The Age of Coming

I was fascinated by how much Jason develops as a person over the course of Black Swan Green , especially considering he's quite young and the book takes place over one year. Over the course of each chapter, Jason matures in some way to a various degree of significance, and his way of looking at the world and himself is altered bit by bit. One striking example of this is the chapter "Rocks", where Jason is experiencing a war-like situation at home while England is embroiled in an actual war over the Falklands with Argentina.  At home, Jason's mother, Helena, is attempting to model and design the house to her own liking and would like to purchase a rockery for the backyard - of course, this whole situation isn't just about the aesthetic of the yard but her way of asserting her own beings and agency that Jason's dad doesn't really pay attention to. The situation gets pretty rocky, I might say, and a lot of information about Jason's fathers dealings come o

Throughout Fun Home , I was struck by Alison and Bruce's tendency to turn to literature and books to better understand themselves and the world around them as well as the sheer love they derive from reading. From Bruce reading Anna Karenina on the first page of the book to Alison reading key texts on gender and sexuality during her journey of self-discovery, books serve as an important way through which Alison and Bruce understand themselves but also grow the bond between them, a bond that can be tender sometimes. However, there were also scenes where Bechdel not just uses literature to indicate growth within Alice and Bruce but they serve as tools for foreshadowing.  Like mentioned before, Bruce is seen reading Anna Karenina on the first page - while this goes to show that he is well read and an intellectual and spends more of his time with his books than playing with his children (though he can be spared for a spot of airplane), Anna Karenina is an interesting choice to kick off

Throughout The Bell Jar , I was struck by how there is no middle path for Esther to go down - she can either continue the cycle of being an academic overachiever and deriving validation from scholarships and awards or submit herself to a life of housewifery and being a suburban mom, effectively throwing her education aside. It's hard to disregard the fact that a significant reason for her predicament is her gender - her socioeconomic class means that she doesn't have the safety net that others at her elite schools do to make some mistakes and be able to bounce back but this is exacerbated by the fact that she is a woman. Esther has nowhere to go the summer after she returns from New York and feels trapped by the image of Dodo Conway walking outside the window with her Barnard degree and six (maybe seven?) kids.  Esther already has a few career options available to her and her mother is constantly on her case about learning shorthand, a skill that will help her get a dull but se

Over the past few years, I've seen a surge of YouTube influencers make these videos about how they sent their supposedly 'out-of-touch' and insufferable teenage boys to wilderness camps in Nevada or Arizona and they come back transformed, hard-working, humble men ready to make their mark on society. Now while I've never met any of these people, my extensive internet research from questionable sources has gotten me thinking that Holden might benefit from something akin to this. While Holden may not be touched by the debilitating influence of internet fame and social media rut, he needs to unplug from his preppy, toxic environment of upper-middle-class white Northeastern society and reevaluate his life. One thing that stood out to me about Holden was his ability to critically analyze society around him, especially considering that he's been "stuck" his entire life in something akin to a rat race, where everything is about gaining an accomplishment after anot