Samuel's 20th Century Novel Blog

    "Coming-of-age literature explores the transition from childhood to adulthood, often featuring young protagonists who face significant life challenges that prompt personal growth. This type of narrative, sometimes referred to as "Bildungsroman," typically follows adolescents or younger characters as they navigate experiences that force them to confront the complexities of adult life, often through trauma or major life changes."  - EBSCO Research     Nicholson Baker's "The Mezzanine" allows the reader to spend a thoroughly described lunch hour during Howie's corporate work lunch break. Throughout the book, we see Howie, the main character and narrator, tell the reader multiple anecdotes and parts of his life, often along with an occasional tangent on a random topic. Among these anecdotes of his life, two of them particularly stuck out to me because of their similarity to the average coming-of-age story (which I took a semester-long class of last...

       When we read Whitehead's  Sag Harbor , we can see that throughout the story, a lot of the characters, particularly in Benji's friend group, have a sort of desire to carry themselves across in the most masculine way possible, whether this be in roast battles or games they play throughout Sag Harbor, Benji and his crew are always trying to seem tough and cool in the eyes of each other. This desire for seeming as cool and fitting as possible is something I've seen throughout all coming of age books we've seen this year, from Holden's facade of toughness to Esther's initial attempts to fit in with her schoolmates, to the Bechdels' hidden aspects of their lives and Jason Taylor's self edition. Wanting to fit in is a big part of one's coming of age story, and is probably something that everyone's wanted to do at least once in their lives. We see this in Benji now, multiple times throughout Sag Harbor . I've seen this happen a lot, but I'...

  " Great Britain's Catcher in the Rye - and another triumph or one of the present age's most interesting and accomplished novelists"    - Kirkus Reviews (End Cover of Black Swan Green) Throughout Mitchell's  Black Swan Green,  I noticed some similarities between  Black Swan Green  and  The Catcher in the Rye , besides the fact that both stories are centered around  teenage boys trying to make sense of themselves and the world, and the fact that they're both coming of age novels, I noticed that both characters ended up having some other things in common. I primarily noticed this in the way that the lack of acceptance plays a role in both characters, whether it is upon the characters by themselves or not being accepting to others. I also noticed that both characters eventually develop an interest in isolating themselves from the rest of  society, primarily for the reason of not having to interact with other people. (Each one having a sep...

     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 ...