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 their own mother, and also worry about Sylvie leaving, fearing that they will lose her as well. After the night spent in the woods, Lucille manages to get over her fear of detachment from Sylvie and instead find direction in her life; she is inspired to reform her life, leaving behind both the house and Sylvie. Ruth on the other hand gains nothing from the experience and instead remains attached to Sylvie and the house. When we compare the successful coming of age of Lucille to that of Ruth, it greatly diminishes the effect of Ruth's coming of age, since we see relatively little change in Ruth.
At the end, by fully embracing Sylvie and her transient ways, it may appear that Ruth has done the exact opposite of growing; she hasn't changed at all. However, by burning down the house and embracing transience, Ruth also removes all of her attachments. When she joins Sylvie in hopping trains across the country, she embraces detachment, since she doesn't stay in one place for more than a short time. In the end, Ruth has grown as a person by getting over her fear of detachment and instead embracing it as a lifestyle.
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 their own mother, and also worry about Sylvie leaving, fearing that they will lose her as well. After the night spent in the woods, Lucille manages to get over her fear of detachment from Sylvie and instead find direction in her life; she is inspired to reform her life, leaving behind both the house and Sylvie. Ruth on the other hand gains nothing from the experience and instead remains attached to Sylvie and the house. When we compare the successful coming of age of Lucille to that of Ruth, it greatly diminishes the effect of Ruth's coming of age, since we see relatively little change in Ruth.
At the end, by fully embracing Sylvie and her transient ways, it may appear that Ruth has done the exact opposite of growing; she hasn't changed at all. However, by burning down the house and embracing transience, Ruth also removes all of her attachments. When she joins Sylvie in hopping trains across the country, she embraces detachment, since she doesn't stay in one place for more than a short time. In the end, Ruth has grown as a person by getting over her fear of detachment and instead embracing it as a lifestyle.
This begs the question of "does anyone ever actually come of age", which is so hard to think about especially when we are in a class that focuses on this genre of stories. However, I think your idea that Ruth simply takes a step towards truly understanding herself and becoming an "adult" is really valid. As she crosses the bridge alive, she faces a physical symbol of death in her life and exits defiantly, accepting change. I'd say that's a pretty dang impressive move towards coming of age indeed.
ReplyDeleteThat is interesting. It's like when adults try to stick with the times and make jokes that have grown old. I feel like nobody really comes of age because often times, people are still trying to look and act young. While growing up is a part of life, I believe that nobody wants to embrace old age. I feel like late 20s to early 30s is as old as people ever want to be. If you look at it that way that nobody fully comes of age, but facing the fact that Ruth did cross that long bridge and made it across alive, she is well on her way to being an adult.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how Lucille's coming of age is any more "successful" than Ruth. While both girls have a desire to avoid the hurt that comes with loss, I don't think it's right to say that one method of doing so is better than the other. Lucille's method just delays the sadness that comes from dealing with a loss while Ruth's just avoids having to deal with loss altogether.
ReplyDeleteIf I read Ruth as a "successful" coming of age (with all the caveats as to what "success" even means in this context), it has to do with the fact that there's a more palpable distance between the voice and sensibility narrating the story and the young woman going through it. It's sometimes hard to connect the shy, fingernail-chewing girl in the novel with the confident, philosophical, spiritually attuned, funny, poetic narrator. Older Ruth seems absolutely certain about the nature of the world and the place of human beings and our "strongholds" within it, and she can tell her story about her unusual childhood with no sense of regret or second thoughts for the crazy route her life has taken. There's something distinctly unapologetic and self-assured about Ruth-as-narrator that leads me to see her coming-of-age as more "complete" than any of the others on the syllabus.
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