Following your dreams and believing in yourself is hard when others don't. Throughout the novel, The Highest Tide by Jim Lynch, encircling the life of the main character, Miles O'Malley, a 13 year-old boy, who's enchantment with the sea during the summer slowly changes his life forever. Therefore, the innocence of one's person being true to themselves when in a negative or difficult situation is an act of coming of age, which was seen in unsupportive parents, challenging relationships, and dealing with the loss of loved ones. Across the book, The Highest Tide, Lynch uses unsupportive parents to highlight the difficulties of growing up as "unwanted" young teen. The appearance of the thirteen year-old, on the news and his parents' reaction…show more content… "Friends" that are not always there for you and don't approve of your goals in life, are just jealous of what they can't achieve. "Yeah. Love is not charity. Love is doing fun stuff for each other. You bring her flowers and she take her shirt off. Stuff like that. Love is everything."(Lynch 54) By the use of personification this shows that (continue). Sometimes relationships turn into more than what's expected to happen. " I tired not to stare because I was pretty sure she was the sort of person who could see through her eyelids, but I felt her body slacken, and when it was obvious she was sleeping I counted her freckles until I couldn't resist touching her eyebrow ring or running two careful fingers through her bangs. The ocean will wait for you, Miles she whispered, and so will I"(Lynch 245). The imagery contained in the quote shows how much he cares for her, loves the way she looks and how comfortable she feels around him. Before this Miles never knew that his love for years now, would ever start liking him back. Throughout his life, it was a challenging relationship for him not knowing that her love for him was as great as his love for her.
