Coming of Age

Throughout her novel, Pony, the author thematically explores coming of age through her character Silas. At the outset of the narrative, Silas is a twelve year old boy who is largely sheltered from the world. While he lives in virtual isolation with his father, Martin Bird, and a ghost name Mittenwool. Silas uses “his books and stories” to learn about life and expand his academic and emotional intelligence (185). He feels protected by his father and Mittenwool’s consoling presence. When the band of ruffians abducts his father, Silas’s innocent world is ruptured, and he thrust into the responsibilities of adulthood.

When Silas leaves the farm, to find his father, he proverbial leaves the comfort of childhood. He departs a linear coming of age trajectory and is forced to venture into the world knowing “that [he will] not be coming home again” (26). As he...