This yet unwritten story was supposed to be titled “America, America, America”, a story somewhat influenced by Elia Kazan’s ‘America, America’. It was supposed to be more about cultural clashes, but from the very beginning it was obvious that it was turning into a different thing, something apparently more essential, something hidden between its simple lines. Something that today can be seen vividly years after being out front its hidden place. Or is it perhaps just vivid to me? Something like Metamorphosis. The hero of The End of Childhood, if we can call him a hero of course, enters the story of The End of Childhood at a time in his life when he is subconsciously getting ready to step out of his childhood cocoon to become a mentally mature butterfly. The protagonist has no idea he has three days till the metamorphosis happens and this metamorphosis only happens through certain elements that he and the viewer both experience at the same time, and throughout this experience neither the viewers nor the protagonist is ahead or behind from one another even for one step. “He”, the protagonist whose name remains unrevealed could be anyone on this planet who throughout his transformation is destined to meet with people that without experiencing them this metamorphosis cannot be completed. The reason for him to meet those people is a two-lined simple letter from the US Immigration Office. This simple letter with only two lines makes him confront the law’s verdict; something he has never taken seriously in his entire life. Where he is coming from, law is something “you break if you could”. But this official letter is written in a foreign language, in a foreign land with a serious thirty-day notice to leave this foreign country. The force of the letter awakens and triggers the process of his metamorphosis. The nameless protagonist of The End of Childhood who hasn’t made any endeavor to leave his childhood cocoon or has never seen any reason for doing so, perhaps would remain in the comfort of his childhood’s cocoon for years to come wasn’t it for that letter. Here the point is that the letter may tear his cocoon but not necessarily a mature butterfly would take off afterwards. During this crash course of transformation, he is destined to face people. They are simply people with different view of life, not necessarily good and not necessarily bad, whatever they are, he can’t be one of them. He does not know ‘the one’ he is supposed to become, but during the three days of the story he realizes that the number of people he is not supposed to become like them, is too many. For example ‘Abdolmadjid’, who has changed his name to Michael. According to himself, his original name, Abdolmadjid is not pretty, has no rhythm and no spirit. More important than all, it does not match with the society he is in. |
