The Utterly Perfect Murder Summary

Imagine a world where everyone never learned or grew from the experiences they had. No matter if you are an adult or a child, learning and growing is an essential part to the world. Bad decisions would be around every corner for people and mistakes that were once made, would never be fixed. History would repeat itself infinitely. The most important thing about growing up is learning and growing from mistakes you have already made.

In the story, “ The Utterly Perfect Murder,” Doug Spaulding looked back at his childhood memories and decides to get revenge on his bully, Ralph Underhill. Doug’s memories range from severe physical contact, to the hurtful tricks done by Ralph. “Fool! I thought. The statues worth twenty five cents. The glove cost two dollars. No fair! Don’t! But I raced back home to Ralph’s house with the glove and gave it to him . . .”(Bradbury 21). Dougs admiration for the Tarzan statues shields him from making the correct decision. He lets Ralph abuse his admiration and trick Doug into giving him the glove that is worth eight times as much. Doug later learns

that even though he thought that he needed the statue, the glove is what he should of keep. His mind grows and learns to think decisions through and make them with less consequences.
In the story, “The Bass, The River, and Sheila Maunt,” the narrator is in love with a beautiful, tan, sophisticated girl named Sheila Maunt. When the narrator asks Sheila on a date, the date goes against his plans. While cruising down in the narrator's canoe, his fishing line is in the water and he hooks a large bass. Sheila believes fishing is “dumb” and this causes the narrator to keep his line secret. After arriving at the date, Sheila leaves the narrator for Eric Caswell’s corvette. “ There will be other Sheila Maunts in my life, other fish, and though I came close to it once or twice, it was those secret, hidden tuggings in the night that claimed me, and I never made the same mistake again” (Wetherell 81). After the date, the narrator knows he made a mistake going with Sheila. He learns that there will be other girls and other fish, but he learns to not hide his true self even if it is not what the girl would want.
In the story On Being Seventeen, Bright, and Unable to read, the narrator tells his story of his childhood struggle with dyslexia and how he grew up to be a successful person.

As a child the narrator would call himself “dumb” because he could not read. He was ashamed and embarrassed as a student who had to leave the room every time he had to read. After learning how to cope with dyslexia, the narrator looked into his future; he wanted to go to college. “ I said I wanted to go to college, and they told me about colleges that have facilities and staff to handle people like me. That was nice to hear” (Raymond 81). The narrator learns how to cope and excel as an adult with dyslexia. He felt that college would be something he wanted to do, so he could grow and learn as a normal adult. The thought of having colleges with help was a influence that would help the narrator learn and grow in the

future.
For some, admitting your mistakes is the last decision they would make. Learning and growing from your mistakes is important in growing up. It could help you make correct decisions and not become tricked by Ralph for a Tarzan statue, realize “there are more girls,more fish” , and maybe even help you overcome dyslexia and go to college. Learning and growing is a huge part of life that can affect everything you do.

Works Cited
Bradbury, Ray. “The Utterly Perfect Murder”. The Language of Literature. McDougal Littell Inc.,
1997. 19-24. Print.
Raymond, David. On Being Seventeen, Bright, and Unable to Read. The Language of
Literature. McDougal Littell Inc., 1997. 79-81. Print.
Wetherell, W. D. “The Bass, the River, and Sheila Mant”. The Language of Literature. McDougal
Littell Inc., 1997. 40-47. Print.