Oedipus Rex

I have spent a lot of time considering the connection between growing up and the myth of Oedipus Rex. Originally, I focused mainly on the main theme of this tragic play--blindness-- and I came to the question; can one mature out of ignorance? Or does Oedipus's final fate (actual blindness) render him forever blind? Now, as we all know, in this play, blindness is just symbolism for ignorance. However, because of the actually action of becoming blind, I got the feeling Oedipus's ignorance was much more concrete. I found that by physically blinding himself, he is securing his state of ignorance forever. Contradictingly, I found that by the end of the play (thanks to Foster), Oedipus gain's a different kind of sight from his discoveries--self knowledge. I found his actions illustrated a matured and wiser Oedipus than the character we were introduced to in the beginning. At this point of my wandering in circles, I decided to give in and research exactly what some define, "growing up." This is what I found:

"It is thinking less of yourself and more of others...You take the blame for your screw ups and learn from your mistakes so that you don't keep doing it again and again." (yahoo)

"Mentally growing up means to become fully aware of your possibilities, your limits, your resources, your situation in comparison to others, your goals and your responsibilities" (quora)

"I think it means actually taking control over your life. When you're a kid, your parents are guiding your life. You're just sitting in the backseat. When you grow up, you start driving it yourself" (soulpancake)
(I personally inserted fate where she stated parents, for the sake of the play)

So in summary, taking responsibility for you life is a definite sign of growing up. This made things much clearer for me. Oedipus fights the possibility of his proclaimed fate for the entire play, though we all know, deep down, he knows. He just can't accept it, he refuses to see the truth and take responsibility for his actions. It isn't until the very end, after discussing the possibility with countless sources that he fully realizes his fate interjected itself and steered his life. This is when he gouges his eyes and admits the horrible actions he has committed. He then states without hesitation, he is to be exiled.

This certainly was a turn of events for me, after feeling like I knew Oedipus's character, I figured he would try to scheme his way out of it and make up excuses. Why? Because that is the kind of person he was portrayed in my eyes in the beginning of the novel, arrogant, naive, and childish. However, his character changed, he did not do anything I expected him to do, he handled the situation much more calmly than I envisioned, and took full responsibility for his actions. He took control of his life and banished himself, so to not continue to cause Thebes any more distress than he had already caused. Do I believe Oedipus grew up from these horrific experiences? Certainly. He progressed from an arrogant, self-righteous man, trying to escape his fate, to an accepting, responsible, physically blind yet insightful, grown up.

Grown up? Not yet...

    After a thorough analysis of potential questions that will guide me through not only the novels selected for this class, but through future novels, and possibly life in general, I chose a simple question that arises many contemplating thoughts. What does it mean to "grow up"? Seems simple enough right? Well, I find that this question is one that will never be completely answered. I regard this question as one that could not, and will not be answered until our final stages of life, as we near closer and closer to the end, we are finally capable to examine our lives with wise eyes that can understand what it means to grow up, and when we finally did, if we did at all. However, even as some of us know this, whether we acknowledge it or not, we all still strive to find the answer. Society has placed answers in front of us, but as most of us know by now, society is stiff and restricting in almost every category. And we, in turn, have taken these said answers, and personalized it only slightly. Society says you are an adult at 18, others may find being an adult comes when you have complete freedom, say at 21, or when you get to college, when you get a job, when you get married, when you stop partying. I find all of this to be very general. Growing up is specialized for every individual, there is no one specific answer that can apply to society as a whole. My whole life, I have awaited the moment that I hit "grown up", yet every time I hit another milestone that I previously labeled as growing up, I have still felt like a child, naive and oblivious to what's going on in the world. Birthdays pass, my age accumulates, my freedom increases, my life shapes into something new and different, and yet, nothing feels all that different. And now, though I have matured, I know, though I try to fight it, that I will not understand and know the point in which I have grown up until I am able to look back on my life knowing it is final. I will not know until I am a viewing my life almost from a birds eye view, not bias, not unsure, but appeased by the peace of mind that comes with experience and wisdom. I find that this question can be applied to virtually all literature, because with the unfolding of events and situations, characters (connecting them to ourselves), mature and grow up. It is these events and situations, and how these characters handle them, that result in when and how they grow up. Pick any novel, and you will see that the characters either endure a situation and solve it, and they evolve to a different being by the end, or they don't, and that shapes them into the person they are and will be, and illustrates their maturity, and how they are so distant from growing up. And after thinking about it, this "big question" that is used to help us observe and analyze our lives and others, can and most likely will, contribute to our journey to maturity and growing up.