Rite of Passage by Sharon Olds For whom is the birthday party a rite of passage, for the birthday boy or for his mother? In the poem "Rite of Passage" by Sharon Olds, the speaker, who is a mother, goes into detail about celebrating her son's birthday party. Let us first begin by analyzing the title of the poem, “Rite of Passage,” the Encyclopedia Britannica describes a rite of passage as a ceremonial event, existing in all historically known societies, that marks the transition from one social or religious status to another. Given the poem's plot about a young boy who invites his peers to celebrate his birthday, one might automatically be forced to say that the rite of passage is for him, however with a closer analysis of the poem in its entirety, one can argue that the title and plot has a deeper meaning. The first indication that this party is as much for her, the birthday boy's mother, as it is for her son is found in the opening line of the poem when she says, "...guests arrive at my son's party," instead of saying the his name, refers to him as his throughout the poem. This releases a very possessive tone in his presentation of how he is describing the play-by-play action of his son's birthday party. Another example to support the fact that he is celebrating his rite of passage can also be seen in the first line when he calls the people arriving at the party as "guests". Your son is six years old, and n... half of the paper... I know some students in the class took that sentence literally, as if they were going to kill the two year old but they were simply using 80s terminology and meaning that they could all hit a two-year-old, which showed them something they had in common. From being small but significant and a key asset to horse racing, as a jockey to being rich and admired, as a banker, they have since graduated to the most sought after and decorated profession, "Generals". The speaker now sees his son as a general in the army, because he has taken command of his party and brought all the six and seven year olds to play.