Response to _Rite of Passage_ by Sharon Olds

       I found this poem to shed light on some shockingly gruesome truths that society wishes to ignore, but are there regardless. When first reading the title Rite of Passage, I thought about how this poem would most likely be a coming of age type theme, but after reading and analyzing the poem using a TP-CASTT I believe it demonstrates the absence for the ability to "come of age". Instead, the author's main objective was to make the audience recognize how society denies children a "Rite of Passage" because they expect the level one is at after a "Rite of Passage" to be the level they are at when just children. Plus, the author demonstrates how this "Rite of Passage" that society designed specifically for males is a corrupt and immoral ideal to set as a standard. While reading the poem, it is noticed that the boys at a birthday party are referred to only as men and are constantly being compared at the same level as males who are adults, thus stating that the children are adults and the word child does not or should not exist. For example, in the text it says, "They clear their throats a lot, a room of small bankers," while referring to two six and seven year old "men" who are sizing each other up for a fight by "jostling, jockeying for place". The alliteration in the "jostling" and "jockeying" emphasize the immature and violent nature of these males and yet they are compared to bankers who are perceived as civilized men. Because it is perceived that bankers are civilized men and they are being compared to the immaturity of a six and seven year old fighting, it can be inferred that banker men are no different than six and seven year old men. Therefore, there is this concept created questioning the existence of a "Rite of Passage". This standard that society holds for all men at any age seems to be extremely corrupt because at the end of the poem, the speaker's son solves the conflict between the six and seven year old by suggesting that each could "easily kill a two-year-old" and immediately after there is a shift in the attitude of all men in the poem. The tension seems to have released as "They relax and get down to playing war". This statement in itself is extremely ironic, which I'm sure was intentional, due to the fact it displays how men are calmed by war which is a terribly violent matter that greatly increases tension yet it reduces the tension in men. My mind is blown.