Growing Up

Growing up has never been an easy thing, and that is why so many people fail this task, and stay a little kid in mind. The following texts are about different ways of growing up, and the individual children and youngsters experiences. The young people in the texts each experience something that makes them pass the line to adulthood, and makes an unforgettable impression on them.

Indian Camp by Earnest Hemmingway describes the boy Nicks meeting with death, and life. He witnesses his father perform a caesarean on an Indian woman in labour, and a man commit suicide. This event shocks Nick, and makes him think about death: a life changing thought that has never crossed his childish mind. His father calls him Nicky on the way home, which is an attempt to retain his son from growing up too fast after having witnessed these violent acts. He wants to show Nick that he still is the same boy he always has been, and that he will never be alone, even if his innocence may have been lost in the previous events.

The fairytale The Shining Mountain, by Allison Fell tells about the Scottish girl Pangma-La. Pangma-La and her famous mountaineering father have a complicated relationship. He expects that his daughter is "tough and hard as nails" and never show weakness. She after a famous shining mountain, so that she "will stand tall and be proud". But although Pangma-La tries her best to live up to his expectations, she is always afraid of failing, or disappointing him. When the father loses Pangma-La, he realizes that his ambitions is top high, and accepts her. As they climb down the mountain, the fairytale says "never again was Pangma-La afraid that her father would be disappointed in her."