Cornet At Night By Sinclair Ross

In the short story “Cornet at night” by Sinclair Ross, Tom Dickson is a young farm boy who lives on a farm with his parents. He is very naive and has not had a chance to experience the outside world for his own. He knows only what he learns from the farm and school, but now that he gets to go on a small adventure on his on, he grows up in a variety of ways. One way in which Tom grows up is when he goes to town by himself. He has gone before, but with the security of his parents with him, and for a young boy to go to another town “eight miles north of here” is a large task for such a young boy, thus showing one way that he matures. To illustrate this, as Tom rolls into town with Rock he says, “I remember nothing but a smug satisfaction

After Tom is done explaining the list to Mr. Jenkins, he goes down to the “little Chinese restaurant” to have his dinner and potentially look for possible candidates to take home to his parents. While Tom is sitting down to enjoying his ice-cream soda, a big muscular man comes up to him requesting about the job that is available on his farm. Tom politely declines to say, "My father… doesn’t want a couple of men. He just wants one” (Ross 226). Tom shows his new earning maturity here because most young children his age would be frightened if not terrified of the huge man standing in front of them, but Tom just declines as if he is a famous lawyer from a big city. The huge man himself almost acts as if he is trying to impress Tom as he shows him his “hump of muscle” on his arm, but Tom just declines. Although the man is a perfect fit for the job, he does not work unless he comes with his friend, and since Tom was only told to get one man, he stays responsible and declines the offer. Thus staying strong to what his father wants, and becoming more responsible and

Here Tom stands up for himself, yet at the beginning of the story we see that Tom was too scared to reply to his parents when they were fighting, but now he can stand up for himself. This is illustrated when Tom thinks to himself, “I was thinking that I might take a drink to my father, but dared not as yet suggest it” (Ross 221). This little outburst from Tom shows that he is trying to make his voice and opinions be heard over the adults. He wants to be heard and wants to be seen like a responsible person and is trying with some, but little avail. Tom also tries to work against fate by trying to teach Phillip how to stook. Thus showing how he is trying to lead his own life instead of letting others decide and growing up and becoming more mature in the process. Tom continues to show his maturity when Phillip is leaving. He does not cry or try to get his way, but instead accepts life as it is and goes along with it. He says, “I wanted to rebel against what was happening, against the clumsiness and crudity of life, but instead I stood quiet a moment, almost passive…” (Ross 234). Although he doesn’t get his way and Phillip has to leave he accepts it with the maturity and the calmness of any other adult in the story and is impacted by it in a way he doesn't know