Russell Baker Growing Up

Growing up was written by Russell Baker. It is an autobiographical book about his own life; he also writes about the life of his mother. Russell was young while he lived in Morrisonville; most of his memories from here are based off his youth. In Morrisonville, Russell and his family gather together in the evening on the porch which Russell really does seem to enjoy since he brings those evenings into topic quite often. It is easy to tell that Russell is extremely passionate about his family. Lucy is the daughter of a Virginia lawyer who unexpectedly passes, leading Lucy to dropping out of her college and taking up teaching jobs. Lucy meets Benny Baker who is the son of a big local family. She later gets pregnant and the two of them marry.
Allen takes Lucy, Russell, Doris, and brother Charlie. Hal, his gold obsessed brother, joins them and manages to get Lucy to give him $75 which Lucy has worked her hardest for so that he can start a lumber business that ends up never becoming a success. Lucy uses the minuscule amount of money that she had and moved to Baltimore. In Baltimore, Russell takes a paper route and learned how to get places in the city. He's a good student although he seems to get into fights. While Russell is in school, his mother is shedding blood, sweat, and tears trying to make a living by selling magazine subscriptions for commission. It got to a point once where they needed government aid to supply them with food. Eventually, Lucy meets Herb Orrison whom she later marries. Herb works on the railroad and manages to make enough money to support the family. Russell doesn't get along with Herb and seems to hate him for replacing him as the man of the house. The family moves once again and this time, Lucy finally attains the house she's been working for and dreaming about. Russell is now close to graduating high school, but he can't afford to go to college and now has no idea what he's going to do to make