A comparative thematic analysis of these novels focuses on how the coming of age is portrayed in each. Three sources are cited in the bibliography.
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a very powerful theme in 20th century literature and biographic works. Two of the most powerful works to have come out of the 20th century, as it relates to coming
of age, are J.D. Salingers "Catcher in the Rye" and Maya Angelous biographic "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." In the following paper we examine each story separately as
they involve aspects of maturing and coming of age. The paper then finishes with a discussion on the two. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings As mentioned,
Angelous work is a biography that talks of her childhood. It is a book that starts with Angelou as a toddler and then leaves us with her at the age
of 16. As one author states, "Maya Angelous novel is a classic tale of growing up black in the American South in the 1930s and 40s. Even though Marguerites and
her brother Baileys childhood and early youth are probably far from typical for the average black family of that time, the book nonetheless can be read as a parable of
what it meant and still means to be a black person in an overwhelmingly white society" (Anonymous Maya Angelou lit-yacagedbird.html). As a young girl, and a young woman perhaps
as well, "Maya is permanently puzzled by the adult world. Her grandmother is extremely religious and strict, the children should be seen but not heard, (p. 34) and she is
deeply worried about their relationship to their parents" (Anonymous Maya Angelou lit-yacagedbird.html). But, that is not all that puzzles Maya and causes her problems as she seeks to find a
way to grow. She is raped "by her mothers boyfriend while living with her in St. Louis and refuses to talk to anyone but her brother for over a