The coming age story is an essential part of the human experience. It tells the story of growth and maturity from a young age into adulthood, encompassing along the way many of the hardest realizations and moments experienced in a lifetime. The coming of age story has been told from a plethora of distinct experiences and points of view, but every coming of age story contains essential truths about what it means to grow up. Both “Quinceanera” by Judith Ortiz Cofer and “The Ball Poem” by John Berryman use symbolism to encompass the theme of loss of innocence and the death of childhood. Cofer’s poem “Quinceanera” tells the story of a young as she goes through the Mexican tradition of her 15th birthday. This celebration serves as a transition into adulthood. She describes the way in which her “dolls have been put away like dead children.” The dolls she has always played with are a symbol of herself. Her childhood is dying, and the dolls conjure up images of dead children purposefully to display this message. Similarly, the speaker is now responsible for “wash[ing her] own clothes and sheets from this day on.” This new chore is a symbol of how her new womanhood is viewed as both dirty and an unwanted …show more content…
As both the dolls in “Quincearnera” and the ball in “The Ball Poem” are lost or taken from the children, they must both come to grapple with the idea that childhood is over and adulthood is full of intense disappointment. Though both poems grapple with loss of innocence and transition into adulthood, “Quinceanera” takes on additional feminist lens as the little girl must understand not only the realities of adulthood but also womanhood. Unlike “The Ball Poem,” “Quinceanera” explores the double standard set forth for women as they come to be known as unclean beings with immense personal duties. Despite this, both works use symbolism to delve into the harsh transition away from childhood