Throughout our lives, we are constantly faced with problems and we are constantly maturing when facing them. In his novel, “Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie”, Alan Bradley puts Flavia through many challenges, maturing her through each. An important moment that impacts Flavia’s maturity is when her father, Colonel De Luce, lies about not handling death well. When Dr. Kissing burns the stamp, Flavia’s maturity must come out to be responsible for the last Ulster Avenger. Another very powerful moment that affects her maturation is her kidnapping, courtesy of Frank Pemberton. Because Flavia is going through these events, her maturation is greatly impacted and she becomes more grown.
Flavia has always been mature for her age, but when her father lies about handling death, it affects her a lot. Flavia knows her father and his personality a lot, so “[she] knew instantly, too, that Father had just told a lie… ”
…show more content…
Kissing burns the AA Ulster Avenger in front of her. Since the beginning of their meeting, Kissing does not treat her like a child. He starts to make her put thought into what she ought to do with his Ulster Avenger if he passed away, “...[Flavia] want[s] to present the stamp to father, even though… [she] wanted to give both stamps to Inspector Hewitt” (Bradley, 281). Since he owned the AA stamp, Kissing “...removed the cigarette from his mouth, and touched its lighted tip to the corner of the Ulster Avenger” (Bradley, 284). Now Flavia is left responsible for the last Ulster Avenger, and Kissing is expecting her to be mature when dealing with it. Not many eleven-year-old girls have a priceless stamp burn in front of them, then have to decide what to do with the last of its kind.
Pemberton kidnapping Flavia has a very powerful impact on her maturity. At such a young age, Flavia has experienced a kidnapping. She “...suddenly realized that [she] was more afraid than i had ever been in my life” (Bradley,