1. Growth
1.1. Not doing the things you use to do is growth.
1.1.1. "That violent, crazy act was the last act of childhood."
1.1.2. "The years have put words to the things I knew in that moment, and as I look back upon it, I know that that moment marked the end of innocence."
1.2. Learning from your mistakes is a good form of growth.
1.2.1. " For one does not have to be ignorant and poor to find that his life is as barren as the dusty yards of our town. And I too have planted marigolds." Pg 5
2. Guilt
2.1. Guilt does not feel good.
2.1.1. "I did not join the merriment when the kids gathered again under the oak in our bare yard. Suddenly I was ashamed, and I did not like being ashamed." Pg 3
2.2. When you see something that reminds you of what you did it will remind you of that guilt.
2.2.1. "Yet, there are times when the image of those passionate yellow mounds returns with a painful poignancy." Pg 5
3. Change
3.1. There will be things that change around you all the time and you have to deal with them.
3.1.1. "I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst—the great need for my mother who was never there, the hopelessness of our poverty and degradation, the bewilderment of being neither child nor woman and yet both at once, the fear unleashed by my father’s tears." Pg 4
3.2. You will change and become someone else then you were a while ago.
3.2.1. "I know that that moment marked the end of innocence." Pg 5
4. Maturity
4.1. When you are mature you think through stuff a lot more..
4.1.1. "That violent, crazy act was the last act of childhood." Pg 5
4.2. When you are mature you are more aware of other people and your emotions.
4.2.1. "For as I gazed at the immobile face with the sad, weary eyes, I gazed upon a kind of reality which is hidden to childhood" Pg 5
5. Compassion
5.1. Having compassion will make you a better person.
5.1.1. "The witch was no longer a witch but only a broken old woman who had dared to create beauty in the midst of ugliness and sterility." Pg 5
5.2. when you start to have compassion you aren't really innocent anymore.
5.2.1. "This was the beginning of compassion, and one cannot have both compassion and innocence." Pg 5
6. sorrow
6.1. You will feel sorrow a lot in life.
6.1.1. "... I lay on the pallet, still as stone with my hands over my ears, wishing that I too could cry and be comforted. " Pg 4
6.2. You will feel sad sometimes but find healthy ways to deal with it not like in the story.
6.2.1. "I had indeed lost my mind, for all the smoldering emotions of that summer swelled in me and burst—..." Pg 4