Growing Up by Gary Soto- Standard RL 8.2

Growing up by Gary Soto

8. She hugged her doll. Something was happening to her, and it could be that she was growing up. When the news ended, and a song began to play, she got up and washed her face without looking at herself in the mirror. That night, the family went out to eat Chinese food. Although her brothers were playing, telling jokes, and spilling a soda, she was happy. She ate a lot, and when her fortune cookie said: “You are mature and sensible”, she had to agree. And so did her father and mother. The family returned home singing the words of “La Bamba” along with the car radio.

• The theme is Never Give Up

• The theme is Always Appreciate Your Family

• The theme is Be Careful What You Wish For

• The theme is A Small Mistake Can Have Big Consequences

The problem in Growing Up by Gary Soto is

• Maria wants her father to buy her Charlie perfume.

• Maria wants to appear on the cover of Seventeen magazine.

• Maria is growing up and becoming a woman. She loves her father, but he annoys her.

• Maria feels poor and is tired of family vacations: they bore her.

The Rising Action in Growing Up by Gary Soto is when

• The family goes to Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

• Maria feels bored at Disneyland and wishes to be at the mall shopping with her friend.

• Maria feels poor while walking around Disneyland.

• Maria annoys her father by being ungrateful for the family vacation.

The CLIMAX of Growing Up by Gary Soto is when...

• Maria stays at home with her grandmother, but worries about her family all the time.

• Maria's father yells, "Come get your brat!" to her mother Ava after Maria tells him she doesn't want to go to the Great America adventure park.

• The news reports about a family involved in a car accident and Maria is consumed with worry and guilt; not even a trip to the mall with her friend Becky can distract her from these thoughts. In the following days, Maria continues to worry about the well-being of her family.

• ALL OF THE ABOVE ARE THE CLIMAX / MIDDLE OF THE STORY

The falling action in Growing by Gary Soto is when

• The news reports about a family involved in a car accident and Maria is consumed with worry and guilt; not even a trip to the mall with her friend Becky can distract her from these thoughts. Over the next few days, Maria continues to worry about the well-being of her family.

• The news reports about a family involved in a car accident and Maria is consumed with worry and guilt; not even a trip to the mall with her friend Becky can distract her from these thoughts. Over the next few days, Maria continues to worry about the well-being of her family.

• Maria calms down. The news reports about a family involved in a car accident and Maria is consumed with worry and guilt; not even a trip to the mall with her friend Becky can distract her from these thoughts. Over the next few days, Maria continues to worry about the well-being of her family.

• ALL OF THE ABOVE

The solution to the family's problem of dealing with an ungrateful teenager who is "Growing Up" is...

• Maria begins to mature/grow up by herself and realizes that she misses and needs her family. She feels alone without them and worries about their safety.

• Her family spends a fun day at the beach, buying fall clothes, staying up late at Great America and eating at restaurants without Maria.

• End: Maria's family returns home, safe and sound. As they tell her stories about their vacation, Maria resents that they had so much fun while she was at home worried. At dinner that night, Maria and her family reflect on the experience and everyone concludes that she is growing up to be both mature and sensible.

• ALL OF THE ABOVE

The author's purpose in writing "Growing Up" is to show how

• it can be difficult and confusing to be a teenager. Maria struggles with many clashing and confusing emotions. For example, she gets very angry with her father and decides she is too old for family vacations. However, when her family leaves, the narrator says: "a bad feeling stirred within her. She felt terrible for arguing with her father" (Paragraph 29).

• Maria worries about her family for the rest of their trip and imagines terrible things happening to them, like "her family's Malibu station wagon overturned" (Paragraph 44). But upon their safe return, "Maria looked at the ground, annoyed. How dare they have so much fun?" (Paragraph 66).

• This roller coaster of emotions that the narrator describes Maria experiencing is a significant and difficult part of growing up. In summary, Maria's changing emotions and attitude towards her family is important to the theme of the story, as it conveys the confusion that comes with being a teenager and growing up.

• ALL OF THE ABOVE