Coming of Age in Literature A theme is being traced through the three stories of "Nights", "Sundiata", and "Gilgamesh". It is the coming of age of a child or man in a story. In all of these stories, a child or man who has to face many challenges is part of coming of age. In "Nights", the young man has to face a German refugee camp and has to basically face death or as close as you can come to it. In Sundiata, young Sundiata has to face many challenges in growing up, and in Gilgamesh, a man had to face a long strenuous journey in result of his coming of age. Therefore, it will be shown how each theme of coming of age relates in each story.
Sundiata is about a young man who is destined to be king but he cannot walk at the age of seven.
Coming of Age (Camel album)
Carrying water
B46130_27 William Edward Harold CullenAs result of this misfortune Soassouma decides to take the throne and treats all the people badly. One-day Sundiata's mom asked Sassouma for some boabab leaves because her son could not get the leaves. Sassouma replied "I have a calabash full. Help yourself, you poor woman. As for me my son knew how to walk at the age of seven and it is he who went and picked these Boabab leaves. Take them since your son is unequal to mine." (Niane, 105). Although she gave her the leaves, she made fun of her right to her face. This enraged Sundiata and he dropped his crutches he used to walk and went and picked up a whole boabab tree and brought it to his mother's door. This was the first part of his coming of age because, now everyone started to realize that he is the "great king"...