Looking Backward

One day when I was nine, my family and I visited an apple orchard in the fall to pick to pick our own apples. About halfway through, I became hungry, so I decided to take snack on one of the many apples I had in my basket. Although once I bit into it, I was horrified to see a worm squiggling and squirming around inside of the apple. I spit out what I had already eaten and threw the apple to the ground as I screamed. Dropping my basket, I bolted out of the fields, not caring that my family was right there witnessing the whole scene. The grossed out reaction I had is the same as the one the girl has in the short story, “Gaston” by William Saroyan when she sees the bug crawl out of her father’s peach; a reaction she thought her father would share. Up until the start of the story, the six year old girl has only met with people who have complied with society norms, so when her father doesn’t squish the bug, or is even disgusted by it, she’s confused. Away from her mother, she is allowed to
Although, while he is gone, the girl’s mother calls. Her mom is less than thrilled with her and her father’s activities and says, “‘Somebody else gets a peach with a bug in it, and throws it away but not him. He makes up a lot of foolishness about it.’” To which the girl defends, retorting that it isn’t foolishness. She is upset at being told that she was dumb in liking the bug. The mother replies, “‘All right all right, don’t get angry at me about a horrible peach bug of some kind’” (130). Her mom manipulates her into feeling guilty for thinking outside societal norms and eventually convinces her to squish the bug and to go back home and attend a party of a girl she doesn’t even know. All of this despite the girl earlier wanting to stay with her father longer and have a bad peach and a peach