Ruth... COA?

There is no doubt that the main character is Ruth, she is the narrator, the one taking you through her life, speaking with little emotion, and giving us history in deep detail. So many things in me says that no she has not matured. Ruth is always part of a pair, whether tied to the side of Lucille or Sylvie, someone is always there guiding her through decisions, life… Because of her relationships leaving he attached to the hip of other characters, I personally don’t think she is adequately matured to say that she has come of age. Additionally, her constant aversion to showing emotion and depth leads me to believe that she cannot be out in the real world or face the trials and challenges of tragedy in a healthy way.

However, perhaps she has come of age, life comes and goes as fast as water freezes and thaws. The perception of maturing is too fast to realize. Just as fast as the lake freezes, past tragedy is unreachable. Just as fast as the house burns down her family’s history is gone. Just as fast as Sylvie and Ruth cross the bridge, conventionality has ceased to define them. As soon as they do cross that bridge, they have stepped into their ideal life, they have left behind the past, and truly become new people. Despite the ways in which Sylvie is dependent on those around her and lacks personality and emotion, she challenges that with finding herself in transience. In finding her ideal life, she has fulfilled a lot of steps leading to maturity.

What I am saying is that this story is hard to categorize. Ruth’s world has been flipped upside down both my her own doing and the tragedies that follow her, but by leaving them behind she has shown a newfound maturity that would make this a COA novel despite the lapses in traditionally recognized maturity. 

What is the "bell jar"?

“Wherever I sat—on the deck of a ship or at a street café in Paris or Bangkok—I would be sitting under the same glass bell jar, stewing in my own sour air.” This small excerpt from The Bell Jar is undoubtedly a pivotal and important statement made by Esther. It puts Esther’s thoughts into a light that the reader can understand. She describes her situation as endless, it will exist with her no mater where she goes. She is trapped inside of her own madness with no external stimulation – nothing can be of amelioration… This notion of the “bell jar” is a metaphorical way of representing the madness that separates her from those she loves, those who love her, or even just people in general. This is an interesting paradox in contrast with the beginning of the book when she was merely the observer looking in on other people. Back to the point, the bell jar symbolizes something deeper than a sturdy division. It suggests that her feeling of madness descends on her without her own control, as if an implied scientist is doing it. Because of this enclosure, she comes to suicidal urges that stem from a deep rooted isolation.

“To the person in the bell jar, blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream.” This quote serves to draw some conclusion between some of the experiences that Esther has encountered. While her mother insists that her condition should be treated as if it was merely a bad dream that she can wake up from, she feels as if she cannot awake from the dream. Esther likens a person that suffers from a mental illness to to the jarred fetuses she saw with Buddy. This is an important illustration that portrays her morbid connection of being trapped and the terror of madness.

For me the beginning of the book seemed promising, full of growth. However, the book took a weird turn, Esther made immense progression towards coming of age right at the very beginning but after her fall almost reverted back into the life she once lived. There is no doubt that the experiences that she had whether through people, moving to NY, or her internal thoughts gave her a newfound maturity from the initial Esther that we saw, however, her situation is hard to pinpoint. He thoughts about the Bell jar indicated that she was hyper-aware of who she was and what was going on with her mental health, which personally I think is a big step towards being of age.

Childhood

Throughout the entire book, and even looking back, I am fascinated with Holden's obsession to childhood. This book is known as a Coming of age story, but an unusual one at that. Holden is an interesting protagonist to the idea of coming of age as Holden's central goal is to resist the idea of maturity.

There are many instances throughout the book where you see him protest the ways of maturity, assimilating with things that are fixed in society, things that don't change. However, Holden never quite acknowledges that the concept of adulthood scares and perplexes him. Instead he describes how this concept is superficial and phony (a theme that re-occurs a lot throughout the book). Inversely, the world of childhood is innocent, curious, and honest. His goal in life is to preserve this idealistic world that he has invented, to stop children from calling over the cliff into a superficial and phony world. Over the course of these few days, Holden combats and cuts himself off from the adult world by protecting himself with this metaphorical armor of skepticism, perhaps cynicism.

To me this denial of maturity defeats the purpose of growing up or coming of age. The whole concept of coming of age is to accept the personal and mental growth in both maturity and age, through both experiences as well as learned characteristics. Holden seems to revert to childhood ways in situations that would require or challenge his personal maturity. He gets caught up in childhood, the people he loved in his childhood, and things that seem to stand steady and stuck in their roots.

While I loved the book, and it was definitely a nice transition from Portrait, I am stuck in my thoughts on the outcome. I struggle to find more than a few instances where he "came of age", something that I think should be more apparent in a book of this sub-genre.

Has He Landed?

Throughout the entire book there is this paradox of flight -  A direct reference to Daedalus and Icarus. You see him navigate through his own teenage and early adulthood life through a so called ‘labyrinth’ and then decide to take flight. But I would argue he never ended his flight by landing. Perhaps it comes in the later books that Joyce wrote, but perhaps he never makes that landing. It all goes back to the whole idea of what coming of age really is… He has made this life changing decision, this huge life decision to pursue art, but does that mark his peak of maturity. Does the plateau of maturity now consume his character? I keep coming Back to Stephen in my everyday thoughts. I have found myself thinking about him, meeting people who’s character I assimilate with his, and just questioning his existence. I want closure on where he landed, if he landed.

On another and completely opposite note, Holden Caulfield. His whole demeanor completely contradicts the character that we just saw developed in the other book. It was an interesting switch between the two, reaffirming the stark contrast between every individual and the way that they enter and exit this Coming of Age paradigm. I am reminded that not one way is better, not one set of internal thoughts is more worthy of attention from the reader. Both characters are deserving of a story, and both characters are deserving of their own voice. However, I do hope to draw some connections throughout the rest of Catcher in the Rye in order to grasp a more accurate understanding of this genre novel.

Coming of Age in its Essence

Coming of age in its essence is extremely convoluted. What makes one person grown, can make another childish. Categorizing age is like categorizing gender. Yes you have a set age, just as you have a physiologically set sex, but that doesn't necessarily mean that internally you assimilate that. Inversely, you may not portray that to the world.

Stephen from the beginning has been extremely hard to pinpoint in age. The way he makes decisions sets his age at one point, but the internal dialogue that the reader is always tuned into ages him quite a bit. I would argue that pretty much from the beginning he himself is not consciously making decisions. He has always sought out advice from other people whether by following all of their previous advice or looking to his peers to raise his bravery. Even when he is alone (such as the end of chapter two with the sexual experience) he is driven by his body not his own mind. I think that this widespread trait has challenge the maturity that he has displayed in other traits.

In chapter three we learn that he is 16, which shocks me. Yes, we talked about age in class, but this was an affirmation of how young he was. The Stephen that the reader has been let inside of acts so much older, his speak of hell and life as a whole to me adds years of deep sadness and discontent, something I struggle to see in a 16 year old boy.

Due to conflicting traits I cant really make a prediction about when Stephen will "come of age". However, at this rate I don't think it will be too long. Joyce has a way of packing a large chunk of his life (but maybe only portrayed by one scene) into a small section. I'm excited to see where this goes because I can relate to a lot of the small details in growing up. Small things like the arrogant nature of everything you do, having trouble seeking out comradery upon arrival at a new school, sometimes even the discrepancy between your outward appearance versus what is really going on inside.