Review of Russell Baker's Growing Up Essay

Later Adulthood is a period of many changes. According to Zastrow & Kirst-Ashman, “Later adulthood is the last major segment of the life span” (p.587). Individuals who are in going through their later adulthood are experiencing and dealing with an immense amount of emotions and feelings. There are several areas of an individual’s life that are effected by later adulthood. An individual’s work life, health, marriage, living situation, family relationships, and social relationships are all things that can be affected in some way by later adulthood. It is important for one to understand to the best of their ability the processes and events that take place in later adulthood,

In the memoir “Growing Up” by Russell Baker, he explains what his life was like growing up with a single mother living in rural Virginia during the Great Depression. He describes the struggle to find a job and his mother’s constant urge for him to make something of himself.

It is widely known that through childhood and adolescence growing up is not only inevitable but also difficult. In the short story “Through the tunnel” the author, Doris Lessing shows this through the main character, Jerry, and his journey in becoming more independent from his mother. Although the journey was difficult in the end, Jerry has matured as a person and does not need his mother to constantly be with him; but she becomes a place where he knows that he is safe. In the short story, “Through the Tunnel”, the author portrays the difficulty of growing up through symbolism and imagery.

“Parents can only give good advice or put them on the right paths, but the final forming of a person 's character lies in their own hands.” Anne Frank said this, a girl forced into the world by something she could have never even controlled, a world war. In the story, Eleven by Sandra Cisneros, the story The Grave by Katherine Anne Porter and the story The American History by Judith Ortiz Cofer are all stories that belong to The Coming of Age genre. These short stories portray a female protagonist that is growing into the world around them. A world that they cannot control. In each story, the protagonist is forced to grow and mature into something that they were not ready for by something that they had no command

As a result of the changes that came with the second half of the century, many Americans seeking the ‘American Dream’ would agree with Jack Kerouac’s realization, “these were all the snapshots which our children would look at someday with wonder, thinking their parents had lived smooth, well-ordered lives and got up in the morning to walk proudly on the sidewalks of life, never dreaming the raggedy madness and riot of our actual lives, our actual night, the hell of it, the senseless emptiness” (Kerouac 112). Jack Kerouac’s novel features many of the biggest cities in America. This is because beginning in the 1950’s, cities were the most fashionable place for people to live because they had the best entertainment and biggest parties. However, as the author portrays, city life often left its inhabitants with a lack of meaning and purpose. Additionally, divorce began to become socially acceptable in the 1950’s. This started a never before seen era of single parents working frantically to support themselves. For the first time in American history, it was acceptable for love to end which resulted in a profound unhappiness among society which the author illustrates throughout the book. Lastly, following the war, a sense of uniformity pervaded American society. Everyone was suddenly expected to fit in a mold and conform to society’s

One unpleasant individual in Cormac McCarthy’s book, “Child of God,” found himself becoming less and less apart of the norm society has built around him. Throughout the story you see not only physically, but also mentally how Lester Ballard is becoming less humane. With the book starting off where Lester’s childhood home is being auctioned off, you will see how the transition from where Lester will begin to live matches to how he starts veering towards a more grotesque type of mindset. Provided that Lester Ballard wasn’t a contributive member of society from the beginning, it is no surprise when his character gets more withdrawn as he moves further away from his childhood home.

One of the most important sociological concepts is the belief that our behavior and personalities are shaped by our interactions with the environment around us. Whether they be positive or negative, our experiences with them still contribute to the type of person we grow into. Most of the authors we have looked at over the semester have made use of an individual’s conflict with their environment to help readers build a better understanding for the main character. Authors’ have described characters trapped in many different unfavorable situations with their jobs, families, or communities, but where authors’ differentiate their characters from one another is within their reactions to their specific stimuli. In Robert Browning’s My Last Duchess”

Different and splendid, John Patrick’s “The Curious Savage” centers around the plot of Mrs. Savage, an elderly woman who is the inheritor of her husband's $10 million dollars after his death. Although she intends to spread the wealth to others who wish to pursue their dreams, her stepchildren strongly object. In order to keep her from accomplishing this, however, her stepchildren place her into The Cloisters, a sanitarium. Here, she finds what true family really is.

