Part 2: Pages 156 through 177 Summary and Analysis

What adults find interesting and beautiful and what children find interesting and beautiful are often quite different. Children, having been around for much less time, can be excited about something which is quite commonplace to adults. Likewise, something that is exceptional to adults is probably not so interesting to a child; everything, almost, is exceptional to them. Thus, when Anne, now thirteen, found herself coming more and more to like the things adults found interesting, she realized that she was maturing into an adult herself.

At the same time, she began to discover the complexity of the world. Her childlike belief in the simplicity of the world was being undermined as she discovered that almost anything—the dullest objects—was or could be the subject of serious study. This discovery was spurred on by moths...