a Mustache Doesn't Make you a Man!

Looking through the thoughts of Ned Vizzini as a high school student forces me to look downwards at the boring things that happen in someone's real coming of age experience. Ned does go through some interesting slips and slides as he quickly changes from freshman to senior, but because he's an "Average" New York kid it's not as interesting of a story as most of the other fictional books read by everyone else in the class. Even though Ned doesn't go on some adventurous journey that transforms him into a man, he still changes to the point where you notice him quietly maturing.

Towards the middle of the book (Teen Angst) Ned starts making decisions that will eventually shape his future, deciding his jobs, relationships, and college experiences. I think he starts his journey through manlyhood where the book pretty much ends. This is when he gets a girlfriend. I guess getting a girlfriend changes you for better or worse, making  it seem as if it's a wild experiment that you know wont last forever. When it's really just a learning experience for Ned who has pretty much no knowledge in relationships. 

But isn't that what the whole Coming Of Aage mumbo jumbo is all about, you're just learning. It's just taking random shots at life waiting to hit the bullseye. It may be a slow and sluggish process for some, while others will know what they're destined for when they're little babies.

When we first started this unit I thought Coming Of Age was when a "boy" grows a mustache changing his title to a "man". But sadly it's not as easy as waiting until a series of hairs grow on your upper lip, you have to attempt and take risks, gambling with your young years. Until you hit a solid spot on your voyage to adulthood that will anchor you down somewhere you've been longing to come across.

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