Modassar Warsi; H-1127

Priyanka Ruth Prim; H-1129

From Brittle to Sturdy: The Act of Growing Up

“I’m not out to get the world but I think I’m like Zuhaak. Because every time I think my
chains are off I find myself in an unholy tangle again. It used to happen when I was a kid. I wouldn't
have a fracture for months on end and I'd know I'd outgrown osteo, given it a proper kick in the
pants, when I thought everything was tickety-boo—I had Cyrus next door and Ruby below me and
Dolly blissfully unmarried—you know the rest of that story too." (216)

Daryus is an individual who suffers from osteogenesis imperfect. It is but interesting to note
that this is a name only to be put up on the application forms whereas he is actually referred to as
Brit, owing to this disease he has had to live with since his birth. The disability is powerful enough
to affect his nomenclature. Everyone knows that a life that is ahead of such a person is not a normal
life led by any other person. It is but obvious that he’ll have to face many difficulties.

It did not take much for Brit to realize his incompleteness compared to others in the society.
He finds himself different from others, where not only the outsiders who by their behavior towards
the boy gave the impression of his abnormality, at times it is his family itself. Although he was
looking forward to a normal childhood, he found himself as a loner who was sidelined everywhere,
rejected from his actual space. It would be vital to note that such people do not quite change in their
appearance since childhood. It is only that his face changes but for the rest Brit has to often remind
his family members and others about his age. This raises a question as to what is the criterion to
decide upon physical growth. Is it height, weight or age?

Brit did not grow much in size, and was unable to move but with the help of wheelchair.
This emphasizes to a shift from what normally happens. His parents invest the money they save by
not having to buy clothes and shoes for their child; they rather invested that money into nourishing
Brit’s mind. A new person then takes a very pivotal role in his life. Mrs. Maneksha helped the child
to shift his perspective from physical to mental. It is evident that all those chants and effective
methods applied by the family are but in vain suggesting the helplessness of the child regarding his
physical being. He cannot grow physically but can refine his mental state, grow mentally. His
teacher showed him the path as he progressed from a limited life at his house to one of college
where the “window” through which he sees life is quite different from how other saw it.

It goes without saying that a person who faces tragedy and has seen or suffered a crisis in
life matures faster than others. The same happens with Brit. It is owing to his disability and the way
he is treated in the family that demands him to prove that he has actually grown up mentally. He
wishes to travel from being “a little man” to “a man”. It is also worth noting that both the parents
are looking at their child from a different perspective. Whereas Sam sees his son’s disability in a
realistic light, Sera wants to do away with the problems by just ignoring them.

Brit does grow through the changing circumstances around him. Man, being a social being is
affected by the society he maintains. Brit’s idea of self is generated through the way he was seen by
others. He has been too conscious of others. Though he has been able to shrug away what the
outsiders have to say, he cannot totally do away with what goes on in his circle of acquaintance.
Forgetting the novel to be semi-autobiographical and considering it as a work of fiction, one finds
many junctures that helped Brit to grow and emerge as a normal person by the end of the novel.
These events are needed to be there so that the protagonist could evolve easefully. He manages, in
the end, solitude within himself through which he succeeds in discovering his real self.

Tina is the first person to leave the threshold of Brit's reach. It appears just as a sub-plot; it is
there only to fill in the gaps and it does not have a special purpose to serve. It is worth a thought
that had she not eloped, she certainly should have ended with the protagonist giving a shrewd
inference that a disabled person should limit their desire for somebody disabled like him. Again,
had Dolly not married and that too so far away, there she has always been "to play mother to" Brit.
It is not only that there are certain people who leave his life but there are others whose entry led to a
productive change in the growing child-adult.

Cyrus is the first friend of Brit who is a boy. He is the first ray of hope through which Brit
begins on a journey away from home. He had altogether different feelings for it is the first time he
realized that his choice also matters to someone. Then, with Jerry, Brit is able to act on his instinct
and he doesn't have to rehearse what he wanted to say. Amy's entry also did wonders to him as with
her, he regained his self-importance for she was the first person in his life who did consider him an
individual apart from his disability; she thinks him to be like any other man. Again, the event of self
defense against the man-servant points to his realization of self-sufficiency. This added onto what
happen by the end of the novel when Brit loses both his parents, that too in an accident. However,
he is ready to face the world all by himself. He is the last warrior who will fight till the end.

We would like to end by tracing the growth, which cannot simply be categorized with either
physical or mental. It is Brit's sexual orientation. Earlier, he was growing up to be a normal man.
The reaction at his first rendezvous with the playboy magazine and how he acted when faced with
adolescent girls in his circle- Ruby and Tina- is anything but normal. Here one should look at the
ambivalent stand taken by Sam who acknowledges the normal desires of his son and Sera who was
adamant for Brit to have a "sexless life". It would also be effective to analyze how the family
indulges into vulgar talks so as to pretend being modern but hypocritically, in other realms of life
they are just contrary. Finally, it is Sera's interjections made way for Brit to take other route to
satisfy his passion.

The answer came as Cyrus, who was a person whom Brit looked up to. He later ended as his
love interest. However, this did not continue for a long time as fantasy shattered away with a touch
of reality to it. This led to a period of fallowness and loneliness where Brit was trying to come to
terms with himself through retrospection. He returned to his previous desire to be a writer which he
abandoned for his love for Cyrus, desiring to be a lawyer instead. He could write what he could not
speak or share with others. He says at one instance that writing is an act of courage. He is able to
substantiate his vagrant thought and is ready to nail them down as a story, a written word. Finally,
Amy's arrival in his life paved a way through which he travelled back to normalcy. He even gets
courage to speak up his mind to his mother. He has almost reached his maturity where he needs his
family members no more as he is not too dependent on them.

In the end, one finds that the time has come when Brit could come out of his name for he is
brittle no more. He has grown into a mature, normal man even though the path he had to tread was
not an easy one. He was trying to grow and there he is. He does not even need Amy to complete his
life. He has become self-sufficient. He could dare to look at himself in the mirror. He could look
within and find the hidden gaps that manifested itself during the earlier period of his life. He took
his own path which was not as straight as one there is for a normal person. What is important is the
end product which is fruitful for Daryus has emerged as a normal being in his own terms, in his
own perception.