Coming Of Age Short Story

Coming of age is a time of growing up in an adolescent's life and can involve many obstacles and changes that need to be overcome. It’s where kids learn about the world around them and that helps them grow into mature adults. In coming of age stories, the author uses a situation and has the character go through a change or have a big moment to utilize the transition from childhood to adulthood.

In the story “A&P” by John Updike, the author shows how the character grows up and realizes that actions have consequences. “...I say ‘I quit’ to Lengal quick enough for them to hear, hoping they'll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero.” Sammy was so proud of himself at this moment because he thought he was being smart by “standing up” to his boss

“Kenneth rose...he aimed through the screen, found the side of the man’s head, then fired.” At this point, all Kenneth wanted to do was protect his sister and act like the “adult” for the night. He tried acting tough when Douglas came over, but through the whole night he still went into dream land and imagined he was a solider in battle. When he heard an intruder, his first reaction was to “be a soldier” and make sure his sister and himself were safe, but he ended up killing a man instead. “...Throwing his rifle into the creek, then the creek became an ocean, and he stood on a high cliff and for a moment he was a mighty angel, throwing all guns and cruelty and sex and tears into the sea.” Originally, Kenneth thought being an adult would be great, but then he quickly realizes that there's more to growing up and it takes a lot more responsibility than he imagined. There's good and bad things in the world, but he wanted to “throw away” all those bad things and try to handle situations more his size. This story connects to growing up because he was trying to act like an adult and protect someone he cares about, but he quickly realized he wasn't ready for all that responsibility