The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison and Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson are considered in this paper as examples of coming of age in the 20th century.This paper has twelve pages and six sources are listed in the bibliography.
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on a journey which offers a transition into another state of mind. Many novels offer us this transition in the form of coming of age, as an individual learns of
the world around them and adapts to fit into that world as best they can. Some people, however, do not necessarily ever make that transition, preferring to remain stuck in
another place that is neither positive or encouraging of growth. In the following paper we examine two novels that offer us different coming of age stories during the 20th century.
The novels discussed are "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" by Jeanette Winterson and "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison. The paper discusses early childhood, the beginning of the transition,
the middle of the transition and the completed transition. Early Childhood In "Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit" by Jeanette Winterson we are presented with a young girl
who is seemingly content with her life. She is born into an incredibly rigid Christian family and her faith is a very powerful part of who she is. In the
beginning she has no doubts about the importance or the validity of such faith. And, in all honesty, there is something to this foundation that she keeps with her throughout
all her transitions into adulthood. She feels she is special, because of her religion, and is, in many ways, without a strong personality as she simply seems to follow
the rules set down by her mother and religion. The first hint that we see of some impending change comes when she discusses how an old woman once looked at
her hand and said she would never be still nor would she be married. She thinks marriage was never an issue and mentions two older women who were not married.