A common theme that we can see in both of Olds’ poems along with Updike’s short story is that there is a growing up process for the main characters. In Updike’s story, the main character is a teenage boy, Sammy, who makes a decision to quit his job for the sake of wanting to be some girls’ hero. I think it is important to note that it was his decision to quit. We can already see that Sammy is growing up simply by noting that he made a decision on his own. He knows that from that point on, he is going to have a tougher life. He is breaking away from his parents and making decisions on his own.
We see a similar theme in Olds’ two poems. A little six year old boy is the subject in her poem “Rights of Passage.” She portrays this boy growing up by making his own decisions too. His decision is different than the decision Sammy made, but both were trying to be heroes. The little boy in the poem tries to be a hero by being a peace maker. He grows up when he makes his decision to stand up for the younger boys and keep the peace for all of the boys. He makes this decision on his own. His mother or father did not tell him to do something, and the mother or father did not step in to take control of the situation. The boy took matters into his own hands and dealt with the situation wisely and grew up a little bit from that experience.
In Olds’ poem “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party,” the subject is a little girl. She grows up by making her own decision also. She makes the decision to go into the pool full of boys. Her mother did not make her go in; rather, she made her own decision. Because of her decision to go into that pool, she saw and learned a little something about the opposite sex and how they are different than her. She grew up by making her own decision just like Sammy and the little boy in the other poem.
Another common theme that we can see in the three pieces of literature is that each of the main characters stands out as his or her own individual. They do not conform to the norm which makes them unique. Updike’s Sammy lives in a small town where everyone knows everyone, and if someone does something out of the norm, the news about that person spreads fast. All teenagers and young adults in that town probably worked at a little job like Sammy’s grocery store job, so for him to quit that job is a big deal. I do not think he actually thought thoroughly about his decision before he made it, but the fact is that he did make that decision to stand out from the rest of society.
The boy in Olds’ poem “Rights of Passage” stands out from the rest of the boys in that he did not get involved with all of the bickering and fighting but rather made a statement that made the peace. It is completely normal for little six and seven year old boys to get into fights about someone being bigger or stronger than the other; however, the little boy thought of a rational solution to the argument and was brilliant and made the reader see him as a special individual.
When I read the poem “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party,” I get a similar vibe about the girl standing out from the rest and being an individual, but this one is a little bit different simply because the girl did not really have to do anything to stand out. The one thing that the girl had to do was get into the pool with the boys, but that was it. She is no less of an individual figure though. She just did not have to do much to stand out from the rest of the crowd. She had to be strong and learn that she is no less of a human just because she is a girl.
To sum everything up, I would say that all three of the pieces of literature have a single solid theme or message. The overall theme that they try to portray is that a hero is someone who makes decisions that make them older beyond their time, and a hero also stands out from the rest of the group and gets away from the norm. Sometimes people will praise the hero for what they have done, and other times heroes do not get any credit for what they have done. Either way the person is a hero.
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