Questioning, Battling and Identifying With Certain Types of Identities Essay

Questioning, Battling and Identifying With Certain Types of Identities throughout Lives - Essay Example The researcher states that even though the narrative â€Å"Reflections of a 17 - Year Old† is being done by an American girl who is about to embark on a college life for the first time, it still provides a valuable insight into how a person reaching the age of maturity finds himself or herself battling multiple identities. Although a person is looking forward to the independence that life brings once he Reaches College, that person is still uncertain of whether he or she can actually handle the new life he or she is entering into. In a way, Plath in the essay is speaking of how she is creating a new identity for herself once she enters college, one that will help her adjust to the demands of her new life and in the process, help her develop into a better individual as well. Plath allows us an insight into how she was feeling on the day that she realized that she was no longer a child but rather, a young adult soon to face the challenges and uncertainties of life by telling the reader: â€Å"Somehow I have to keep and hold the rapture of being 17. Every day is so precious I feel infinitely sad at the thought of all this time melting farther and farther away from me as I grow older. Now, now is the perfect time of my life.† Sylvia Plath clearly depicted the fear that every 17 years old, male or female, has about that age that is considered the turning point in every adults life. 17 is the age when one is neither a child nor an adult anymore in the eyes of the world. It is a transition age into the age of legality when people expect more mature decisions and a sense of responsibility from a teenager. It is the fear that every teenager has. That the fun and fancy-free life are once known to him or she will now be a thing of the past.