Maturity In Tom Perotta's, Bad Haircut

True Maturity?
Maturity is one’s ability to respond to their environment appropriately, which is gained by learning from experiences and situations in life. On the surface, maturity would seem to always accompany age, because one learns to react to their surroundings over time. However, Buddy and his peers in Tom Perotta’s, Bad Haircut, prove that this is not always the case. The story travels through Buddy’s adolescence, and shows differences in how he and his friends make decisions under certain circumstances. Even though Buddy is less experienced, he is more mature than some of his peers.
Buddy’s friend, Zirko, has many experiences, but lacks maturity. First, Zirko is two years older than Buddy. Zirko lack proper judgement and common sense for his age. Zirko “swallowed half a dozen live goldfish, and told [Buddy] that he could feel
From the very beginning of the book, Buddy has demonstrated proper morals. Buddy talks to Harold, another boy in his Boy Scout group, despite the fact that the other young boys call him a “dork” (Perotta 4). Buddy is friendly and accepting of Harold, unlike all of the other children (Perotta 20). Later in the story, Buddy is driving out late with his older friends. The group of kids were out very late, past Buddy’s curfew. When asked if he wants to stay out later, Buddy chooses instead to go home. His friends aren’t happy with him, and his reputation was probably damaged, but Buddy knew that going home was the right thing to do. At the end of the book, Buddy is in college. At this point in Buddy’s life, he has not had to deal with the loss of a friend or a family member. Mr. Norman, Buddy’s neighbor, passed away, and his wife, Mrs. Norman, asked Buddy to be a pallbearer in the funeral. At the service, Buddy handles the funeral better than some of the grown men (Perotta 220). In the end, Buddy shows outstanding morals and maturity in almost all