GrowingUp

**  MATURING      This page is about how characters grows up as time goes on in the novel.

"Never before had I been with Dad's best and oldest friend, the beloved August Shultz, without Dad present. Nor had I been old enough to appreciate it-why, it hadn't been long since August referred to me as 'my little man.' Now here we sat together, in his dark kitchen, the house asleep, talking about foggy mornings." (141-142) August Shultz and Reuben wake up early in the morning when the fog is out and everyone else is asleep. Reuben makes coffee and August goes into the kitchen wearing a nightshirt. Reuben realizes that he has never been alone with August before. The two talk about the smell of April and the feeling of change that seems to be in the air. **    "... and for the first time a question nipped at me: Was it possible that real loss had occurred at the death of Israel Finch? That real grief had been felt?" (132)      <span style="font-size: 70%; font-family: Georgia, serif;">He says this inside the trailer on the morning of leaving Roofing. Reuben is starting to understand that what Davy has done is wrong. Others not only his family are suffering from his actions. The parents of the dead teenager is in grief as well**.** <span style="display: block; color: rgb(120,227,179); font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; background-color: rgb(252,251,222); text-align: center;">**<span style="display: block; font-size: 150%; color: rgb(56,74,183); font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; text-align: right;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 70%; font-family: Georgia, serif;">"It sure was one thing to say you're at war with this whole world and stick your chest out believing it, but when the world shows up with its crushing numbers and its predatory knowledge, it is another thing completely." (166)   ** <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Quote 3. This quote if refering to Reuben with his struggle to obtain air when breathing is hard. Reuben was at war with the world at birth when breathing for air was an unfathomable task. Reuben was unable to breath for 12 minutes, Until Jeremiah came and saved him. Any modern task involving work is a difficult task for Reuben to perform. However Reuben appears to conquer every battle with his lungs. <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"The fact is, beyond the occasional scary dream, my chief response to the shootings was a self-centered misery that Davy'd had to go away. I just missed my brother." (140)    <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">    <span style="color: rgb(42,248,18);"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Though Swede realizes Davy did something that was wrong, she still misses Davy and wants him to come home. Swede wants Davy to come back regardless of his crime. She still loves him even though she has the occasional nightmare. Swede just wants him to come home. ** <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">    <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">"I've always liked the feeling of being the first one awake in the morning; it makes you daring somehow. I went down the kitchen and poked around carefully-didn't turn on ay lights for fear of rousting August or Dad. Lifting the coffeepot off the stove I found it was half full." (140) <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">  <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> ** <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Quote 5. This quote is Reubens personal thought, while at the Shultzs house. Reuben wakes early and wonders to the Shultzs kitchen and warms the coffee. However, he does not turn on any lights in order to keep housewide silence. Minutes later, August comes in and speaks to Reuben. They both take a ride to Jeremiahs old farm just by the river. <span style="color: rgb(0,255,0);"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; color: rgb(250,5,5);"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Land children are growing up, and they are experiencing many things as a family. Fishing is very much a rite of passage for many children and it can be a sort of coming-of-age type experience. <span style="color: rgb(250,5,5);">The Land family are starting to evolve more noticably, and you can see this through Rueben's vantage point of Swede. Swede used to be a girl who wrote plain poems, but now Swede is writing poems about Sunny Sundown dying and a page about their Journey to find Davy. Also Reuben changed from being a child to being a man who finally realizes that his father's dangers for finding Davy. The children are faced with having to make decisions and deal with feelings that they think are wrong or unreasonable to feel, but realize that sometimes how you really feel about a situation contradicts one's good sense. <span style="color: rgb(250,5,5);"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Why do you think that the Land family is maturing so much on their trip to find Davy? <span style="display: block; color: rgb(223,1,182); text-align: left;"><span style="color: rgb(250,5,5);"> <span style="color: rgb(255,6,184);"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The Land family is maturing together in his trip to find Davy because in order to come together and pick up each others weaknesses. Rueben is now the big brother to Swede, so he has to mature the most in the whole family. His asthma plays a big part in his life, and he has to watch out what he does. So when e tries to help out his father and Swede he always has to stay below his limits. Although after all of that he is a very good brother to Swede and cares for her like he should. <span style="color: rgb(250,37,5);"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Which point in the novel do you think the Land's made the most significant evolution?

<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">the Family experiences the most significant evolution when Davy kills Israel and Tommy. In murdering the two boys Davy accidentally splits apart the Land family. Then he escapes jail and runs away to the Great Plains, and he begins the transition from the Lands Roofing set life and places them in a mobile home. This evolution is the most significant because it is the premise on which the story as we know it is based that is to find Davy. (outlaw123) What are some other emotionally significant moments for Swede and Reuben that show their coming-of-age and new understanding of complicated situations and concepts? <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(250,5,185);">**<span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Reuben and Swede are greatly showing how they are getting older and more mature. The children are showing that they sort of understand what kind of trouble Davy is in. While Reuben has known what kind of talent his father has Swede is only starting to realize what kind of power he has. When Jeremiah was able to hide the family from the police Swede was astonished. She only just started to understand how her father works. Even in the middle of this novel Swede and Reuben showed how mature they were when they took care of their father. when he had pnemonia. While Swede was busy taking care of her father Reuben spent his time working. After he was paid for working Reuben knew what would be best for his family and spent his money on food. ** <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">

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