Coming of Age and Women Essay by Master Researcher

The process of "becoming" a woman is one that Simon de Beauvoir expressed in her famous quote "One is not born a woman; rather, one becomes a woman." This phrase indicates that a woman is not born but rather is someone that develops into herself over time. Literature expresses this process in the theme of coming of age, where characters undergo a transformation from childhood to womanhood through experiencing various ordeals. This paper explores the theme of coming of age in three short stories: The stories that shall be examined are "No Name Woman" by Maxine Hong Kingston, "She Wasn't Soft" by T. Coraghessan Boyle, and Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl".