Coming of Age Without Agency

Boyd brings up in chapter three of her book a dilemma that seems to be becoming very common in our society. She titles this section of the chapter as “Coming of Age Without Agency,” and explains the idea of youth “come of age without having to take on the full responsibilities of adulthood” (94). G. Stanley Hall believed that this was necessary in order to protect kids from their vulnerability and ensure that they fully mature before entering the real world. This adolescent stage of maturing is very liminal, seeing that youth are not looked down upon as children, although not treated as adults either. For the most part, I would agree that this stage of transformation is necessary, but the idealized thought of maturing and being able to act as adults all happening at once appeals much more to me. I understand that it may be very overwhelming and difficult for some youth to receive and handle responsibility just as they learn and grow in the life, but the idea that they lack agency bothers me. Agency should come with aging, and if not, I believe it could be very damaging for vulnerable youth.

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Director Richard Linklater (right) with cast members

Last week, I talked about the movie Boyhood a little bit and how the main character deals with the advancement of technology. Although I can relate the movie to my focus this week, I will try to steer in a different, although near, direction. Not too long ago, I remember my mom sent me a link to an NPR “Fresh Air” interview with Richard Linlkater, the director of Boyhood. Terry Gross asked him various questions about the film, especially the process of filming, although Linklater focused on a particular sequence in it that he felt very important to the story. The sequence is a crucial part of the main character’s coming of age, which is the center of the entire film, although, in this case, loss of innocence is the center focus. The main character, Mason, middle school-aged, listens to a couple of upperclassmen  speak poorly about women and one of his friends in a demeaning and masochistic way. It is morally clear that the high school students are wrong, although Mason is unable to confront them or oppose anything they say. Linklater highlights in his interview that most males and females probably can relate to this, and that the scene, although possibly uncomfortable is very realistic, which I myself can verify. Coming of age without agency, or simply loss of innocence without the ability to act, leaves youth unable to act accordingly and simmer in the pains of growing up. Although taking on responsibility at a young age could be more harm than good, youth should be able to act with agency in order to mature into a proper adult.

One thought on “Coming of Age Without Agency

  1. abwrubel

    Yes I completely agree with everything that you’re saying, but how do you think publishing and permanence in the digital world may have more of a detrimental affect on adolescence and adolescent behavior and tendencies. Since digital content is easily published and accessed, should teens be extra careful when interacting with the online world? How do these mechanisms in the digital realm affect ideas concerning teenage mistakes.

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