Growing Up

1
Growing Up

• By
• Joyce Carey

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What happens?

• The story is simple in outline
• A man comes home from work for the weekend. He
  plays with his daughters, who attack him. In the
  struggle their pet dog bites him. The girls tend
  to his wound, and he goes out to his club for
  some male company.
• But beneath this simple narrative,
  lots of other things are happening

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Themes

• Like several of the authors, Joyce Cary
  chooses a title that suggests one of the themes
  of the story - that of growing up.
• This appears to refer mostly to the two
  sisters, Kate and Jenny.
• Later we see that it also applies in a way to
  their father, Robert, who has been able to play
  with them for years, but now sees a time when he
  will be cut off from them, good only for paying
  the bills.
• The author makes this idea clear in the last
  sentence of the story.

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• Another theme might be nature - and this story
  looks at nature in human, animal and vegetable
  terms. We see
• the way the garden grows wild,
• the way the bitch, Snort, plays
• the way the girls act
• In all three cases there is a contrast between
  ideas of cultivated and civilized nature and
  nature in the wild or untamed - a contrast that
  appears clearly as the girls go from a ferocious
  attack on Robert, to acting as nursemaids, and
  tending to his wound.
• Which of these is the real nature of the girls?
  The truth is that their nature includes
  both of these.

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Characters

• Robert
• We see the story through Robert's eyes, and have
  access to his thoughts. He seems very different
  from his sensible wife (who does act like a grown
  up). He is very close to his daughters who have
  missed greeting him on his return home only once
  in several years. The fact that he recalls this
  incident so clearly shows the importance for him
  of their concern.
• When the girls attack him, Robert has no means to
  defend himself. Here are two possible reasons.
• He is not able to control his daughters
  by force of personality.
• He wishes not to use physical force for
  fear of harming them.

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• Jenny and Kate
• The girls in the story are Jenny (twelve) and
  Kate (a year older). They appear sometimes as
  individuals, but also as a pair who act together.
  Here are some of the things they do.
• Individually
• Jenny reads a book and asks her father to lift
  her onto a wall.
• Kate plays on a swing.
• Jenny is alarmed by the wound whereas Kate still
  laughs when she sees it.
• Together they
• attack the bitch (Snort)
• fight their father
• tend his wounds

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• Carey tell us that the sisters adore each other
  "and one always came to the other's help". (We
  cannot be sure if this is information from the
  writer to the reader, or what Robert is thinking.
  It could be either.)
• The girls have some contradictory feelings. We
  see that growing up does not mean becoming more
  sensible or like real adults. The girls'
  excitability and wildness makes them in some ways
  less responsible than when they were younger.
• We see this contrast in the way they speak to
  their father. Look at what they call him
  "Paleface" and "Paleface Robbie" or "Daddy". What
  does each of these names tell you about the
  girls' feelings at the time? Paleface" is a name
  used in Western films by "Red Indians" (the old
  name for Native Americans) - and they are here
  suggesting that they are savage, like the
  stereotyped view of the "Red
  Indians" in the cinema.

8

• We can see this contrast in some other "before"
  and "after" comments.
• Before they attack Robert, the girls chant "Kill
  him - scalp him. Torture him".
• After they have attacked him, Jenny says, "We've
  got to wash your bite" while Kate, who fetches
  the water for the washing, says, "Daddy - sit
  down - how dare you get up?"

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• Roberts Wife
• The story also shows us Robert's wife and her
  friend, Jane. Unlike the girls, these two adult
  women seem far removed from Robert's concerns and
  outlook. There is no hint of a close personal
  relationship. It seems (to Robert or the reader?)
  that they see themselves as responsible - they
  "run the world", while children
  (of all ages) amuse themselves.

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• "Old Wilkins"
• Hes at the club. He does not appear directly -
  but his description may serve as a grim warning
  of what Robert may be fated to become, as he
  retreats into the security of his club - it is
  safe but utterly boring. Yet it passes the time.

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Writers technique narrators viewpoint

• This story is presented through Robert's eyes,
  but not in his voice - so we can never be sure
  that what we read is always exactly what is in
  his mind

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Writers use of language

• Word choices
• Sometimes these are surprising. When we read that
  Jenny is reading were told that she does it
  furiously. (Line 33). Why? This description is
  both odd and yet could be quite appropriate!
• Elsewhere Joyce Cary uses clichés or stereotyped
  words. Do you think he does this knowingly? Does
  he wholly agree with the ideas that these phrases
  normally suggest? E.g. Robert imagines himself as
  an old buffer (line 149) and thinks of
  Wilkins (line 158) as a crashing bore.

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Writers use of language

• Similes
• What effects does the writer achieve with
  similes? Here are a few examples, for you to
  comment on
• a bamboo likened to a spear (line 71)
• a garden rake compared to a lance (line 89)
• the girls' bones compared to birds'
  legs (line 95)

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• Think about what the images used in these
  similes, what they say, and how they tell you
  more about the thing they describe.
• The girls' bones are like birds' legs because
  they look thin and fragile to Robert.
• The girls' bones are like birds' legs because
  they of are a similar size, shape and colour
• but, remember, birds legs end in claws!
• What other similes can you see, and how
  do they work?

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• Patterns in the Language
• The writer uses patterns of balance with
  repetition or antithesis. Look at this example
• "The original excuse for this neglect was that
  the garden was for the children...The original
  truth was that neither of the Quicks cared for
  gardening." (Lines 11 to 13)
• By using the same words initially, the writer
  makes clearer the contrast between the Quicks'
  public and private explanations, before showing
  how the original excuse over time
  became true.

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DialogueJoyce Cary use the exact words that
people speak (shown as direct speech) to suggest
their character and the situation at various
points in the story. Look at these examples, and
see what they tell you about the character
"Tiger, tiger" (line 76) "Hi, Jenny - don't do
that. Don't do that, Kate..." (line 83) "...Kill
him - scalp him. Torture him." (line 91) "Sit
down, Daddy - sit down - how dare you get up."
(lines 127-8) "No, I'll get on the wall. Put
me up." (line 170)
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Comparisons

• Some comparisons/contrasts in the story
• the attitudes of Robert contrasted with those of
  his daughters or his wife
• gardens that are wild and those that are
  cultivated
• wild and tame behaviour in a family pet
• civilized and primitive or savage behaviour in
  people
• childhood and adulthood
  (and the bit inbetween).

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• Attitudes in the text
• We learn most clearly about Roberts attitudes.
  He has a sense of a world where he knew his
  place, and could find happiness in it - but now
  that is all changing, and he feels alarm at what
  may become of him.
• The characters in this story may share some of
  the frustrations of the characters in other
  stories, but this world seems stable (controlled
  by women!)
• Robert can seek shelter in his club, but theres
  no suggestion that he would leave his world he
  just accepts the changes and his place
  in this world, and hides
  from it!