Growing up is tough for everybody, but if you're a girl without a mom to guide you, it's even tougher. High school's no amusement park (well, it is a little like a roller coaster that makes you barf), but your freshman year of college is a whole 'nother world. You still have to deal with teachers and grades, but now you have to do it on your own, surrounded by strangers.
In Fangirl, Cath wants to cling to some familiarity by rooming with Wren, but Wren wants to develop her own identity, separate from her twin. There are lots of ways of growing up, and Cath and Wren choose radically different ones.
Questions About Coming of Age
- If the dangerous, broken-down swing set in the backyard is a metaphor for the loss of childhood innocence, what does Cath's desire to protect the neighborhood kids from getting hurt represent?
- How do Simon and Baz come of age as Cath does?
- If Wren has more life experience than Cath, can Cath still be more mature than Wren?
Chew on This
Even though she has Simon Snow stuff in her dorm room too, revisiting her childhood bedroom makes Cath realize how much she's changed.
The desire to be alone with Levi when Reagan can't come bursting in is one major sign Cath is turning into an adult.