How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
What does she mean, roaming around all by her lonesome? He had to smile. He made a muscle in his arm and felt it jump up hard.
Should I go out there, scare her again? (2.28-29)
M.C. clearly hasn't been around girls much. We can tell because his way of getting a girl to notice him is to "scare" her. You know, kind of like the way a schoolboy teases a girl or tugs her braids to get her attention.
Quote #2
Macie Pearl and M.C.'s brothers could swim well enough to care for themselves in the water.
But if one of them did commence to drown…
Don't think about it. M.C. frowned.
They didn't know how lucky they are. Swimming. Playing. Without a worry for food or nothing. (2.35-38)
You might wonder how much growing up M.C. really has to do when he's already looking after the family and thinking about how to survive as a family. In many practical ways, he's already an adult.
Quote #3
"I can't leave it." M.C. spoke eagerly, now that he knew that the Dude intended them to leave. Lewis frowned, staring up Sarah's final slope. "To leave a place," he said gently, "you'd best leave everything behind; all your possessions, including memory. Traveling's not as easy as it's made out to be. See, look army poor old boots." He laughed and held up his trouser leg so M.C. could take a good look at the ruin caused by travel. (2.220)
James Lewis is showing M.C. one way of growing up—leaving home and everything about it behind. It's the classic bildungsroman journey. The interesting thing is that M.C. doesn't follow that classic storyline because he doesn't leave home.