of mice and miranda

     “Is it possible to not come of age?” This was a question that was posed on the first day of class along with other debates on what coming of age means, and at the time my answer was no. I believed that because we all age, we all must come of age at some point. I would say this belief still remains in some ways, but in other ways Fun Home certainly challenged this idea for me. Up until Fun Home I found this belief to be running unopposed in my understanding of the concept of Coming-of-age. Both The Bell Jar and Catcher in the Rye affirmed this idea by showing that a coming-of-age journey was completely specific and fitted for a specific character. Everyone has a different journey, so it’s impossible to deny that somebody hasn’t already had theirs. The steadiness of my belief prior to Fun Home is really what made Bruce so interesting to me, because, when faced with the question of “Did Bruce come of age?” my immediate answer was no.       Lucki...

I think we can all agree, there’s something pretty captivating about indestructible marble agate eyes. Or just in general, there is something strangely fascinating about the strange, and disturbing ways Esther narrates the people in her life. It’s hard to necessarily understand, or envision exactly what she is attempting to explore.Take Doreen for the biggest, and earliest example of this. For the life of me, I can not imagine what Doreen would naturally look like. Her and her standing up bright white hair, or sweaty scent, or rock eyeballs. Or, maybe I can. I envision some electrocuted ghost girl, with creepy crystal eyes, and quickly disturb myself. It’s unpleasant. It really is.  Similarly, I find her whole dance with Lenny to be, if not equally, far, far more disturbing than imagining her on her own. I mean, seriously, how can a girl hang onto a man by biting his ear? In my imagination the earlobe just stretches until my brain pivots to something that is easier to digest. Esthe...

  You know that saying where people are like, “I think I was born in the wrong generation…” and then they say that they want to live in the 80s because of the music or clothes or whatever. Well, I think I may have found the most genuine example of somebody who has the right to share that statement, and it is in fact Holden Caulfield.  Very often Holden Caulfield will say something, and proceed to share that he feels isolated in his beliefs because no one else around him seems to think like he does. A clear example of this is when Holden is discussing how he typically doesn’t get very far when “getting sexy” with a girl: “The trouble with me is, I stop. Most guys don't. I can't help it.” (Salinger 120). In a modern mindset, you see this and think, ‘ what the hell, Holden, obviously you stop. ’ But of course, Holden knows nothing of mottos like ‘ No means no! ’ or ‘ consent is sexy! ’ or ‘ FRIES. ’ In his reference, coming exclusively from horny discussion with schoolmates or Ca...