Growing Up (Joyce Cary)

The wild garden reflects the wildness of the girls.

There is a clear divide between daughters and father, they do not fully communicate with him, but then he does not with them either.

Mr and Mrs Quick seem to neglect their daughters with his work and her social life.

The daughters are presented as untidy and dirty, certainly not the sweet innocent daughter figures the father imagines them to be.

He almost seems scared of his daughters and when Jenny and Kate do communicate with him, it is in a savage manner.

They are violent to the dog. The language becomes angry, violent and fragmented to emphasise the horror of the situation.

Robert Quick is shocked, but his remonstration is pathetic and results in the savage game where his daughters attack him like a wild animal.

He almost seems like a bullied child here.

They talk to him like he is at least an equal and, in fact, inferior to them when they inspect the plaster they have placed on his cut.

They show adult seriousness and responsibility when handing round cake at the tea party their mother holds.

He realises they have changed, grown up and he is older too, their relationship has changed.