Corrigé de la synthèse

The coming of age process is an essential time in an individual's life. It represents the inevitable
transition that brings someone out of childhood and into adulthood. This transition is often
synonymous with the confrontation of the individual with the harsh realities of the world, the loss of
innocence and finally the acquisition of maturity.
This set of documents deals with the coming of age process as it is portrayed through different
art forms and pertaining to various individuals.
Therefore, throughout our analysis, we will try to understand how the coming of age process is
represented in art and literature.
Document one is a review of the movie “Stand by Me” written by Matt Melis on August 28
2016. This review explains why this legendary movie is still so impactful thirty years after its
release. The author of the review points out how the movie manages to successfully describes what
it feels like to grow up and to leave childhood behind.
Document two is a song by Nina Simone entitled “The Turning” Point published in 1967. Here,
the singer adopts the point of view of a little white girl who is not allowed to play with another little
girl simply because that girl is black.
Finally, document three is a painting by Norman Rockwell, entitled “Prom Dress”, from 1949.
The painting shows a young woman, dressed in a masculine way, holding a dress while looking at
herself in the mirror.
In the first place, we will analyze how the various individuals in the documents are forced to
grow up by facing adversity in their lives.
Secondly, we will see that they also gain maturity through friendship and unity.
Finally, we will try to show that gaining maturity brings the end of innocence.

When we think of childhood, we often think of happiness and the absence of troubles. It is because
most children live under their parents care and without any responsibilities to assume. It is a time of
innocence, games and discoveries. Growing, every one of us has to go into the world and find a
place for oneself. This is the beginning of the adventure of life. This adventure brings about doubts,
confrontations and delusions. Yet it is thanks to those challenging and often painful experiences that
one is allowed to grow up.
In document one, the author of the Stand By Me review explains that the movie in unique in that
it deals with the concept of the coming of age process in a deep and serious way as it is shown on
line 6: “.....the same emotional depth and weight reserved for movies about adults”.
In the film, the children are forced to suddenly grow up as they are faced with a challenging
situation that does not give them the luxury of choice. Th forest they are walking in represents the
unknown and dangerous reality of the world. In this forest, pain, doubt and fear is waiting for them
and in order to survive they will have to forget about their easy and carefree childlike lives. Now
they suddenly turn into adults. It is because they are not afraid to leave childhood behind that the
children manage to survive.
In document two, adversity is represented by racism and prejudices in America during the 1960s.
The victims of this adversity are two little girls. A little white girl asks her mother if her new friend
can come home to play with her. The mother refuses simply because the other girl is black. This is a
turning point for the girl who is now aware that the world is not as carefree and fair as it has
appeared to be. She finds out that it is a world where people are not treated the same based on their
appearance. This is apparent in the last line of the song “Oh.... I....See”. The girl finally understands
the reality of the situation. She is learning, growing up. But here, it is adversity and racism that
forces her to grow up.
In document three, it seems that the young woman is faced with a dilemma. She looks at herself
in a mirror while holding a very feminine white dress. We can guess that the young woman is
wondering whether she should wear the dress or not. Looking at her, one is force to recognize that
she has a boyish masculine style. She is wearing jeans and a flannel shirt. Why is she considering
wearing a white dress. It is possible that she feels the pressure of society. Society, represented by
family friends or school, may not approve of her masculine style and is indirectly forcing her to be
more feminine. Her again, the individual finds out that this is not a free, open minded world. There
are unspoken rules and people are filled with prejudices. She realizes that she is not a child anymore
and that she might have to conform to society's standards. The adversity in the world is forcing her
to grow up.

But the coming of age process is not merely a negative one. The individual and learn and grow
through positive and wholesome experiences. Indeed, friendship and unity can help someone gain
maturity.
In the Stand by Me review, Matt Melis points that that the children manage to fight through their
hardships because they are there for one another, line 10-11: “Gordie and Chris are that ear for each
other in Stand by Me, that friend whom each can reveal his true self to without being judged.”
They could not have succeeded on their own. They needed friendship and unity to make it through
the forest and to finally leave childhood behind. It is truly unity that helps someone making his or
her way into adulthood.
The Norman Rockwell painting is very interesting because we are faced here with the absence
of unity and friendship. The young woman is alone. It is because she is alone that she is faced with
what seems like a very difficult dilemma. She does not know what to do and no one is here to give
her advice or to help her figure things out. She is isolated and lost. One can imagine that if she had
good friends around her she would not feel that way. Good friends might be able to reassure her
about her personal style, or they might help her in the process of changing her style. Good friends
would be here to help her and support her in this difficult transition. However, by her self, she filled
with doubts.
In Nina Simones song there is a clear mention of friendship. It is a new friendship and one that
might not be able to evolve. Here there is the uncertainty of the future. What will the little white girl
do? We know that the little girl will not come to her house to play with dolls, but will they still be
friends at school. Will the girl adopt the racist point of view of her mother or will she rebel and
grow more attached to her new black friend. If she does rebel and choose friendship over prejudices
and tradition then she will gain maturity and wisdom. It is about open mindedness. Friendship can
broaden someone's horizon and force them to discover more about the world. In the song, the little
white girl could learn more about black culture and black people which would enable her to
understand that her mother is behaving in a racist and unfair way.
Finally, let us focus on the issue of the loss of innocence. If childhood is characterized by innocence
and carelessness then the loss of childhood and the entry into adulthood inevitably means the end of
innocence.
In Nina Simone song we can easily see how the little white girl suddenly suffers the loss of
innocence. It is symbolized by the three words making up the last line of the song: “Oh.... I see.....”.
This is the realization. What realization? Racism, prejudices and the truth about adulthood.
Adulthood is not freedom or wisdom but simply the accumulation of rules, arbitrary rules that
prevent people from coming together. With those simple words she declares the end of her
innocence. The veil has lifted and she now looks at the world with a new set of eyes. The eyes of a
former child. The eyes of an adult.
In the Stand By Me review, the end of innocence is symbolized by the notion of a point of no
return. The children are no longer children. They have had to face hardships, they have learnt to
deal with pain and fear, and that has changed them forever. The line 24 perfectly embodies this
feeling: “....that signaled a change or from which there was no turning back”. Once you enter
adulthood, you cannot go back to being a child. This is what is meant by “loss” or “end”. What has
been lost is forever lost and cannot be retrieved. In that case we understand that the children have
loos their innocence for good. This is the end of innocence but the beginning of something else, the
start of a new cycle. Childhood bleeds into adulthood, slowly disappearing into it.
In the painting, the young woman is also about to lose her innocence. It might be the first time
that she is filled with doubt about the way she perceives herself. As a child, we do not think about
our appearance and about society's judgement. We do whatever we want without questioning the
possible consequences. Now, she realizes that the outside world has a tremendous power. She is no
longer a sheltered child living in a bubble. The world judges her, pressures her into changing who
she is. Will she give in or will she fight back? We do not know. All we know is that from now on
she will have these doubts, this awareness, in mind. She has lost her innocence and, here again, she
has started walking on a new path, the path of adulthood.

To conclude, we have seen that the coming of age process is represented in three distinct phases in
literature and art.
First of all we have seen that children grow up by overcoming difficulties. They are faced with
challenges that force them to grow up. They have to grow up and face the harsh realities of the
world in order to keep on existing in it.
Secondly, we have analyzed how friendship and unity is also an important part of the growing up
process. The individuals cannot do it on their own. One needs friends and support in order to
properly grow.
Finally, we have seen that what inevitably follows is the end of innocence. Growing up means
leaving behind our naive and innocent views of the world. This is what it means to become an adult.