Matty coming of age

"wHy dOnT yOu JuST cUT hIm?" A simple solution proposed by 'Norman Bates' to Jason in response to his bully troubles. Ah, of course! Why wouldn't Jason think of that; just commit a felony and permanently handicap his tormentor. It's easy as that. In all seriousness though, I was definitely shocked and kind of amused by the extremity of the bus driver's solution, and I'm glad that Jason decided against it. A vital part of Jason's growth throughout the novel is him gradually learning to deal with his tormentors by accepting himself and learning to not care about the opinions of those he doesn't care about--as Holly Deblin says, "Don't let dickheads define who you are." This is also the Dean Morin approach: just ignore the dickheads and live how you want to live. I think Jason makes the better decision for himself here by choosing the arguably more difficult process of self-acceptance and growth as a person rather than taking the

In our discussion a question came up about whether Ruth has really come of age. By the end of the novel she has found herself and discovered the kind of person she wants to be. While this can be seen as her coming of age, it can be argued that by rejecting the transition into adulthood and remaining a childlike "millennial presence" like Sylvie, she has failed to come of age. In my opinion Ruth does not completely come of age by the end of the novel, but takes a step towards it. Coming of age isn't a single event that magically transforms you into an adult. It's composed of several incremental steps, through which you discover yourself or grow as a person. At the end of the novel, by choosing a transient life style and following Sylvie, Ruth has taken of these major steps towards coming of age. Ruth spends most of the novel without direction in her life, having no goals and no aspirations. Initially we see both Ruth and Lucille constantly worry about loss. They lose

While reading The Bell Jar  I'm sure we've all had a few laughs(or cringes) at the questionable actions of Buddy Willard. For one, attempting to seduce a girl by taking off his clothes and politely asking her to do the same, and also bringing up his mom in said attempt at seduction. Oof. Then there's making his prom date walk 5 miles to get home in freezing weather. Somehow these things don't illicit much of a reaction from Esther. If I were in her place I would have just ghosted Buddy, TB or not. What surprises me is that the one action of Buddy which prompts a strong reaction from Esther is one that deviates from his usual sleazy/cringy actions, instead being somewhat honest. When Esther asks if Buddy has had an affair, he answers her honestly; he slept with a waitress over the summer. Esther then immediately labels Buddy as a hypocrite. He, who to her and everyone around her symbolized purity and innocence, had actually been doing some shady stuff and was too scared

Phony, phony, phony, phony, phony. It seems like that's Holden favorite word since he uses it every other sentence. Holden manages to find a way to classify everyone he knows as a phony. People are phonies because they exchange greetings, people are phony because they like certain actors, or people are phonies because they have a worn out razor. The only people who are exempted from his obsession of phoniness are children, people he view as completely innocent and straightforward. Holden's definition of a phony person is generally someone who is superficial and has ulterior motives or agendas behind their actions. Holden sees this quality in Stradlater, who is very concerned about his physical appearance yet is a complete slob around Holden. Stradlater also sucks up to him just so Holden would do his English homework for him. These traits exemplify the phoniness that Holden detests so much. It's interesting however, after seeing how much criticism Holden makes about pho

At the end of chapter five we see Stephen finally detach himself from faith. He completely abandons any form of Christianity—his commitment to his secularism cannot even be broken by the pleas and heartbreak of his own mother. The state of Stephen's faith took a complete 180 from his strict letter-of-the-law observance of religion. He prayed routinely at Clongowes even through freezing cold and sickness, and he disciplined his senses, forgoing mortal comforts all in fear of being damned to hell. While it may seem surprising to see the pious young Stephen's transformation to complete secularism, given the nature of Stephen's relationship with his faith, we really should have seen that coming. Stephen's faith has always been driven by fear. In the beginning at Clongowes, he was driven to pray by the belief that missing a single prayer will damn him to hell. It seems that Stephen's faith is not genuine and kind of misguided. The fire and brimstone speech is one of th

Being a coming-of-age novel, we can clearly see the development of Stephen as a character and as a human being. In particular, I want to point out the transition of Stephen from an innocent child just trying to understand the world into a brooding edge-lord. In the first chapter, one of Stephen's defining traits as a character is that he is an outcast. He watches the fellows play rugby, and even when he himself is participating, he still avoids the ball and only observes. The same can be seen when he interacts with the older kids; he has no idea what's going on when they ask him questions such as the classic "What does your dad do because my dad could totally beat up your dad," or the good old "Do you kiss your mom" mind-game which only a regular Sun-Tzu could think of. In the second chapter I find it cool that Stephen has embraced this trait not as a flaw in his personality, but rather a defining trait he is proud of. During the party he sits in the cor