Multi-Genre Essay

Can losing one�s innocence be part of growing up? Achieving the loss of innocence requires one to go through a vast number of experiences that increase one�s knowledge, which then become guidelines through adulthood. Both "Sex and Death to the Age 14" by Spalding Gray and "Ode to Innocence" by Faith, narrated by the 1^st person, are works of literature that show how incidents or experiences lead to the loss of innocence and that it in fact is a part of growing up.

"Sex and Death to the Age of 14" is a story in which the narrator uses incidents to clarify the reader his theme which is that sex and death are a part of the transition from boy to man, or the loss of innocence. The setting of the story is Barrington, Rhode Island after World War II. "I can remember riding beside the Barrington River on the back of my mother�s bicycle and she was shouting out and celebrating because we had just dropped the bomb on the Japs in Hiroshima, and that meant that her two brothers were coming home. A lot of people died in World War II. I didn�t know any." As a young child he did not understand what death was or meant, therefore he speaks in an indifferent tone. This incident has amplified his knowledge of death and how war takes a role in it, therefore preparing him for adulthood. The author also uses the 1^st person point of view to captivate the reader�s attention in order to make him/her trust and understand that all the incidents have aided him in growing up. "The first death which occurred in our family was a cocker spaniel. Jill. Jealous Jill." In this part Spalding Gray, the author, shares an incident were his dog dies. Gray, however, tries to share more about the cocker spaniel instead of telling the reader how much this hurt him at that moment in time. Here, he goes through a more personal experience and learns first hand that the death of a loved one can be sad and mourning but it becomes a part of the growing process. "You know, your son is going to fuck my daughter and you better take him out on a golf course and tell him he�s going to go blind if he does that." He was starting to learn and understand that sex wasn�t game if adults took it that serious. Most teenagers are misinformed about sex and most of the time are hidden from it. Parents, however, are responsible for informing them because they are adults and therefore they understand more about sex. As a young teenager in high school he felt it better to mess around instead of paying attention to his education. His father began to tell him to "buckle down" or else he was going to be sent to the navy. "Yes, yes. I�ll buckle down. I�ll do it, I�ll buckle down." At this point he draws the line between boy and man because boys don�t get to make their own decisions, men do. He had lost his innocence at a young age through the experiences life had blown his way. He now begins to take charge of his life by promising to "buckle down".

The plot of "Ode to Innocence" by Faith is about a grown up woman reminiscing on how she misses her childhood and how her "knowledge thirst" brought on her loss of innocence. The author did not add a setting because she is only laying down her ideas and feeling about her childhood. "I started life with blinded curse/was taught the best-withheld the worst/yet birth so spawns a knowledge thirst/and with each sip youths bubbles burst." She reveals that she was born into this world with no knowledge of the truth. She had been taught good and hidden from the bad, but she had a great "thirst" for knowing more about the bad and with this she lost her innocence. "They say its all in the game/but games never seem to touch everyone quite the same/
the more we play the more the rules derange/and childhood Ideologies; they change." She tells the reader that life is not the same for everyone. The theme of this poem is the more one lives the more one�s childhood dreams change; therefore a child�s route through life always leads to adulthood. "All wars and crime rise like a trend." Wars and crime are considered bad and they are most likely to occur. When one is young, one is mostly attracted by wrong doings. These wrong doings have consequences that one is obliged to pay. After paying the consequences, one learns to make a choice no to make the same mistake twice. This becomes an every day routine as one gets closer and closer to adulthood.

Both plots of "Ode to Innocence" and "Sex to the Age of 14" are about two adults who look back on the childhood memories and how their experiences through life as children brought them closer to adulthood. The two authors imply that death occurs very often when they say "a lot of people died in World War II" and "all wars and crime rise like a trend." Nobody can shut the eyes of a child to hide him/her from death, sooner or later he/she will experience it personally or even learn about it from television or in school. Unlike Faith, Gray believes that sex has a role in losing one�s innocence. Gray uses the setting to set the mood of the story, which is sad. Faith, on the other hand, doesn�t use a setting, there is no need for it because she is just expressing her thoughts about certain events that happened throughout her life and have brought her to this point in her life. At the end of each work of literature the last few words, "childhood Ideologies; they change" and "I�ll do it, I�ll buckle down," convey the idea that after a long bumpy road through their lives, they have lost their innocence and will now begin their lives as adults.

All experiences that occur during childhood lead to the loss of innocence, also known as the transition from child to adult. Both Spalding Gray and Faith use passed childhood experiences to let the reader understand that the loss of innocence is the path to growing up.