Analysis Of Growing Up: Key Moments And Through The Tunnel

Coming of age means growing up and maturing. People grow and mature differently based on the experiences we have. “Growing Up: Key Moments,” “Marigolds,” and “Through the Tunnel” are three texts that support this idea. Although everyone has growing-up moments, they’re different for everyone. Everyone has different experiences and that’s what makes them grow up differently. When I was younger, I grew up without knowing my dad, which makes me think differently about men than someone else would who grew up with their father. There are so many little things that people don’t think about that can change how a person grows.

“Growing Up: Key Moments” by Jessica McBirney explains how our “growing up” moments are based on experiences that happen to us and they can be different for everyone. We learn from our past and apply what we learned to the present. In the text, McBirney says, “I think this is because ‘growing up’ is more about the experiences we have, and the things we learn from them.” (1) She also explains that most growing up moments will be negative, but not discouraged by them. She

In the story, the narrator, Lizabeth, and some other kids began to throw pebbles at an older woman's marigolds and then chanted, "Old witch, fell in a ditch, picked up a penny and thought she was rich!" Lizabeth was ashamed. "The child in [her] sulked and said it was all in fun, but the woman in [her] flinched at the thought of the malicious attack that [she] had led." (34) Later on, she goes back to destroy the flowers even more, and the old woman catches her. Immediately, Lizabeth realizes what she's done and regrets it and thinks "In that humiliating moment I looked beyond myself and into the depth of another person. This was the beginning of compassion, and one cannot have both compassion and innocence." (63) This shows that she grew from that experience and