Blog #5!!

In The Probable Future written by Alice Hoffman, many significant moments in the characters' lives move them into adulthood. Even if they aren't a child or a teenager, it doesn't mean that they can't be transformed into their mature, adult-self. Will Avery is a perfect example. Unlike his brother, Matt Avery, who grew up long before he was legally an adult, Will has been immature his entire life. Matt was responsible and reasonable, while Will was a compulsive liar and unfaithful to everyone around him. Until Stella confesses her power to see how people will die, Will is still lying and sleeping around. Once he gets arrested for Stella's death prediction being reported to the police, he becomes severely depressed. He runs out of money, can't pay the bills or buy food, and drinks constantly. However, as his daughter's life becomes endangered, he immediately realizes what a fool he has been and how much his choices have affected those around him. For the first time in his life, he admits his mistake and the author describes, "the enormity of his failures crashing down on him... He could see his reflection in the glass panels on the side of the door to Cake House: he appeared to be underwater, a drowning man with nothing to hold on to but a single shred of truth. 'I made a mistake'" (199). Did this chronic liar actually just admit that he had done something wrong? He did. And it marked a complete turn around for Will. He changes his ways, he becomes happy again, he lives a life of honesty, after a lifetime of lies and mistrust. He has finally started living responsibly and maturely, something he should have done years ago. Also unlike Will, Jenny learned to live on her own as an adult in her childhood and teenage years. Her mother, Elinor, didn't have the mothering skills that most daughters needed, but Jenny found her way just fine. The author tells us, "Elinor should have built her world around Jenny when Saul died in that accident on a road outside Boston, but instead she walked into the garden and she had never come out again" (68). Even at such a young age, Jenny was forced to learn on her own, and live her own way because her mother was too caught up in her own grief to take care of her only daughter. When Jenny was sick, she was the one that called the doctor and asked him to make a house call, a traditional motherly task to accomplish. We are told by the author, "She was only in sixth grade, but she had already learned to take care of herself...Why, the girl was quite feverish, and she didn't have a glass of water on her night table or a cold cloth for her forehead" (69). Another mother-taking-care-of-sick-child task. Jenny learned quickly how to manage. Maybe her lack of a mother was the cause for her rebelling later in life? Feeling neglected by one's parents can definitely lead to rebellion and going off on one's own path. The only difference between people at this moment in their lives is when. When do they become adults? When do they learn how to live on their own? When do they learn to be responsible human beings and make good choices? Although the time may be different for each person, hopefully everyone will grow up and move away from the Neverland of carelessness and disrespect.