Coming of Age

Sarah ages physically over the course of the story but also matures in terms of her self-confidence, self-awareness and her belief in herself. One example of this maturity is seen in Sarah's realization that she and her Mama had endured very similar heartaches and that she finally understood her mama's reaction by her own. When Clover and Papa die, Mama has a break with reality and doesn't regain control of herself until Sarah becomes ill. Sarah, having lost a brother and a father in that situation, believes that she's endured a horrible heartache of her own and doesn't fully understand her mother's reaction. However, when Sarah's daughter Suzanne dies, Sarah suddenly understands that losing a sibling is nothing like the heartache of losing a child. She goes so far as to say that she would gladly go to this place her mother had sought if she...