"Growing Up" the main character experiences something that changes his view of things. Compare the story with one other from the selection, in which a character experiences a kind of change.

In “Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit” Plath uses a lot of colour adjectives to convey this memory as vividly as she can, “The sunset flaunted its pink flag” She, also uses colour to reflect different moods and provides a contrast of atmosphere, as at the beginning of the story she gives a very visual description of an airport which is significant to her she shows this by using very bright colours that reflect the importance of the airport to her “the flashing red and green lights”. However, in comparison to this atmosphere she uses more mundane dull colour vocabulary to describe the day of the incidence, “the skies were grey”. Even though this is written as a memory so in places it has a childish style, Plath has still used very figurative and elevated vocabulary this could be a reflection of her involvement with this image of flying which is portrayed through out, as well as being a reflection of how much this event has had an everlasting impression on her. Similar to the contrast used in “Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit” “Growing Up” also does this at word level with the use of very passive verbs to describe the girls at the beginning, “wandered” “slowly” and then uses much more stronger active verbs to describe them when they attack their father, “jumped” and “seized”.

“Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit” has many language features which may be because Plath is trying to show the reader how significant this one incident was and the effect of it, so therefore tries to portray the memory as vividly as possible. “The airport was my Mecca, my Jerusalem.” This is a very powerful metaphor because it reflects how important the whole theme of flying is to the narrator, as Mecca and Jerusalem are highly regarded places of religion and are like ultimate stages for people to at one time in their life to reach. Another very powerful metaphor in this story is the way in which she uses light as a metaphor for heaven to symbolise how strongly and protected she feels about her family and home. Plath also uses similes to provide contrast “cold and final as a window blind.” There is also use of appeal to the senses this just again helps to make that memory much more vivid and clear for the reader. “Growing Up” doesn’t use as many language features as “Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit” there’s use of metaphors but are used mainly at climatic moments to reinforce events, “that of a homicidal maniac;” and to express violent imagery. “He felt his ear sing.” The use of appeal to the senses shows how Mr Quick feels and suggests the position and state he’s in after this attack to the reader.

Plath uses very long involved sentences which are very childlike and reflect the way a child would explain something in a very rushed manner without a lot of pausing. “Jenny – don’t…. frightened-“ the hyphens in this short show Mr Quick’s panic and the repetition “stop-stop” shows that he is becoming slightly desperate and these short incomplete sentences, also suggest his insecurity as an authority figure to his children.

The end of “Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit” contrasts to the beginning because at the start she has very childish images as well as a lot of confidence and optimism “clear and definite as patterns seen through a kaleidoscope.” whereas at the end she is pessimistic and has a realisation of the way the world is in a negative reflection, “feeling the black shadow creeping up the underside of the world like a flood tide.” This is a comparison to the beginning which was the complete opposite because now she has lost faith in these dreams and all her success and optimism has been rubbed away. In “Growing Up” the end is a contrast to the beginning because Mr Quick is longing to see his daughter, but at the end when he is rejected he wants to escape his daughters, this is similar to “Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit” because he also is let down by family and at the end in both stories there is this realisation about the main character’s relationships with family members. “She’s growing up – and so am I.” Mr Quick is very adopting as he understands what has happened to his relationship with his daughter and the role he will now play in her life.

In conclusion the stories are quite similar as in both stories the main character’s relationships develop and are both disappointed by their immediate family. Furthermore this development in relationship leads to an experience of growing up and realising the way things actually are as well as how they will affect the future of the main character. However they are also quite different in their own styles, as “Superman and Paula Brown’s New Snowsuit” is written in first person narration and is clear visual memory which Plath tries to describe as vividly as possible to the reader with the excessive use of language features; metaphors, similes and colour vocabulary.  Whereas “Growing Up” is written in third person narration and has a brief more abrupt involvement along with metaphors only really being used at climatic points in the story. Both stories do use contrast to build up an atmosphere and tension so that when the climax is reached it is much more effective because when looking at the story in context before the climax you shouldn’t be expecting the incident that occurs.