Age

Age is an important theme occurring throughout the book. Many of the characters in the book are obsessed with their age, either feeling nostalgic for when they were younger or impatient for reaching the golden land of adulthood more quickly. On the very first page of the book in the Prologue, the reader is introduced to Will and Jim and informed of their ages, including the number of months and days. The point seems to be that both boys are very close to turning fourteen. This impatience for reaching the next milestone marker (which is just an arbitrary human-created measuring point) is characteristic of the impatient Jim, who is tired of childhood and wants to grow up more than anything.

At the other end, Will's father Mr. Halloway is fifty-four-years-old, and at the beginning of the book he feels every day of it. While Will and Jim want...