2/13 - 1930s article

     Initially I found this assignment somewhat abstract. I thought it would be difficult to find an article with a theme that could be related to the concept of a 'coming of age' piece of literature. As I was flipping through the 1936 issue of Life magazine, I came across a collection of photographs depicting the everyday lives of the students of West Point and felt an immediate connection to this article. This article was written to educate the American people about the lives of the people of West Point. One of the reasons I found this intriguing is that as I sat down to write this post, I could not decide whether or not to call the males in the pictures men or boys. I spent a while thinking about this point and decided it would be a great catalyst for a 'coming of age' post and started writing.
     These pictures captured what seemed to me as the prime of our nation at the time. West Point was, and still is, a premiere university in this country and a place where the best and brightest were to be educated and prepared for the future. I think there is an interesting parallel between the lives of these men and the state of our nation at the time this article was written. There are many points in history where it could be said that the United States had cemented its place in world politics as a major player. However, I believe that this time period embodies that idea in a more symbolic form by this article. In a way, the argument could be made that United States was in the midst of its own coming of age during the late 1930's. My recollection of history is mediocre at best, but I remember this being a time period when we had just come out of the worst economic depression in our nation's history and, prior to that, pretty much won World War I for the Allied Powers with our intervention in the late 1910's. As a result, the perception of the United States was changing from just another country across the Atlantic to a major economic and military superpower. With the maturation of our country, I believe that a similar metamorphosis was occurring in the lives of the students of West Point.
   One of the concepts of the article that struck me was the rigor and strict discipline with which the cadets of the military academy lived within. I understand that this comes with the territory of a military academy, but I was surprised by the regimented lifestyle. Despite this, the cadets always seemed to be smiling and enjoying what they were taking part in. I know that emotion was probably scripted by the photographer and not a permanent sentiment, but I found it intriguing.  What I took away from this juxtaposition of enjoying a strict life was that these men knew what they wanted to do with their lives. It baffles me that seventy-six years can go by and so much can change. With the societal freedom that most of us enjoy in today's culture, I find that that same liberation often has the potential to lead to apathy and a lack of progress.  With the freedom that most of the men in those photographs fought and quite possibly died for in World War II, I feel that the last thing these men would look upon with favor would be mulling over possibilities. I found this train of thought very motivating - coupling the contrast of the negative aspects of wasting time against creating a reality. If pictures could talk, I feel like these cadets would be upset with the concept of paying so much money to figure out what one wants to do with his or her life. Coming of age is all about maturation in multiple aspects of life. It's about deciding what your life is for and making that mental image a reality.