Growing Up

Growing up

The setting of the story is set in the garden. It is described as a

wilderness. It has a small vegetable patch near the pond. I think this

garden could have potential if it was cared for and not used as the

children’s ‘Play area’. It has one bed where Mrs Quick (one of the

main characters) ‘grew flowers for the house’ and it ‘hadn’t been

touched for years’. She had lost care for it. Old apple trees tottered

over seedy laurels, unpruned roses where in the garden and tall ruins

of dahlias and delphiniums hung from broken sticks. From the way the

writer had written about the garden, he describes it as if it was like

a jungle. I know this because he keeps referring it as ‘wilderness’.

The reason for its neglect was that it was for the children and that

‘they should do what they like there’. This phrase is a hint into what

is to come later on in the story. Mr quick like that their garden was

different from other neighbours because he was proud that it was

different and that his children had created a place where his children

could play and relax. It was like a ‘play area’ for them. The writer

repeats the word ‘wilderness’ to emphasise the state of the garden. He

wants the readers to understand that the garden is like a ‘forest’.

The condition, the smell, everything. ‘Sun just warming up… making

even old weeds shine red and gold’. The reader says this because even

though the garden is like a jungle, it still is beautiful. Weeds are

said to be ugly and most people want to get rid of them but the writer

wants the readers to understand that the garden is beautiful, weeds

and all. ‘It had a special kind of beauty of untouched woods’. The

writer is still telling the reader that the garden is like a ‘primeval

forest’. This means that it was before humans/ untouched by man. This

confirms what the writer said before about the quick family not caring

about the garden. The connection between the state of the garden and

the behaviour of the children are similar in the sense that the garden

is ‘wild’ and that when the children ‘attack’ the dog and father the

actions of them are ‘wild’ because they throw ‘bamboo’ sticks at the

dog and pounce on the dad like a ‘wild’ tiger perhaps? Their actions

are like fierce animals in the jungle, which could be seen as the

children in the garden. The children as fierce animals and the garden