While we may argue about the biological onset of adulthood, once puberty hits around age 12, it's also clear that humans are no longer children. So, between age 12 and 25, human beings enter that awkward transition period called adolescence, during which we form our unique identities while finding our purpose and direction.
This adolescent period is the subject of "Coming-of-Age" literature, more formally known as Bildungsroman. A common theme throughout fiction, Bildungsroman follows a protagonist on his or her adventures through the cloudy journey of "growing up." Dickens's Great Expectations, Alcott's Little Women, Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Golding's Lord of the Flies and Forster's A Room with a View, are just a few examples of classic literature featuring a Coming-of-Age theme.
Fantasy, with its love of young heroes, is a frequent player in the Bildungsroman game. Coming-of-Age is a central theme in many of the greatest works fantasy. For example, Frodo and his hobbit friends in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings are adolescents (for hobbits) who frequently make mistakes because they are young. Yet, at the same time, they are filled with the optimism and hopefulness needed to defeat Sauron, the Dark Lord of Mordor.
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Tolkien's friend, C.S. Lewis, also created a Bildungsroman with his The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Interestingly, it can be argued that Lewis distributed the qualities of adolescence across the four Pevensie children. Edmund's selfishness and deceitfulness, common adolescent behaviors, almost destroy Narnia. But his behavior is overcome by the faith, hope and courage displayed by his brother and two sisters and eventually resurrected in Edmund, himself.
We can find similar themes in contemporary fantasy, too. In Collins's The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen idealistically steps in for her sister as tribute and struggles as much with understanding the murky truths of adult politics as she does with the physical trials of the Hunger Games. Similarly, over the course of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry navigates the problems of friendship and young love in between his battles with Voldemort and his minions. Harry also wrestles with the complexity of adult behavior as he tries to understand the complicated motivations of characters such as Dumbledore and Snape.
