Samuel's Coming of Age Blogs

     Throughout Bechdel's Fun Home, Bruce Bechdel, Alison's father, is frequently brought up by his daughter. A couple of times, Alison refers to bruce in a way that pictures him as a sort of Martyr. She's framed Bruce's death as a sort of self-sacrifice, and not just an accident. Though, we have not gained a total confirmation of Alison's claims or hypothesis being true, and never will because Bruce Bechdel is dead. Despite this, we can see multiple reasons in the book for why Alison would think her father's death wasn't just suicide or an accident, but a sort of sacrifice for a cause. But why would he "sacrifice" himself? What was his motive? It could be argued that his suicide was planned. That he took his own life to, in a way, freeze his image as a "great father and husband" and not have the risk of it being stained by the hidden aspects of his life once these were discovered.     We see this happen for the first time in the beginnin...

    Throughout The Bell Jar,  it's clear that Esther, as her mental state deteriorates, has a change in the way she perceives herself physically, even at some extents not recognizing herself when seeing her reflection in a mirror. I noticed this happening multiple times times in the book, in each one she recognizes herself differently, and can therefore demonstrate her mental status' change throughout the book, particularly the worsening of her mental health, and descent into what some people, especially at the time, could call insanity. Despite this, I will talk about the two most significant ones I noticed.     I first saw this chapter 2 in page 19 in my edition. In the scene, Esther has just returned to her apartment after partying with Doreen, who is still at Lenny's house. Esther had just finished narrating her thoughts about the city and the UN building, which she could see from her apartment window. When she describes the mirror placed above her bureau ca...

     Often when reading The Catcher in the Rye , it's pretty easy to notice the high standards that Holden Caulfield, the main character, sets upon people around him, and almost always judging them due to the fact they don't meet his expectations. It's also fairly obvious that Holden rarely sets these standards upon himself, and has done things that he's criticized others over, without holding himself accountable in any way. I've personally noticed this happening multiple times in the book, especially during the earlier chapters. Due to this, it can be assumed that it's no longer apparent in the later parts of the book due to Holden's development as a character. But by definition, Holden Caulfield is a hypocrite due to his early practices of acting similar to what he judges others for doing.     The first instances I saw of this are in chapters 3 and 4. It starts off with the first interaction Holden has with Ackley. In the chapter, Holden has just returned ...