Lily

Maturity Levels In Characters

Maturity levels increase and decrease in characters in works of literature and

also throughout one's real life. It's hard for the maturity level of the

person to stay the same. Ron Jones' The Acorn People, The Glass Menagerie by

Tennessee Williams, A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and The Loved One by

Evelyn Waugh clearly show the degree of maturity in characters in a work of

literature. Ron Jones in The Acorn People shows a low maturity level when first

arriving at the summer camp, but later his maturity level increased into a

higher level. Laura Wingfield's character in The Glass Menagerie was extremely

shy throughout most of the play. By the end of the play, Laura was able to hold

a conversation with her old crush, Jim O'Connor. Sydney Carton of A Tale of

Two Cities showed a rise is his maturity level when he took the place of Charles

Darnay in the prison cell so that Lucie (Sydney's true love) would be able to

be with her husband. Aimee Thanatogenos of The Loved OneÐ'.... A person can be

described as "mature" when he or she has grown physically and mentally, and

has demonstrated the ability to be responsible for his/her actions. Whether

it's an increase or decrease of maturity level, a change in it always shows a

change in character and attitude. Ron Jones' maturity level rocketed after he

became a camp counselor at Camp Wiggin and he also had a major attitude change

along with that. Ron had placed himself in the camp counselor position merely

for a good-paying job. In college he was an athlete, and playing with kids all

day, swimming, and taking long hikes had also drawn him to the job. Little did

he know this session of camp, was for the handicapped kids. Ron, along with the

other counselors, were not trained for these kinds of tasks that they had to

deal with, with the disabled kids and by the end of the first afternoon- Ron

wanted out. His attitude was negative towards the situation he was put in and he

felt that he would not be able to get close with these kids. The next day was

better for him and throughout the next few days he slowly got to know and love

the kids. Ron came to realize that this camp was "a place for children and

their expectations and fantasies for life"(46), no matter if they were

handicapped or not. Ron Jones' maturity level grew and grew each day as he

worked with these kids. By the end of that session of camp he had a complete

attitude change and his degree of maturity had increased a great deal. That

change for Ron Jones was a change