Coming-of-age stories explore a character’s transformative experiences—particularly their transition from adolescence to adulthood. Such stories echo the maturation, personal growth, and self-discovery you encounter as you grow older.
In these stories, certain themes and tropes emerge as common elements. The settings, characters, and storytelling might change but the core of these stories remains relatively unchanged.
Coming-of-age Tropes
Here are some coming-of-age tropes that regularly appear in stories that revolve around a person’s passage into adulthood.
1. Growing Up Sucks
Plenty of times, adulthood is portrayed as challenging and undesirable. Characters undergoing such a phase equate it to losing their innocence and individuality. They rebel against societal and parental expectations, often exhibiting self-destructive behavior.
Characters who are past this phase view their youth with nostalgia. The world was simpler, and the responsibilities and complexities of adulthood did not pressure their lives.
The Catcher in the Rye explores this trope well. Holden Caulfield is a disenchanted youth who is cynical about the world. He expresses a deep hatred of the “phoniness” of adult society, pointing out its flaws and hypocrisies.
2. Death Transforms You
Some coming-of-age stories use death to trigger a person’s change. The loss of a parent, a friend, or a cherished pet becomes a catalyst for them to do better and look at the world differently.
In most cases, the character who dies is more special than the protagonist in some way. They’re weird, imaginative, and even have unique perspectives. Such a character is unworldly compared to the more grounded protagonist.
When it comes to this trope, death often happens off-screen. In Bridge to Terebithia, the intelligent and talented Leslie Burke drowns while Jesse Aarons visits the Smithsonian. After processing her death, he becomes more in touch with his creative side and learns to cherish his loved ones more.
3. Puberty and Developing Sexuality
A huge part of coming-of-age stories is the effects of puberty. Characters undergoing puberty struggle with the many physical, mental, and social changes they experience.
They undergo growth spurts, develop secondary sexual characteristics, and hormonal changes. They’re more prone to mood swings, identity crises, and self-consciousness. They begin to establish closer friendships and form romantic interests.
All of these become the driving force of the story. What do they think about these changes? How will they behave and act? What will they learn?
In The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Charlie grapples with mental health issues and struggles with his friendship with Patrick and Sam. They experiment with tobacco, alcohol, and drugs. Patrick navigates being gay and how it affects him in a less accepting environment.
4. Family Conflict
Tensions and disagreements within the family often influence a character’s development. They become conscious of their parent’s ambitions, family secrets, generational differences, and other dysfunctions.
There’s an internal struggle between establishing their own identity and following the status quo. A balance can be reached, but usually only after much pain and hardship.
The TV show Shameless is a perfect example of this one. Siblings of varying ages deal with the issues of their dysfunctional family, often being supportive or destructive of one another. The two eldest, in particular, go through significant hardships as they take on adult roles early on in their lives.
5. The Mentor
In many coming-of-age stories, there’s usually a mentor-type character who “gets” the main character. They understand the protagonist’s hurts and insecurities and are willing to go beyond their responsibilities to help.
Most often it’s a teacher, sometimes it’s a parent. Any older character can fit the role as long as they are older, more experienced, and have gone through similar things while growing up.
Sports movies usually have these types. Coach Carter’s titular character is a disciplinarian who successfully reforms his disrespectful and academically failing team. His motives go beyond winning basketball, as he wants his players to have a better chance in life.
6. Maturity
Maturity comes in two ways: an immature person undergoes experiences that force them to mature or circumstances have made a character mature beyond their age.
With the first, a character typically approaches life with a lack of seriousness. However, they reform themselves after undergoing an experience where they can’t run away from the consequences. It might involve a death, a life-changing injury, or the intervention of a mentor.
The second happens as a survival response to their environment. The system might have failed them, they might be in an abusive situation, or simply have no functional adults to rely on. They’re forced to grow up quickly, making adult decisions and handling adult responsibilities.
Room has two of the latter. At only 19, Ma is kidnapped and regularly assaulted for the next seven years. She gives birth to Jack and must learn how to be a mother while locked inside a room. Jack, having no concept of the outside world, must learn how to adapt and interact with people after being rescued.
Coming-of-Age Stories For Older People
In truth, coming-of-age is part of any character development within a book. As such, coming-of-age stories can be broad, often encompassing numerous mediums and genres.
Each one, however, involves an immature person being thrust into situations that require them to grow both internally and externally. Coming-of-age protagonists don’t even need to be young.
Not every person reaches enlightenment in their 20s as most of these stories suggest. Plenty of older people still struggle to make sense of their lives. It’s just that growth is much more visible when people turn into adults. You go through many of your first experiences, whether it’s your first job or your first love.
However, growing and learning are life-long processes that anyone can relate to. Every stage of your life is you encountering new things and seeing from a fresh perspective.
What other coming-of-age tropes do you know? Share them in the comments below!
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Cole is a blog writer and aspiring novelist. He has a degree in Communications and is an advocate of media and information literacy and responsible media practices. Aside from his interest in technology, crafts, and food, he’s also your typical science fiction and fantasy junkie, spending most of his free time reading through an ever-growing to-be-read list. It’s either that or procrastinating over actually writing his book. Wish him luck!
