Revisiting the Definition of 'Coming of Age'

As I mentioned in my first blog post, now that the course has concluded, I am revisiting my concept of what "coming of age" means to me. To start, I asked some friends what they thought coming of age means.

"It's when you get old." -A. Robison

"It's some significant event that occurs between the time you are born and the time you die." -L. Hague

"Coming of age is when years show up on your front porch and knock on your door." -A. Robison

"I don't know." -L. Hague

"Combing of age is when you flop the hair growing on the side of your head over your bald spot." -A. Robison

If anything, after reading the course literature and living through the past semester, I can say that "coming of age" has become more nebulous instead of more well defined.

I am reminded of a comment I made on Jonny's blog where I doubted whether middle school literature staples The Pigman and The Outsiders could be considered coming-of-age novels on par with Catcher and Portrait. I must say that I am reconsidering my stance a little bit. Especially after reading some books by John Green (yes, I'll promote him every chance I'll get) I realized that there is much more to offer by coming-of-age novels than a journey.

In terms of coming of age itself, I could best say that it is whatever you make it out to mean to you.