Going of Age

I have let the question concerning the true meaning of coming of age simmer for the past three weeks, and I am ready to report the results of my introspective homework.

I would define coming of age not as a point to be reached, but as a general set of changes that tend to happen around a certain time in an individual's life. These changes reflect an increased sense of independence and self-definition in someone. On a personal level, someone coming of age will experience more agency in their thoughts and actions, coupled with the feeling that "things will never be the same."

Highly structured definitions aside, an often-repeated idea I see from reading the blogs is the nebulous nature of coming of age. Not only is the concept left open-ended, but everyone has a set of milestones that stand out to them in their own mind. There is no universal coming of age. In addition, defining and measuring coming of age matters the most to the person in question, internally. Outwardly, society progresses us fairly smoothly and uniformly.

I intend to revisit this topic later on, at the conclusion of the course. The next four months will surely offer more insight on the subject both in the course literature and from life in general as a second semester senior.

P.S. A note on the blog title: I just wanted to come up with something witty, unlike "Evan's Spring 2013 Coming-of-Age Novel Blog." A quick search reveals that similar web entities exist with titles like "Fast-Forward / Rewind" but my title has a key difference: instead of using the slash to indicate a distinction, my title is a portmanteau of the two actions, seemingly in different directions, as some sort of symbolism or literary what-have-you.

P.P.S. I am a bit anxious about writing for this blog, for reasons outlined in my post Writing is Hard from my Non-Fiction Writing blog. Literature explication has always been a struggle for me.