Peter Carstair's Coming-Of-Age
To Kill a Mockingbird & September
Coming-of-age
Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Peter Carstair’s motion picture “September” are two compelling works that explore the poignant theme of coming-of-age. While over thirty years separate the two pieces, both texts capture the raw emotions and difficulties of innocent children growing into mature adults in an ever-changing society. These changes are portrayed in many different way, but are most prominent through the racism in their surroundings, the character’s deep personal development and their loss of innocence.
The theme of coming-of-age is expressed in many platforms in both “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “September” and one of the most prominent ways it does so, is directly through …show more content…
This is seen by the piercing adolescent struggles Ed and Paddy experience as they become aware of the fact that remaining friends becomes increasingly difficult. At the beginning, Ed and Paddy are close-knit, often lying beside each other while looking up at the sky together. This shows that they both share the same vision and dreams, and represents that their lives progress together as a pair, instead of individually. They share their lives with one another, such as boxing and education, without being divided by anything. However, as the movie progresses, tensions arise between the two of them and after an event that leaves Paddy injured as a result of Ed’s careless actions. Ed is still seen being childish as he refuses to apologize for the incident, and the tension eventually culminates in a boxing match between them in which Paddy wins. When Paddy leaves forever to join a boxing troupe, Ed is startled into the realization that he must be the bigger man and be mature enough to mend their friendship. Ed is eventually able to admit his wrongdoings against Paddy and is finally mature enough to apologize for them. Ed and Paddy are able put their disagreements aside as mature adults to reconcile one last time both before saying farewell. This evidently shows both Ed and Paddy’s coming of age, because Ed is finally able to take responsibility for his actions, and Paddy is able to forgive his friends mistakes, demonstrating that they are now grown and mature
Coming-of-age
Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” and Peter Carstair’s motion picture “September” are two compelling works that explore the poignant theme of coming-of-age. While over thirty years separate the two pieces, both texts capture the raw emotions and difficulties of innocent children growing into mature adults in an ever-changing society. These changes are portrayed in many different way, but are most prominent through the racism in their surroundings, the character’s deep personal development and their loss of innocence.
The theme of coming-of-age is expressed in many platforms in both “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “September” and one of the most prominent ways it does so, is directly through …show more content…
This is seen by the piercing adolescent struggles Ed and Paddy experience as they become aware of the fact that remaining friends becomes increasingly difficult. At the beginning, Ed and Paddy are close-knit, often lying beside each other while looking up at the sky together. This shows that they both share the same vision and dreams, and represents that their lives progress together as a pair, instead of individually. They share their lives with one another, such as boxing and education, without being divided by anything. However, as the movie progresses, tensions arise between the two of them and after an event that leaves Paddy injured as a result of Ed’s careless actions. Ed is still seen being childish as he refuses to apologize for the incident, and the tension eventually culminates in a boxing match between them in which Paddy wins. When Paddy leaves forever to join a boxing troupe, Ed is startled into the realization that he must be the bigger man and be mature enough to mend their friendship. Ed is eventually able to admit his wrongdoings against Paddy and is finally mature enough to apologize for them. Ed and Paddy are able put their disagreements aside as mature adults to reconcile one last time both before saying farewell. This evidently shows both Ed and Paddy’s coming of age, because Ed is finally able to take responsibility for his actions, and Paddy is able to forgive his friends mistakes, demonstrating that they are now grown and mature