Coming of Age - Something to Think About

In the United States of America, when you turn eighteen, you become a legal adult. This means:

• You can rent movies from the library without an adult with you.
• You can buy cigarette lighters.
• You can be the only one home when the repairman comes by.
• You can order stuff from the commercials on tv.
• You get full access to all videos on Youtube.
• You can vote.
• You can withdraw money from your bank account without your mom with you.
• You could go see an R rated movie in theaters without your parents.
• You have to double-check your facebook settings because the site no longer protects your privacy as a minor.
• You can sign forms without your parent/guardian signing it as well.
• You can get a job without a special paper saying you're allowed to work
• You can get married
• You can read M rated fanfiction on that one site that actually blocks M rated fanfictions unless you're eighteen

Additionally, within my family, when I turned eighteen I was:

• Allowed to date
• Getting prepared to move out of the house to college
• Given my first bouquet of roses (by my dad)
• Trying to figure out financial terms for a student loan

Obviously, turning eighteen is a fairly big deal in a few ways (at least in the U.S.). But the point of all this isn't to show how big of a life change turning eighteen is; it is actually to demonstrate what a big deal coming of age is.

Judaism sets its age of majority at age 12 or 13. According to wikipedia (which I don't trust, but it's fine for demonstration purposes), Canada's age of majority is nineteen. In Iran, the age of majority for girls is eight, and for boys, fourteen (again this is from wikipedia). 

Seriously, Iran. Why would you give a kid that much responsibility?

Obviously it varies greatly.

Keep in mind that "age of majority" is just the threshold of adulthood. It doesn't necessarily mean that the person can get married, drive, drink, smoke, leave school, vote, etc. Those age limits are usually independent and may not coincide with the age of adulthood. 

So, does the culture in your book have a age of majority? Why is it at the age it is? What changes about how a person lives their life when they hit that age? What about religion? If you have religion in your book, does it have an age set when people become adults, like Judaism? Is this event marked by a ceremony or party?

The coming of age ceremony seems to be pretty common in dystopias nowadays; the classic, "when I turned such and such an age, I got Matched/chose my faction/had to be reaped/was given my three Gifts/etc." And I'm not complaining. (Although if authors would stop sticking to age sixteen, I'd be grateful. Please add some variety to the shelves.)

It's only been a few years since dystopias became big and it's already cliche. Just . . . stop.

But why doesn't it seem to be in other genres? Is it only tyrannical governments that impose major life changes on people turning a certain age? No! And sometimes, as with the Judaism example, it isn't a government at all! It's just tradition, or religion. 

So when you next engage in a little world building, think about when your characters come of age. Ask: why the age is set when it is? Where did that particular age come from? What changes result from that birthday? Is it celebrated? Or maybe even disliked?

Play around with the idea. Maybe it is something you can add to your culture to give it more distinction.

Have you ever used an age of majority in your writing? For what? What was involved? How was it regarded by the culture and by the individual characters? Share in the comments! I want to hear what you've done with this, my fellow internet-dwellers!