Being and adult
The process of maturing into a fully grown person is characterized by many complex things. Apparently, being an adult goes far beyond just hitting the eighteen years old mark. Being an adult entails mental maturity and not increase in body size. Worth mentioning is the reality that the difference between a child an adult lies in the way of reasoning. It is a matter of common knowledge that adult life is full of responsibilities and calls for a great degree of autonomy. Notably, when one becomes an adult, they will move out of their parents’ home and seek autonomy. By autonomy it means that the individual is in a position to make informed decisions relating to matters affecting their lives and relationships with others. Adulthood comes with self reliance and self identity. According to social scientists, adult hood is characterized by complex needs, self awareness, concern for others, self reliance and moral maturity.
The complex needs of an adult differ from the needs of a child in the sense that the needs of a child are not only simple, but also few. For instance, children are concerned with such things as racism and this explains why children will always be friends irrespective of differences in language color se and so on. On the contrary, adults have prejudices and a complex social identity. This explains why an adult will find differences among the various prejudices. A child will go to church, for example, because the parents are going. The child does not know what it is that takes them to church. On the contrary, an adult is much aware of their spirituality and inner needs. Summarily, an adult is aware of who they are and what they stand for. Additionally, an adult will be concerned about those that they care for. They may therefore contribute to the well being of such people.
Perhaps the most striking characteristic of adulthood is the fact that one has to cater for their needs. A child will always depend on the parents, without worrying where food, clothes and shelter come from. To a child, the parents are omniscient and will always endeavor to provide support whenever the child needs such support. As the child matures, it becomes clear to them that things can get really difficult and that working raising human wants is quite a hassle. When they become autonomous, their perspective of life changes and they see things differently. Self reliance becomes a central concept as he will have to struggle in order to attain a comfortable life. Morality and ethical thinking becomes a core concept in the ways of thinking embodied by the adult. Morality means that a person can make a distinction between good and bad, right and wrong. This is not straightforward for a child that has not developed ethnically and collectively so as to know the way other people think.
Moral and psychological maturation of Deborah and Hugh Wolfe as it mirrors the USA
Deborah Hugh
Rebecca Harding Davis, arguably the most prolific female writer in matters relating to the evolution of the United States, narrates in her book, Life in the Iron Mills, tells the story of a lady by the name Deborah Hugh. The lady is a strong-willed individual that develops from one stage to the next. At the wake of the story, the lady in Deborah Hugh appears like somebody that has succumbed to fate. She walks through the mills observing the bad conditions of the place and describing it as hell. She does not, according to the middle class observer narrator, seem to see hope of ever leading a meaningful life. On the contrary, Deborah appears like a woman that is hungry. Not just hungry for food, but largely hungry for life. She needs a better life, for her and for her beloved cousin Hugh Wolfe. In a bid to get a better life, she tries all means. She is deemed to be growing in the psychological sense that she thinks prudently and sees the need to strike equilibrium between the wealthy people such as Doctor May.
This drives her to steal money from Mitchell an ally of Doctor May. She takes the money to her cousin Hugh with whom they are later arrested. The time in prison marks a major growth in the mental makeup of the lady. Such growth influences her spirituality and the belief that rich people should help the poor.
The life, psychological maturation of the Deborah Wolfe is a reflection of the struggle that the united states have gone through, especially during the period of industrialization and the civil war. The way in which Deborah develops into a mature woman that realizes the essence of struggling in order to lead a good life is a reflection of the realization that America had no choice but to find help within itself. Problems in her life are a reflection of the upheavals such as the civil war and industrial poverty. In describing the complexity in the way that Deborah’s mental setup has advanced, Rebecca Harding Davis says, “, finest of women's faces, -- in the very midst, it may be, of their warmest summer's day ; and then one can guess at the secret of intolerable solitude that lies hid beneath the delicate laces and brilliant smile,” (Davis & Olsen, 1985).
Deborah’s decision to steal reflects the USA’s decision to use all means to gain equality among social classes. It is a reflection of how in the maturation of the USA, the minority , the minority groups took the bull by the horns so as to reduce class inequalities such as the gap between the affluent and the poor as well as the differences between the preponderance and the marginal. The Quaker lady that comes to help Deborah and Hugh is a manifestation of the foreign aid that the United States needed all through. The aid, which came in the form of charity, was meant to help the country get started. The fact that Deborah assists her cousin reflects the actuality that in maturation of America, the people had to help one another as help had to come from within. Towards the end of the book, Deborah is a mature lady that has embraced spirituality. Similarly, in its hay day, the USA embraced Christianity a great deal relying on it as the bridge between social classes.
Hugh Wolfe
Brought as a darling to Deborah, Hugh Wolfe is a man working in the mills but has exceptional talent in sculpting. The author uses Hugh to describe the social strife and struggle that the people underwent in the industrial poverty. ““Stooping all night over boiling caldrons of metal, laired by day in dens of drunkenness and infamy; breathing from infancy to death air saturated with fog and grease and soot, vileness for soul and body,” (Davis & Olsen, 1985). The situation the man is in is bad. This is a reflection of the USA when it was realizing the need to grow. When Deborah gives the money to Hugh, he is torn kin ethical considerations. This reflects the point when Americans had to rethink certain ways of accumulating wealth, such as slavery.
References
Davis, R. H., & Olsen, T. (1985). Life in the iron mills, and other stories. Old Westbury, N.Y: Feminist Press.
