Journal

1. Journal • Please complete the “Learning Style Inventory.” Once you have completed it, determine what type of learner you are.

2. Coming of Age • Coming of age is a young person's transition from childhoodto adulthood. The age at which this transition takes place varies in society, as does the nature of the transition.

3. What does it look like? • It can be a simple legal convention or can be part of a ritual, as practiced by many societies. In the past, and in some societies today, such a change are associated with the age of sexual maturity (Early-Adolescence); in others, it is associated with an age of religious responsibility.

4. Western Society Coming of Age • Particularly in western societies, modern legal conventions which stipulate points in late adolescence or early adulthood (most commonly 16-21 when adolescents are generally no longer considered minors and are granted the full rights of an adult) are the focus of the transition. In either case, many cultures retain ceremonies to confirm the coming of age, and significant benefits come with the change.

5. Coming of Age • Coming of age is often a topic of fiction literature. Similar stories told in film are called coming-of-age films.

6. Coming of Age Novels Include: • This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1920) • Black Boy, by Richard Wright (1945), • The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (1951) • Goodbye, Columbus, by Philip Roth (1959) • To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (1960) • Dune, by Frank Herbert (1965) • The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton (1967) • The Secret Life of Bees, by Sue Monk Kidd (2002) • The Kite Runner, by KhaledHosseini(2003) • Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005) • The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan

7. Coming of Age Films • 10 things I Hate about You • 13 going on 30 • 8 Mile • The Breakfast Club • Good Will Hunting • Forest Gump • Footloose • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off • Fox and the Hound • Labyrinth

8. Where are we headed with this “Coming of Age” Unit? • At the end of this unit you will be expected to write your own “coming of age” personal narrative. This will be a well written essay that explores your individual identity through your very own coming of age story. Your coming of age should not only reflect a time in your life when you felt your childhood fleeting.

9. Personal Narratives: • A piece of literature where a person tells a story about that something that happens to themselves.

10. Your Own Coming of Age Story: • Coming of age stories not only reflect the experience of an individual but can also reflect shared cultural experiences. For instance, in American culture a famous coming of age event is turning 16, 18 and 21.

11. Coming of Age: A Cultural Experience • Throughout many different cultures there are certain milestones that represent the passage from youth to adulthood. Often times these experiences vary between females and males.

12. Apache • Apache boys and girls, when they come of age would undergo a four day ritual to achieve their adulthood. This process is called "na'ii'ees". For the women, it is a grueling task involving multiple hours of dancing, prayer, and lessons of self esteem, sexuality, and healing. • Apache Coming of Age

13. Latin America • In some Latin American countries, when a woman reaches the age of 15, her relatives usually organize a very expensive celebration. It is usually a large party, called a Quinceañera in Spanish speaking countries and Baile de Debutantes in Brazil.

14. Papua New Guinea • Kovave is a ceremony to initiate Papua New Guinea boys into adult society. It involves dressing up in a conical hat which has long strands of leaves hanging from the edge, down to below the waist. The name Kovave is also used to describe the head-dress.

15. Hindu • In Hinduism coming of age generally signifies that a boy or girl is mature enough to understand his responsibility towards family and society. Hinduism also has the sacred thread ceremony for Dvija (twice-born) boys that marks their coming of age to do religious ceremonies. Women often celebrate their coming to age by having a ceremony. This ceremony includes dressing them in a sari, and announcing their maturity to the community.

16. Judaism • In the Jewish faith, boys reach religious maturity at the age of thirteen and are bar mitzvahed ("bar mitzvah" means "son of the commandment"). Girls mature earlier, and are bat mitzvahed ("bat mitvzah" means "daughter of the commandment) at twelve. Once the ritual is done, the new men and women are looked upon as adults and are expected to uphold the Jewish commandments and laws. Also, in religious court they are adults and can marry with their new title of an adult. Nonetheless in the Talmud; PirkeiAvot (5:25), Rabbi YehudabenTeime gives the age of 18 as the appropriate age to get married.

17. Africa • Many African cultures share the same structure to their coming of age process. Adolescences are isolated from their homes, family and friends, for weeks, to months at a time. Within this time frame, they are taught the ways of society including mannerisms, religious teachings, seduction, and law. For the new women of society, they must undergo "female circumcision". This can be broken down into three different procedures, "clitoridectomy", "excision", and "infibulation". For the past 20 years, "The World Health Organization" has been trying to promote different types of rituals to avoid such a dangerous and taboo procedure.

18. The Scarlet Ibis

19. The Scarlet Ibis • What is it that the narrator realizes at the end of the story? • How is this a coming of age story?