Adolesence

Practice for Paper 1
Adolescence
Adolescence is a period in life during which individuals experience unstable feelings and emotions since they are no longer children and yet not adults. Both texts, “a” and “b”, manage to effectively present the idea of adolescence since the theme focuses on the experiences lived by teenagers during the age of sixteen, and their point of view about adulthood.Moreover, it is relevant to note that text “a” is a poem called The summer we were sixteen. Through a retrospective narration, the author manages to achieve the purpose of making the audience live again the momentary period of adolescence, in order for them to understand how precious and transient this period is. On the other hand, text “b” is an extract belonging to the novel Catcher in the Rye,where the author describes the harsh period that an adolescent is living by creating a fictional autobiography. Moreover the main purpose of text “b” is to entertain literature readers who are interested in being fascinated by the experiences lived by the adolescent character during his transition from adolescence to adulthood. Finally, it is important to know that the main differences foundbetween these two texts are due to the different perspectives of adolescence, since text “a” focuses on portraying an ideal atmosphere, while text “b” portrays a scenario of an adolescent encountering trouble during this period of his life.
First of all, when comparing the perspectives of the poem “The summer we were sixteen”, and of the extract from the novel Catcher in the Rye, one manages to finda main similarity and various differences. The similarity present between these two works of literature is that both are written in a retrospective narration since both narrations focus on looking at the period when one has sixteen years of age, later on in life. However, even though both narrations are retrospective, many differences are present when one expands more on the style of the narrationof each text. Text “a” is written in third person and the author directly addresses the reader, with the intention of including the reader in the action being described; “meet us” “We spread our chenille…”. Also, the manner in which narration is developed in the poem, creates a more subjective narration and allows the author to lead the poem to an idealistic level where adolescence is perceivedas an incredible yet short-time lived period of life where no problems are present and adulthood appears to be distant “We did not exist beyond the gaze of a boy”. In contrast, the narration in text “b” is guided by a character rather than by the author, in order to create a more objective narration since through the character’s eyes, different feeling are transmitted to the reader allowing alsoempathy between the character and the audience. It is important to know that the two main feelings transmitted by the adolescent character, are feelings of resentment “they’re also touchy as hell”, of disappointment towards his brother and feelings which focus on the changes that took place in his life “I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy”. Finally, another importantdifference which is present when comparing these two texts, is the period of time that passes by after the period which is being narrates; text “a” looks at the period of being sixteen from a further away period of time, whereas text “b” narrates more recent experiences. By the previous analysis, one is able to appreciate how text “a” focuses on portraying an idealistic scenario of adolescence, whiletext “b” presents a more realistic point of view concerning this period of life.
Furthermore great differences are present when one focuses on the setting of the poem and of the extract. Text “a” (the poem), is set in an idyllic paradise which distinguishes by being a carefree world were everything performed is joyful “we plunged, screaming, into a mirage of bubbles…” and nothing matters...