Did Bruce Come Of Age?
“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...