Fourth Grade Rats

As the action of the novel winds down into the denouement, the final stages of the coming-of-age journey are fulfilled when Suds comes to embrace a new level of maturity. Following his climactic realization that he doesn’t want to be a fourth grade rat, Suds demonstrates considerable personal growth through his confession to his mother and his ability to apply his new perspective to his life in general. Suds’s confession also provides an opportunity for him to reflect on his experiences and demonstrate a mature understanding of his growth, and as he openly renounces his earlier behavior and redeems himself in the eyes of his family, he successfully copes with Navigating the Path to Preadolescence and learning The True Meaning of Maturity. His insight is most prominently expressed when he states the following: 

Mom, I know now. Something else. When I was being a rat, I thought I was having a great time. But I wasn’t. I was having a rotten time. […] It’s like other kids thought I was a big deal or something. But I didn’t like myself, Mom. […] It’s no fun being a rat (130). 

In this passage, Suds realizes that conforming to peer pressure to win others’ approval requires a sacrifice of personal values and self-acceptance. Suds’s mature understanding of how this experience impacted him demonstrates his evolved perspective. His new self-acceptance extends to understanding that growing up doesn’t mean forcing himself to fit a popular mold of behavior, nor is it limited to Joey’s shallow vision of adulthood. Suds’s new determination shines through in simple yet powerful terms when he states, “From now on, I’m just gonna be a kid. That’s enough” (132). In this moment, he demonstrates a calm, steady acceptance of his current identity as a child. The balance he achieves here between the desire to grow up and the desire to maintain his childhood identity resolves his internal conflicts. The scene also implies that a person does not have to unilaterally reject aspects of childhood in order to reach maturity. 

When Mom tells Suds, “As soon as you stopped trying to be a man, you became one” (131), her comment encapsulates the novel’s statement on The True Meaning of Maturity. Suds learns that maturity is not about conforming to behaviors that will win him popularity or peer acceptance, nor is it about exhibiting arbitrary external signifiers like eating meat or not crying when something hurts. Instead, he learns that maturity is a deeper development of self-awareness and social responsibility. As Mom says, “Your confession there. Taking blame on yourself. Admitting you were wrong. That’s grown-up stuff” (131). Suds’s journey into maturity realistically reflects the lessons that all preadolescents must learn about how to interact effectively with their world and fit into their social environment. By portraying this process in a humorous yet relatable way, the novel posits that true maturity is an internal process rather than an external one. 

Suds’s confession to Mom and his final scene with Dad indicate a resolution of his core conflicts. He overcomes his need to be a fourth grade rat to win peer acceptance, and he instead learns to value his own identity and honor his need to maintain key aspects of his childhood. Mom’s statement simultaneously reinforces the value of Suds’s growth and stresses the importance of maintaining his integrity in the face of peer pressure. Ultimately, Suds’s decision to renounce the ways of the rat allows him to achieve his goal of becoming more mature. He ends the novel with a new knowledge of maturity that he carries forward into his interactions with others, facilitating his continued transition into preadolescence.