A question about adolescence in literature that I pose is how would the adolescent characters in the literature be represented as adults? How would they be shown maturing into adults and how would their experiences as an adolescent help shape them? As we know, adolescence is a time for a person to figure out who they are. It’s a time to experiment with different things and mature into an adult. The experiences that someone has during adolescence has a large effect on how they develop and what they are like after adolescence. Adolescence is a challenging time for many, and many pieces of literature explore the difficulties and main themes of transitioning from a child to an adult. As adolescence is a steppingstone to adulthood, I would be interested to see how adolescent characters mature into adults and how their experiences affect them and the person they become.
In pieces of literature about adolescence, the characters often struggle with typical things that one does as they mature. This can include things like body image, fitting in with peers, sexuality, and other insecurities. A main character who is an adolescent gives us insight into what they think about and the things they struggle with in their everyday lives. Through literature, we can analyze the thoughts and struggles that typical adolescents deal with. We are also able to see how certain struggles affect them and change them. For many, adolescence is a time where insecurities are always on your mind and you do your best to fit in with those around you. As people grow, they tend to realize that they don’t always have to fit in and be like everyone else but that being unique is good. Also, as you mature you tend to realize that something that seemed to important to you then is not so important now. On the other hand, experiences during adolescence can greatly influence who you become as an adult and some things stick with you more than others.
Like many adolescents, friends were very important to me and had a large influence on me during my time as an adolescent. I sought their approval and many of my actions were influenced by them. In the middle of high school, I began to not get along with some of the girls in my friend group. They became more interested in partying and weren’t good friends when my interests didn’t align with theirs. After some conflict, a few of my friends and I decided that we didn’t want to put up with them anymore and decided to stop hanging out with them. While this was happening towards the end of high school, it felt very stressful and like a huge deal. Although it felt horrible at the time, I became so much closer with my new group of friends and they are still some of my best friends today. Also, by the end of high school I was still friendly with the other girls just not “best friends” and I was okay with that. Now that I am an adult, I can see how this event from my adolescent years shaped me and taught me to surround myself with people who have similar values as myself. It also taught me that it’s okay to not be best friends with everyone but that what’s more important is that you are nice to others and treat them with respect. This is just one example of how adolescence is a time for growing and maturing as you become an adult and your experiences during this time help shape you into an adult.
For any classic coming of age story, I think it would be interesting if there were to be a sequel or short story about the character as an adult. For example, The House on Mango Street follows Esperanza as she goes through adolescence and struggles with things such as friendship, sexuality, race, and class. She focuses a lot on wanted to have a different life when she’s older and not be tied down to a man like many of the other women she knows. I think it would be interesting to see how Esperanza turns out as an adult. Would she go to college? Get married? Live in a big house? How would her experiences as an adolescent affect her as an adult? I would be very interested to see a story that shows how a character goes from adolescence to adulthood and how their experiences shape them.
Representing Adolescence @ Pitt 