Describe Russel Baker.

Russell Baker is the author of the memoir, Growing Up. He wants to be a writer from a young age. He is not athletic, and he is smart without being intellectual. He has no "gumption" according to his mother. Russell is lazy and hates the job his mother gets him selling newspapers. Russell gets into college on a scholarship, but he finds it hard work and has trouble with math and science. He happily joins the Navy Air Corps after he turns eighteen, hoping to find glory in World War II that he never has the chance to attain. Russell is described as naive about the world, politics, women, and war. He has low self-confidence and suffers from anxiety.