Structure

The short story “Growing Up” by Anthony Hill follows a progressive plot structure, as the events narrated lead to a climactic point. As a boy, the Aboriginal narrator befriends a white boy, and after various challenges related to racial discrimination, their friendship ends. The story is told in retrospect, which means the plot developed and ended in the past.

Title

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Beginning

The short story begins in media res (in the middle of events) with an adult narrator sharing a story with his children about his childhood friendship with a white boy: “My best mate was a white kid when I was growing up. We were about your age—eleven or twelve, something like … 

Middle

The middle of the short story comprises the rising action and the climax. In the rising action, the narrator presents various stages in his friendship with Evan Davis. These stages also represent tension points.

We find out the two of them bonded over being both punished for picking on a girl in their class: “…Veronica, copped two ink balls fair in the smacker, one after the other, and she started to cry. Mrs Bick give us the cuts for that, Evan Davis and me, and we got even closer after it. Sharing, like.” (p. 1, ll. 12-15)

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Ending

The falling action recounts in a few words how the narrator’s mother consoled the narrator and how the friendship between the narrator and Evan ended gradually, after the event: “And the Evan went away to the beach for his holiday, and afterwards to college, and I went to high school.” (p. 5, ll. 1-3)

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