Rishabh-Coming of Age Novel

A hangman is an executioner. In Black Swan Green, hangman becomes Jason Taylors public executioner. The beginning of Hangman as a “character” in the novel stems from an experience Jason had playing a game of the same name in Miss Throckmorton’s class, where he struggles to say the word “Nightingale.” In that moment, Jason’s deepest fear—being publicly outed as a stammerer—takes over. The intensity of his anxiety is captured when he reflects, “It wasn't funny for me, though. Miss Throckmorton was waiting. Every kid in the classroom was waiting. Every crow and every spider in Black Swan Green was waiting. Every cloud, every on every motorway. even Mrs. Thatcher in the House of Commons'd frozen, listening, watching, thinking, What's wrong with Jason Taylor?” (Mitchell 26). Jason’s sense of time stopping shows the pressure he feels and sets the stage for the persona of Hangman and the torment it will cause Jason. Jason is so afraid of his stammer becoming public that he prefers...

Bruce’s life is marked by stark contradictions. He is an English teacher with an eye for literature and aesthetics, yet his own life is a carefully curated facade. In the first chapter, Alison Bechdel remarks that Bruce “used his skillful artifice not to make things, but to make things appear what they were not” (Bechdel 16).  He demands rigid control over the restoration of the family’s historic home, perfectly crafting its image, yet he remains unable to construct a stable emotional connection with his own family. Alison reflects on the household dynamics when saying “it’s tempting to suggest, in retrospect, that our family was a sham” (Bechdel 17). His queerness—secretive and shame-laden—stands in contrast to Alison’s eventual self-acceptance. Perhaps Bruce’s most defining antiheroic trait is his inability to reconcile his true self with the life he has built. He engages in secret affairs with younger men, including his own students, a surprising transgression that further compl...

  Throughout the novel, Joan and Esther share eerily similar trajectories. Both young women are intelligent, ambitious, and face societal pressure to conform to traditional female roles. Both also struggle with mental illness and undergo treatment at the same psychiatric institution. I think that Joan’s presence in the novel forces Esther to confront the reality of her own mental illness.  I see Joan as an externalized version of Esther’s inner turmoil. She experiences similar feelings of alienation and disillusionment, but unlike Esther, Joan seems more willing to embrace alternative identities and relationships. Her presence challenges Esther to see another version of herself—one that has also rejected societal norms but expresses it differently. This mirroring is emphasized by Plath when Esther observes: "Joan's room, with its closet and bureau and table and chair and white blanket with the big blue C on it, was a mirror image of my own" (Plath 195). I read this physic...

In   The Catcher in the Rye , J.D. Salinger crafts a story about a young man caught between the safety of childhood and the discomfort of adulthood. Holden Caulfield, the novel’s restless narrator, is plagued by a deep fear of growing up and the inevitable changes that come with it. One of the most telling symbols of his wish for stasis is his attachment to the Museum of Natural History, a place where, as Holden himself says, "everything always stayed right where it was" (Salinger 157). This quote envelops Holden’s internal conflict: his desire for a world that remains the same. Holden’s fascination with the museum reflects his longing for a sense of permanence in a world that feels unpredictable and chaotic. In Chapter 16, he describes the exhibits as a frozen snapshot of reality: “You could go there a hundred thousand times, and that Eskimo would still be just finished catching those two fish, the birds would still be on their way south, the deers would still be drinking ou...