Coming of Age

Musashi exhibits many of the characteristics of a typical "coming of age" character. He ages physically over the course of the story but also matures spiritually. Musashi is becoming a greater swordsman with every passing day but continues to worry that he is not meeting the letter of the "Way of the Sword." In truth, he has greater expectations of himself than anyone else has of him. It seems likely that he has set his goal too high and that it is not attainable, but he continues to strive for it and hates the fact that he cannot seem to achieve perfection. There comes a natural moment of awakening, aided by the priest, Gudo. In that moment, Musashi comes to realize that he can change but that the universe around him will not. With this as the basic premise and a greater understanding suddenly alive in...