The coming of age story is a timeless one both in fiction and biographies. These stories are quite popular among readers due to their relatable and honest experiences. Within these coming of age stories one thing remains constant, a factor or experience that accelerates the coming of age within the individual. Within the novels To Kill a Mockingbird, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Ellen Foster there is unifying theme of the effects of traumatic experiences on the coming of age of a child. In the aforementioned novels traumatic experiences lead to the maturation or coming of age of young Ellen, Marguerite, and Scout.

The first reason this novel’s overarching theme is “coming of age” novel is that there are multiple scenes in this book where George is working hard just to help his family. From a very young age, it isn’t usually expected that children will have to work in order to help support their families. Many young people today gently and kindly go through the “coming of age” process due to the many improvements shared within the modern world, and what makes it so inspirational is that George Dawson has to go through “coming of age” at a very young age because it was needed by his family. Also he understands what responsibility is and how he needs to be responsible. “Putting his hand on my shoulder, he said to the store clerk,’He’s all of ten years, but the boy crushed as much cane as I did.’ Since the age of four, I had always been working to help the family.” (3) From the quote, the narrator (George Dawson) narrates that he has worked hard from a very young age and only does it to help support his family, and it can be seen that the father is very proud of George. George Dawson’s work ethic is also very inspirational, and it inspires the reader to work harder so that they can achieve the things they desire.

Life is full of paradoxes. Children wish they could become adults, and adults wish they were children. However, Peter Pan and his Netherland are dreamlike. As Gail Sheehy- a famous American author, lecturer, and journalist- once states, “ If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” Maturity is complicated. Maturity is inevitable. Maturity means a lot of troubles. However, maturity is also a colorful picture of life that contains a lot of wonderful things for the individual to discover . That wonderful, colorful picture is described vividly by Robin Benway, a young writer, throughout her novel “ Emily and Oliver.” It has been ten years since Oliver was kidnapped by his dad. Right now, Oliver is home, but there is something different. Something has changed, and that’s maturity. By using the protagonist- Emmy- and antagonists- Emmy’s dad and Caro- Robin Benway shows the theme that maturity is unavoidable and essential for every person, for it is a part of life.

There are many factors at play in the novel which make it very satisfying to read. The book gives a strong depiction of middle-class 1950s life for the average American family; this time period is often reflected upon with nostalgia as a peaceful, prosperous decade, but the reality shows the discontent through which Tom and others like him view their lives. Tom

The process a child goes through to become an adult is universally filled with difficulties and hardships. Sooner or later, every child must learn to harness their emotions and become an individual in society. In the short story, “Through the Tunnel”, Jerry is an eleven year old boy who idolizes the “big boys” who spend their time in the “wild and rocky bay” rather than the “overcrowded and safe beach”. Wanting to fit in with them, Jerry tries his hardest to become like the boys and learns to become mature and independent in the process. In Doris Lessing’s novella, the author illustrates the challenges of maturation using imagery, symbolism, and characterization.

Throughout life one will encounter many realizations which can shatter their perspective of life. One of the most challenging part of these coming of age moments is realizing the wrong doings of our parents as some see them as perfect beings and thrive to be like them. Jeannette Walls describes in her memoir titled “the Glass Castle” how she takes many years to come of this realization. With the help of her siblings, she faces the chaos of persistent poverty and takes on a parental role in her family as her non-conformist parents fail to provide stability and safety to their children. Eventually, most children leave the family house for New York and achieve greater financial success than the parents. The author shows in “the Glass castle” how one’s heroic view of their parents might end after one faces critical events as they gain maturity.

Jeannette Walls, who struggled during childhood, in her memoir, The Glass Castle, writes about her and her family’s struggle to survive. Walls mentions how, growing up with her parents was tough, for her parents were very irresponsible. The children were put through many struggles; nevertheless, the children still managed to succeed in life. Wall’s purpose is to inform the readers of her family’s struggles. She supports her purpose by using details and incidents from her past experience. Although the children encountered many struggles, the parent’s irresponsibility and the hardships they went through lead the children to their success.