the books “How to Save a Life” and “Rapture Practice” the theme, coming of age, is always present. Coming of age is when a person matures and becomes an adult. Coming of age is also accepting yourself, and those around you. In these books, the characters Jill, Mandy, and Aaron are all dynamic. They became dynamic from their surrounding environment. The theme, also, completely encompasses the change that Jill, Mandy, and Aaron go through.
In “How to Save a Life”, Jill changes throughout the book. She starts out as an emotional wreck, who was having issues with behavior. Having her father die, Jill’s personality changed into what she was in the book. Throughout the story, Jill realizes that her behavior is out of control. She talks about her outbursts and finally understands that she needs to get them under control. Jill gradually starts to change in the second half of the book, especially with her attitude towards Mandy. Jill was very angry with Mandy in the beginning because, she thought that her mother was trying to replace the loss of a family member. Having Mandy in Jill’s life finally made her realise how she’s been acting, and then she fixed it. Jill also noticed her attitude issue when she was with Ravi. Ravi, like Mandy, opened Jill’s eyes. “As I look at the headstone thinking, Did Dad send Ravi to me? Is that something I even remotely believe is possible? Because however he got here, Ravi has been exactly what I need, and is sticking with it like he’s on assignment from God.” (Zarr 265). In that quote, Jill realizes that Ravi may have/may not have been sent by her father to support and care for her. Ravi has kept her in line and helped her make the changes needed for her to come to age. Both Ravi and Mandy pushed Jill...

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...Dad raised me to be. We may disagree about where the truth lies, but somewhere in the midst of the questions, if we fight for each other instead of against each other, our love will bring us here, to a quiet place of transcendent beauty, to a simple moment of elegance-a moment I now understand has a name: Grace.” (Hartzler 386). When Aaron realized this, it shows that he has finally come to age with the help of his surrounding environment.
In both books, “Rapture Practice” and “How to Save a Life”, the theme is ever present which allows these characters to change. Aaron, Mandy, and Jill all realized their mistakes and learned from them. That is the true meaning of “coming to age”, not necessarily becoming an adult and maturing, but becoming a better you. In both of these books, the characters changed, and came to age with the help of their surrounding environment.

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