Growing up is the process of maturation from discarding childish thoughts in the old days to starting the actions and thoughts like an adult, and such a process involves many unavoidable conflicts, a positive force to have a person see new things and reflect on himself. A person with maturity would not be naive or take the actions based on his own assumptions and preferences. Instead, he would see things from different perspectives with broader views and put himself into other people’s shoes before making the decision. “Too Soon A Woman” written by Dorothy M. Johnson talks about a boy and his family of four heading westward to the mountains and picking up a girl named Mary, who takes care of the children when they are near starvation, whilst the father is scavenging for food. “The Challenge” written by Gary Soto describes a teenage boy José tries to get the attention of a new girl called Estela at middle school, Estela. José first wants to impress her through a racquetball game but he ends up failing the game terribly, not wanting to talk to her anymore. “President Cleveland, WHERE ARE YOU” written by Robert Cormier tells of a selfish boy Jerry, during the period of Great Depression, only wanting Ken Maynard Cowboy Cards, but at the end he becomes generous, giving his five dollars to his brother for his high school prom. Each story all writes about a teenager as the main character and describes the process of how they grow up and what makes them grow up.
Growing up, or maturity, is the main stream of the plot among the structure of the three stories. Specifically, the three stories center on character’s change from being immature, going through a conflict, and then becoming mature. José in “The Challenge” first thought that Estela is weak at sport because she is a woman. He assumes that he as a man has a better chance to win the racquetball game. But José lost the game to Estela with twenty-one to nada, no single change of scoring. He realizes that he underrated women’s ability. José’s stereotypes and naive thoughts toward women caused him to fail the game. Through the failure, he realizes that the assumptions he had previously about women were wrong and he should not underestimate the ability of the women even though they might look weak and soft. José changes his prejudicial attitude toward women from being weak and incapable to being strong and capable. In “Too Soon a Woman”, the narrator and his father originally have prejudice against Mary and think Mary as being blunt and unrelenting. However, while the father is away looking for food and the children are facing starvation, Mary looks for food and finds the mushrooms. She risks her life to test the mushrooms if they are poisonous or not before giving them to the children. The action of the dangerous mushroom event shows the care, responsibility, and maturity of Mary, winning the trust and reliability from the father. The views toward Mary have changed from an unacceptable, irresponsible person to an acceptable and important person in the family. At the beginning Jerry in “President Cleveland, Where are You?” only concerns the collection of Cowboy cards without caring for his family during the Great Depression. Later, Jerry feels guilty for not contributing money in buying a birthday gift to his father, so he sells the Grover Cleveland for 5 dollars to Rollie Tremaine and gives the money to his family. Previously Jerry only cared about what he wanted. As the story unfolds, Jerry realizes the financial situation of the family and wants to help by selling his cards. The action explains Jerry’s change from being selfish to being generous. The structure of the three stories all describes the change of the characters from immaturity to maturity.
The characters’ change throughout the whole story among the three stories all reflect on some valuable themes. Whenever a problem occurs, the character changes, which not only creates a theme but also leads the characters to grow up. The main theme of “The Challenge” is gender discrimination. José underestimated Estela’s ability and lost the game in the racquetball match. José's failure in the game makes him grow up and start to have a reflection on his attitudes toward females. He acknowledges females aren’t as weak as he believed. Indeed, females have great ability as male and people should discard prejudicial attitudes against females. The main theme of “Too Soon a Woman” is self-discovery. Mary takes very good care of the children and she is willing to risk her life in order for the children to be safe and not be poisoned by the mushroom. Mary’s behaviors of taking care of children help her change and reflect on important characteristics of herself, including bravery, caring, and responsibility. Sometimes people need to experience some difficult situations to help them grow up and become mature. The main theme of “President Cleveland, Where are You?” is family love. Jerry really wants the president cards and gets the baseball glove, but he sold the card for 5 dollars to Rollie Tremaine so the family could survive on the low budget. Jerry sacrificed his president card and traded for 5 dollars, indicating that Jerry is devoted and generous to his family. Jerry’s selling cards leads him to become mature by reflecting his love for family during the Great Depression. Jerry realizes that the value of family is priceless and is more precious than cards. The main themes of all three stories are revealed through the main characters’ process of growing up.
Conflicts are always enclosed during the process of the characters’ growing up among the three stories. Conflict acts as a positive force to promote the change of the characters since it would bring new understanding. In "The Challenge" the conflict can be seen when José at first likes Estela and he does everything to get her attention, but José ends up failing everything he does and dislikes Estela. The conflict is the difference between how José imagines or assumes what females would be and what females actually do, which is the big contrast. This conflict brings José a new understanding about females, learning not to underestimate females who are not as weak or soft as he thought. In "Too Soon A Woman" Mary is not accepted by the father previously because her running away from home makes her an irresponsible person. But when the father is away, Mary finds food to get children fed, even endangers her life to make sure if the food is safe to eat for the children. This shows caring, responsibility, and bravery of Mary and later she is accepted by the father. The conflict is found between Mary’s previous personality and her new personality. The cause of the conflict happens when Mary is left with the children. This conflict makes Mary realize that she actually is a brave person and is capable of facing challenges, which makes Mary become mature. In “President Cleveland, Where are You?” Jerry was very selfish about the cowboy cards and wanted the Cowboy cards more than anything. But he changed and gave the money to his brother Armand for the promenade. The conflict is between Jerry’s selfishness and generosity. The Great Depression makes Jerry’s family into poverty and Jerry then understands the value of the family compared to the cards. Conflicts indicate characters if they are mature or not as well as discover where they are growing and what they still need to grow.
Growing up is the process of becoming mature and doing the right things at the right time according to the situation. All stories about becoming mature always have a structure, where the character is satisfied with his life, and then has a conflict with other people, and in turn becomes more mature. Jose learned that tripping in front of a girl was not a way to catch the attention of the girl. The maturity of Mary makes Father accept her as a trustworthy helper in managing the kids and then father thinks she is very responsible and protective. The maturity of Jerry shows that he is willing to devote himself to his family and try to help the family’s financial crisis during the Great Depression. There are also conflicts and the main theme is their change, such as when Jose changes from underestimating females to respecting them, or Jerry’s change from being selfish to generous. Also, there is the maturity and status of Mary. The stories all demonstrate that growing up is an essential part of life.
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