Growth and Change in Contemporary Fiction

The life of a child is one of discovery and exploration of the real in order to assimilate, understand and exist. The child will ultimately become an adult. But this is more than a complex physical maturation but a growth of the person as a whole. Intellect, spiritual strength, rationalism, acceptance etc. it is difficult to pinpoint what truly makes the adult compared with the child. But it can all be summed up as "maturity", and the child's position on such an intangible scale. The growth from youth to adulthood is one in which change is necessary and powerful.....so powerful as to alter the very life of the person swept up in it.

It is the power and intensity of this change that makes it such a favorable focus of modern contemporary fiction. The genre of the child in today's world facing the inevitable onslaught of a realism that at times is harsh and destructive. The conflict between the beliefs and thoughts of the child and the cold, unyielding press of reality makes for a fascinating plot.

Consider the novel 'Came back to show you I could fly' by Robin Klein. A story of two characters who, realistically, are irrevocably sad. Their lives are traps, clasping at their legs and preventing them from any movement. And yet the expected resolution would therefore involve characters breaking free from their restrictions, and going on to face the world with greater mobility. Klein does a fantastic job of creating a story in which this takes place. The secret to this texts success is it's ability to draw the reader in and make them 'relate' to the characters and situations presented to them. And yet exactly how is this done?

For Seymour, "...Everything was always temporary, always in a state of flux" (pg.7). He has no stability in his life, neither in respect to his broken family or his dreary life in a strict, gray 'prison' with Thelma (the warden). His life becomes a shared experience as Klein reveals his thoughts and his actions to us in an 'omnipresent' fashion. We see a blend of the world as it may be observed as well as a glimpse into the private world of one's experience in it.

"He felt rather pleased with himself, and even defiant - a rare sensation for him. He glanced back over his shoulder at Thelma's unbearably smug little house, then craned forward to see what was at either end of the alleyway............he sat on the frame for a moment to gather his courage, then dropped down on to the flagstones. It was like escaping from a cage." (Pg.11)

One of the key elements to this passage however is the recognition that this behavior is a giant leap in 'character' for Seymour. Note that it says that defiance is a rare sensation for the placid little Seymour. Although his head may be full of rebuttals and arguments when confronted with the unyielding world of adults.....the boy is silent. His silence is a gesture of defeat on his part, a lose. And yet to escape from this reality as he does is an important signifier that change has occurred. Seymour has finally stood up for himself by running away (?). And yet he recognizes that he must later return, and make sure that his defiant action is never realized by the very same authority he runs from. And in this way we are given the impression that perhaps Seymour doesn't yet have the 'full picture', as it were. He still has a long way to go before being 'changed' in a noteworthy respect.

Another moment within the novel that signifies Seymour's transition from child to adult (or at least 'mature child') is his direct verbal assault on Thelma. Words that had previously been hidden within the fortress of his mind. Not only is his speech a direct challenge of Thelma's power over him, but it is also an acutely accurate analysis of the motives of adult actions. Understanding often takes the place of fear.

"...Seymour snapped, weary of it all. 'It's like cloak and dagger stuff, this hiding out...it wasn't even needed. She just likes all the fuss.' Thelma looked at him, astonished, as though a piece of her furniture had spoken." (Pg.148)

A recognition of himself as an independent entity, of his confidence in himself, is a big step for Seymour. Both he and the angelic drug-user Angie, need to realize themselves by sharing each others lives. By reflecting on and realizing the 'other', Seymour realizes that he is an individual. Angie needs someone to listen, and Seymour needs someone to share. It is this that makes their relationship so special. And yet if they are to learn and progress at all, the intrusion of change will lead them to grow apart. Or at least in Seymour's respect. Seymour needs to break away from the previously dictator-like image of adults that he has been exposed to. The violence and hopelessness of his father, the manipulative machinations of his own mother and the rules and regulations that bind Thelma's existence and realize himself as a complete and unique human being. Rather than being their pawn he must realize his potential as a king.

The last letter offers the reader a great deal of resolution not only by tying up Angie's story and offering us a kernel of hope in respect to her life. But demonstrates the fantastic change that Seymour has undergone from child to mature individual.

"Angie, I'm glad you went to Lakeview and you didn't nick off. I'm glad you're staying there till the baby's born. I used to get these dreams, you know, about how you'd manage and what it would be like. They were pretty awful.... ...You hang right in there, Angie!" (Final Pages, pgs. 188-189)

The passage from youth to independant entity is never easy nor without it's shares of joys and pains. Seymour has broken away from the rules and regulations on how he should live imposed on him by others, and even though he may go on to demonstrate some of their behaviors in his own (the "talking down" he gives Angie in the last line of the above quote for example) he has changed in that he now carries a great deal more responsibility for his own actions as he performs them. It is understanding and acceptance of both self, and the viewpoints and lives of others, that is one of the most powerful signifiers of maturity. And the focus of the plot in Came back to show you I could fly. Change is both a force in man's life and a fascinating obsession of his that appears in a great deal of realist and fantastic fictional writing.

A thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters have produced something akin to The Musings of Dan
or
Just down the road from Wuthering Heights sits The Lair of Dan"