Model
Digital Document
Publisher
Florida Atlantic University
Description
In America today, adolescent boys do not have a structured, ritualized or guided passage
From boyhood into manhood. Many young men feel unsure of their manhood even at
an age that signifies the transition. This causes young males to need a self--‐created rite of
passage. Tramping, the act of travelling by train, hitchhiking or foot, is one way in which
young males can independently achieve manhood. This is a literary account of the lives
of Jack Kerouac, Chris McCandless, and Zebu Recchia. Their personal stories allow a detailed view of the advantages and disadvantages found in a self--‐created rite of passage. While two of the accounts are successful, in Chris McCandless’s case the rite ends in a transition to death.Tramping as a rite of passage to adulthood seems effective but the danger in self--‐ creation appears to be the lack of guidance that comes in unstructured rites of passage.
From boyhood into manhood. Many young men feel unsure of their manhood even at
an age that signifies the transition. This causes young males to need a self--‐created rite of
passage. Tramping, the act of travelling by train, hitchhiking or foot, is one way in which
young males can independently achieve manhood. This is a literary account of the lives
of Jack Kerouac, Chris McCandless, and Zebu Recchia. Their personal stories allow a detailed view of the advantages and disadvantages found in a self--‐created rite of passage. While two of the accounts are successful, in Chris McCandless’s case the rite ends in a transition to death.Tramping as a rite of passage to adulthood seems effective but the danger in self--‐ creation appears to be the lack of guidance that comes in unstructured rites of passage.
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