What are the motifs in Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver?

Coming of Age is a recurring idea in this book. Cleaver's book is the epitome of a coming of age story. Cleaver himself says that he's no longer the man he was at twenty-two when he was incarcerated for the first time. The story touches only briefly on the actions of the young Eldridge Cleaver. He says he was first busted for possession of marijuana. He claims to have been "in love with the weed" and that he saw nothing wrong with smoking the drug. He then became a rapist and admits that his crimes would likely have eventually escalated to murder had he not been caught and once again imprisoned.