A Coming-of-Age in Bev Marshal’s ‘Saturday Confessions’

A Coming-of-Age in Marshal’s ‘Saturday Confessions’ Bev Marshall’s short story Saturday Confessions is a coming-of-age story. The theme is about the inner struggle to understand burgeoning sexual maturity within the confines of the morality one has learned. The two forces often run opposite. The story is set in a church, underscoring the turmoil of a young girl named Layla Jay. The author teaches us through Layla Jay that children will experience strife regarding their new feelings associated with puberty and the morals they are taught by society or religion. Marshall’s tale illustrates that children will move from the lessons learned in childhood to becoming teenager; moreover, they may not understand the changes that are occurring, inevitably experiment and act on those new feelings despite what they learned at church. The author shows us that although Layla Jay is already experiencing signs of puberty, she does not understand. Religion has often made sexuality taboo, but naà ¯vetà © will not stop physiological matu rity. Layla Jay has limited carnal knowledge, but her body is a reacting to these new desires. The author state, â€Å"As I held the note, imagining being fifteen and blond and easy with boys, heat rose up inside me.† (Marshall 873) This is an example of the thoughts the main character is having. She may be unaware of what â€Å"being easy with boys† (Marshall 873) means, but she is aware of how it makes her feel. When pretending with Bobby, the object of her infatuation,