Three Components of Maturity, Essay Example

Maturity is a process that does not occur overnight. It develops over time through trial and error. Maturity encompasses the ability to make wise choices and discern right from wrong.  Everyone must learn coping measures to deal with various day to day situations. Maturity entails the process of taking responsibility for decisions and not letting others negatively influence those decisions. Compassion is an important component of maturity. Arthur Jersild said, “Compassion is the ultimate and most meaningful embodiment of emotional maturity. It is through compassion that a person achieves the highest peak and deepest reach in his or her search for self-fulfillment.” Three enlightened stories aptly illustrate the diverse examples of the maturation process. These three stories are Sarah Orne Jewett’s, “A White Heron,” Richard Wright’s, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man,” and Eudora Welty’s, “A Worn Path”.

The heroine, Sylvia, in Sarah Orne Jewett’s, “A white Heron” exemplifies one facet of maturity in which an individual does not let others easily influence beliefs or decisions.  Sylvia has a new found passion for the simple pleasures afforded to a country life spent on a farm. She revels in the majestic beauty of nature and loves all creatures great and small. The writer Jewett tells us that, “it seemed as if she never had been alive at all before she came to live at the farm”(508). Sylvia confronts a challenge to her harmonious life when a hunter seeks the whereabouts of “a white heron” he heard was in the area. (507) The hunter offers a monetary award to anyone who can lead him to the heron. Sylvia dreams of the “many wished-for treasures” the money will buy. (511) As the hunter sleeps through the night, Sylvia sets out on an adventuresome second attempt to locate the bird as she failed at a previous attempt. Sylvia is successful in her quest and finds the white heron, but does not want to be involved in the heron’s death. Her better judgment leads her to the decision that the monetary award is not worthy of the death of a living creature and she decides she will not divulge its location.  Eventually the hunter leaves without his prey. Sylvia demonstrates her maturity when she does not let the money influence her decision. Her mature decision is part and parcel of her humane spirit and her love for her naturalistic life and the animals that inhabit this majestic realm.  Her steadfast commitment to her values is a testament to her maturity over the negative persuasion and influences of others who do not share her ethics.

Taking responsibility for ones actions is another very important aspect of maturity. In the beginning of Richard Wright’s, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”, the main character, Dave, is seventeen and shows his immaturity when he begs for a gun from his mother. He succeeds in acquiring the gun and in his carelessness he accidently shoots a plowing mule at “Jim Hawkins’s plantation.” (890) Instead of taking full responsibility for the accidental shooting, Dave fabricates a tale saying that the mule “started snortin n kickin her heels…the plow was stickin up in the air, she swung erroun n twisted herself back on it…she stuck herself n started to bleed.” (892)  Dave is unable to maturely face up to the consequences of his foolish actions and decides to hop a train and leave town instead of staying and facing his punishment. Maturity means that one is responsible enough to recognize, agree with, and admit one’s mistakes.  A mature person learns from their mistakes and gains the benefit of wisdom which adds to the maturity of that individual.

Compassion is a third and very relevant facet of maturity.  It is an act that represents the very pinnacle of emotional maturity as it includes empathy and understanding. It is a human emotion that is often triggered by the pain of others. A keen example of this can be seen through Eudora Welty’s, “A Worn Path.” A “very old and small” (865) woman by the name of Phoenix Jackson, has so much love for her sick grandson that she travels what is termed as a “a worn path” (865).  This draws an analogy of a life overburdened with trials and tribulations. Phoenix encounters obstacles in overcoming a hill too steep for her age, heavy thickets, “a barbed-wire fence,” and a hunter who draws a gun on her. (866) She knows that without medication her grandson will suffer.  She is willing to put her own well-being aside to care for her sickly grandson. Phoenix knows what she must do and grins in the face of adversity. Phoenix’s compassion shows the wisdom derived in maturity.

These three stories provide vivid examples of varied characters exhibiting different levels of maturity in the face of life’s challenges. Maturity embraces an array of factors which include making independent decisions, taking responsibility, and exhibiting necessary compassion. To grow in maturity is to make independent choices, learn from one’s mistakes and grow in wisdom from each experience. Identifying with the hardships of others and going out of one’s way to help others is a hallmark of maturity. Maturity is a gradual process and it is perfected through the lessons learned in personal experiences.