In my coming of age book, "Looking for Alaska" by John Green. This book relates to coming of age because Miles started out as an innocent, average teenage boy and gradually turned into the exact opposite. Due to the peer pressure and Miles's environment/surrounding this happened. This just goes to show you that apart of coming of age has to do with making your own decisions and learning in life what's wrong and what's right.
After Miles's transition to Culver Creek boarding school he began meeting new people such as his roommate, "the Colonel" formerly known as Chip Martin. The Colonel introduced him to Alaska Young and he also began drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and participating in drugs. This is where it all went downhill. Miles first time smoking is usually what people refer to as an amateur. He went with Colonel to Alaska's dormitory a couple doors down from there's and asked for a pack of Malbaros. This was 100 percent Colonel's idea and Miles was just feeding into it. Later, when they arrived at their dorm they started smoking and Miles was the only one choking and coughing it up. His mind was tempted to do this stupid thing but his body was telling him otherwise. Basically, when Miles entered boarding school he became oblivious to his surroundings and tried new things because everyone else was doing it. Also, after Alaska's dramatic death, another key part of coming of age occurred to me. Life is short and you only have one to live. In this case, when Alaska died in the car wreck because she forgot the anniversary of her mother's death and she was also intoxicated; not only did she harm herself but others around her. The devastating thing about it is Miles never got to find out her last word and explore her more as a person as he wished.
In conclusion, apart of coming of age consists of many key components. Although, it may be a struggle getting there and doing it the correct way, anyone can make it through. For example, Miles ended up coming to age gradually by the end of the book. He learned from his mistakes and took them as life lessons. My advice to anyone who wants to feed into peer pressure and follow what everyone else does because it makes their image appear a certain way is don't follow along because you will end up learning the hard way.
