HV

This set of documents revolves around the evolution and development of oneself. The first document is an extract from the novel "Moon palace" by Paul Auster, published in 1989.This passage tells us almost the entire life of Marco Fogg, the narrator. He explains his childhood, his transition to adulthood, his arrival at university and, in general, the most important moments of his life.

The second document is entitled "The Road Not Taken", it is a poem by Robert Frost, published in 1916. In this poem Frost conveys the feeling of uncertainty in front of the difficulty of life to take a decision, especially here by taking the example of two roads, one regularly used and another less frequented.

The third document is a painting of Winslow Homer, entitled "Canoë in rapids". Homer depicts a canoe, with two people paddling, the lake is rough, the weather is cloudy as if there was going to be a tempest, but the two characters don't seem to mind, they are going straight ahead, with a determined attitude.

Finally the last document is an extract from "Aeon" by Cody Delistraty, it is an article that tells us about coming-of-age tales, it appeared on September 8, 2017 on an online newspaper the "aeon.co". Cody explain in this extract how Americans have appropriated these "coming-of-age tales", otherwise known as Bildungsroman. And how Americans are obsessed with the future and not the past.

Thus we can wonder how coming-of-age tales are represented through these documents? And how have Americans assimilated these tales into their culture?

We will analyse these four documents, looking at how they show aspects of growing up, then how they associate personal growth and travel/exploration and finally how these coming-of-age stories reflect American identity.

Indeed, these different documents show aspects of growing up in different ways. The first document explains and makes the reader live the important moments of Marco Fogg's life, such as his entry to university, the death of his mother and his uncle, his 18th birthday... « I came to New York in the fall of 1965. I was eighteen years old » (l14), « My uncle simply dropped dead one fine afternoon » (l33). Indeed, the reader seems to grow up with the main character. We even get to feel what the protagonist feels, especially towards his uncle's death, who was like a paternal figure for him: « uncle Victor the person I had loved most in the world »(l27)

The second document, unlike the first, is rather unclear, not detailed, there is no main character with whom we can grow up and to whom we can refer. But when we read it we can imagine ourselves living this situation, but apply it to our current life. For example, Frost says that « Two roads diverged in a yellow wood »(l1), that he didn't know which one to choose : « sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler , long I stood And looked » (l2-3), but that he finally chose the one that : « no step had trodden black » ( l 12). We can think, for example, of the choices we make in our lives. We are often undecided about our lives, especially when we grow up. We find it hard to make decisions when we are young, but we become more mature as the years pass.

So as he says « that has made all the difference »(l20), to take that untaken road. Then we can think that he is pushing us in a certain way to take decisions and somehow not be afraid to take decisions that lead us to the unknown. So that's how this poem shows the aspects of growing up.

The third document can be linked to document B, because in this one we can see two people paddling on a ship, in rough water, with heavy waves, but they don't seem to be afraid and they are still looking straight ahead, we can think that they are going towards to the unknown, but they are determined, that's a little bit what happens when we become adults, we don't know what to expect, it's unknown for us but we have to overcome this step to become adult.

Indeed we can think that document B and document C are similar in the way they express growth.

And finally, document D, has a rather particular way of showing growth, in fact here we can find growth in the process of how the Bildungsroman is ingrained in the American mentality. In fact, we can see that over the years, Americans have adopted this tale: "the coming-of-age tale has become a typically American phenomenon"(l6-7), the author also specifies that this is because of: "the self-understanding in the United States, is largely based on self-making mythos"(l9-10). The last document shows that this type of novel has, over the years become part of the American culture and mentality. As the following passage demonstrates: "Americans seem less interested in a person's past than in their future"(l12-13-14).

So that different documents demonstrate in a rather varied way the different aspects of growing up. But they don't just show that, they also show that personal growth is associated with a travel, an exploration.

In fact, we can see that personal growth is often associated with a travel or an exploration. The document that demonstrates this perfectly is document C. Both of the characters seem to be determined to complete their expedition. We don't notice any fear, they are rowing with determination on the turbulent water, looking straight ahead. We can thus presume, that they are growing up and acquiring maturity and that they are strongly decided to explore further, or to finish this travel, we can think that the destination

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