Growing Up

Baker needs a post-high school plan. His mother still has faith that “something will come along” and tells Baker to “have a little gumption” (163). He worries his education has not prepared him for labor, though he does not mind working, having done so since he was eight. Baker now works as a stock clerk at Hollins Market, an old-style grocery. The manager, Mr. Simmons, is “a bawdy, exuberant slave driver” (164). He pranks the stock clerks and drills a hole in the cellar ceiling to look up women’s skirts as they stand at the cashier. He treats the store’s poor, black customers, who hope to get their paychecks cashed, with disdain. Hoping for a promotion from stock clerk, Baker indicates he is educated. Rather than admire this, Mr. Simmons studiously overlooks him.

Baker wants to be a writer, though he realizes it is not a realistic job prospect for a sixteen-year-old. In his third year of high school, he discovers the pleasure of expository writing, reinforcing his desire to become a writer. His prim English teacher, Mr. Fleagle, assigns informal essays. Baker is draw to the topic “The Art of Eating Spaghetti” because it recalls happy evenings in Belleville when Pat served spaghetti as “an exotic treat” (167).