The Valpo Core Reader
 

Authors

Brett Peterson

Document Type

Coming of Age and Education Essay

Publication Date

2008

Excerpt

Coming of age is a phrase that is often paired with a driver's license, graduation, or finding a career. The phrase has been manipulated to apply to general events that nearly every person goes through in their life, and usually at a young age. Does learning how to drive or receiving a diploma automatically qualify someone as coming of age? And does coming of age usually occur at a young age? The writings of Plato and Khaled Hosseini suggest otherwise. Plato describes coming of age as being willing to leave everything that you have called normal and test the waters of reality, and Amir's story in Hosseini's The Kite Runner shows this transformation. The change in Amir's life occurred at an age when most people begin to believe they have nothing more to discover about themselves. The Kite Runner is a story of Amir's long journey crawling out of the cave of shadows and into a life of reality, truth, and forgiveness.

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