As I have come of age, like Will Hunting, Holden Caulfield, or Peter Parker, there are many realities that hit you hard in the head as an adult, one of them being death. When I turned 24, many people in my life started dying. From family members, friends, and old acquaintances more people have been passing away in my life.

 

 

This isn’t a coming of death story, but I am writing this from a young person perspective of realizing the realities of death.

There is a major genre of literature, poetry, music, and cinema that reflects on a youthful protagonist that comes of age, known as the “coming of age story”. With all of the things that I believed in my heart when I was young, they all just seem like coasters for beers and clean surfaces for the naive negligence of the cruel reality of death. With that, as I have grown older in my life story, I have realized that death is a real thing in this life.

They say that once you turn 50, you will be going to more funerals than weddings. I have been to more funerals than weddings in my 20’s, and I hate funerals. Man, they are stressful, emotional, and very morbid. These are adjectives that I do not like to associate myself with.

One can argue that death is beautiful rather than it is tragic. If one lives a full life, was a good person, and left the world a better place then yes, life coming to an end is beautiful. But, if one is a horrible person such as a murderer, then their death means justice. I may be wrong, but what I am right about is that death means that there are many mysteries of definitions. For example, I had to watch my Grandfather slowly die every day in the hospital for over a month and a half. Now looking back on that experience, I wish he would have died a beautiful death which would have been swift.

This is not just.

Why do people on death row have it easy when they are sentenced the death penalty? Whereas, a person who lives a good full life has to suffer from a disease, cancer, or a virus that doctors fight to save them from. This causes suffering, and no death is worth suffering unless there will be the triumph in the end.

Many people on their death beds either decide to fight or accept death. Some people grow old and realize that they do not have any real reason to be around anymore, and others have reasons to stick around. There are so many factors when it comes to all of this.

Do we accept death or do we reject it? But, that is the point! When we are younger, we tend to reject the concept of dying. But as we grow older and we experience more people’s lives coming to an end, we come to understand that death is a part of life; the only thing that is guaranteed in life.

With that, there are many coming of age stories. But, why aren’t there any coming of death stories? Yes, there is the tragedy genre that always ends in death, but we never really learn anything about death. Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” is a tragedy where death leads to the advancement of one’s own self-betterment of taking power in the world. This is why tragedies are what they are, but why aren’t there any coming of death stories?

If death changes, influences, and effects people then why isn’t this a major genre? I define the coming of death story is one’s acceptance of death and how it changes your perspective on reality. I may be utterly wrong about this but this concept of a coming of death story has been making me scratch my head for the last six months.

In my case, after seeing so many loved ones die in the past year I have realized that I am lucky that my parents are healthy, my sister is safe, and my friends are taking care of themselves. At any moment we could fall to the ground, never wake up from our sleep, have an allergic reaction to something, and etcetera.

Once we come of age, we will eventually come to the realization of death. My realization is that I am truly blessed for good health. This article isn’t about a coming of death story, but I wanted to throw the idea out there for a novel, movie, or maybe a song that could be produced.

Who knows, maybe I could write that book. But, I am not really certain of what this new school thought of a genre that I may or may not have created.

This has been something that has been really bothering me upstairs in my head for quite some time, and it has been very difficult for me to process it to create my own conclusions. What is your definition or interpretation of a coming of death story? Feel free to comment below so that I can learn from your thoughts.

Remember, “The Zos Knows”. 

-David Zosel

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