Set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the late 1960s, That Was Then, This Is Now follows a year in the life of Bryon Douglas and his foster brother and best friend, Mark Jennings—two smart-talking, troublemaking teenagers who think they know everything. But over the course of the book, Bryon begins to accept that it’s time to grow up and slowly comes to terms with the fact that he doesn’t have all the answers. He opens himself up to receiving advice from others (namely Charlie, who owns the local bar), cleans up his act, and gets a respectable job at a grocery store to support the family. Mark, however, is resistant to growing up, choosing instead to cling to the reckless, self-assured nature of his childhood. As both boys grapple with the change in their lives, Hinton illustrates that coming of age requires humility and taking responsibility—two things that Bryon successfully does and Mark, who clings to his childhood, refuses to do.
At the beginning of the book, Bryon and Mark are self-assured and irresponsible. They have exploits all over town: getting into a bar even though they’re underage, gambling at pool, and fighting. Bryon dismisses anyone—especially the bartender and owner, Charlie—who says that he and Mark will get in trouble someday for their actions. Bryon’s superior attitude at the beginning of the book establishes his immaturity, because like many kids, he feels invincible. Mark, who is similarly wild, has been hot-wiring and stealing cars since age 12 and was put on probation for this crime just prior to the events of the novel. But even though he could be thrown in jail if he’s caught again, he continues to commit this very crime—ironically stealing the school principal’s car in order to see his probation officer. In flagrantly disregarding his punishment and the potential consequences, Mark, too, illustrates his arrogance and irresponsibility.
As the book goes on, however, Bryon’s self-awareness increases, and he realizes that growing up means taking on more humility and responsibility in his life. At one point, Bryon sees 12-year-olds smoking on the street, just as he and Mark used to do at that age. He remembers how, at that time, he and Mark were “sure of [themselves], so sure they were the coolest things to hit town,” but now he thinks how stupid the kids look. He wonders if, at 20, he will think about himself at 16 and say the same thing. With this, Bryon exhibits an understanding of his own ignorance and knows that he has a lot of learning and growing still to do. Bryon also starts to face the hardships of adulthood, which prompt him to mature even more and take on more responsibility out of necessity. At one point in the book, two Texans discover Bryon and Mark have been hustling pool—intentionally misrepresenting their skill at the game in order to win money. Angry that they have been cheated, the men hold Bryon and Mark at gunpoint and plan to beat them up. Charlie intervenes with his own gun, but he is killed in their crossfire. Bryon is overcome by guilt, wishing that he and Mark had acted differently and doubting his earlier assurances to Charlie that they would never get into trouble. He feels the surety of his childhood slipping further away, replaced by a more mature sense of responsibility for his actions. Bryon demonstrates his increasing maturity even further by finally taking to heart the advice Charlie gave him prior to his death. He knows that no one will hire a “mouthy kid who acts like he already knows it all,” so he gets a haircut, puts on clean clothes, and sets out to get a job at the supermarket. In humbly listening to Charlie’s advice and taking on more responsibility for himself, Bryon is able to take the first steps into adulthood and leave his childhood behind.
While Mark sees Bryon maturing, he refuses to take responsibility or show humility himself and therefore doesn’t grow up in any visible way throughout the book. After Charlie’s death, Mark tells Bryon that it’s pointless to feel guilty. “You can't keep trying to figure out why things happen, man. That’s what old people do. That’s when you can't get away with things any more,” he says. Unlike Bryon, Mark refuses to humbly admit that they made a mistake, and he’s unwilling to take responsibility for Charlie’s tragic death. He suggests that feeling guilty or accountable in a situation like this is “what old people do,” backing up the book’s claim that showing humility and responsibility are central to becoming an adult. But in rejecting these qualities, Mark also rejects adulthood itself. Instead, he clings to his youthful arrogance and carelessness, because this attitude allows him to make poor decisions without getting in trouble for them, either by the authorities or by his own conscience. Mark’s immaturity is particularly evident when he starts dealing drugs to kids and doesn’t grasp why Bryon has a problem with this. Rather than seeing the potential harm of what he is doing—that his drugs might cause kids to have bad trips or fatal overdoses—Mark simply views dealing drugs as a way to make money. Again, while Bryon is taking a more mature path and finds a respectable, legal job at a supermarket, Mark simply continues to act irresponsibly and think only of himself. Because Mark refuses to take responsibility for his actions, Bryon chooses to inform the police that Mark has been dealing drugs. But even after Mark is sentenced to prison for five years, he still seems unconcerned with the fact that he has broken the law. Hinton uses Mark’s fate to spin a cautionary tale about resisting adulthood. Because Mark maintains his self-assuredness and recklessness, he never truly grows up: he ends up in jail rather than becoming a functioning adult in society.
Related Themes from Other Texts
Humility, Responsibility, and Coming of Age ThemeTracker
Humility, Responsibility, and Coming of Age Quotes in That Was Then, This Is Now
“It’s just as well,” Charlie said. “You guys are going to get in real bad trouble one of these days. Some guy’s going to get hacked off when he finds out what you’re doin’, and you’re gonna get a pool stick rammed down your throats.”
“No we ain’t,” Mark said. “Give me a Coke, Charlie.”
I had been friends with Mark long before he came to live with us. He had lived down the street and it seemed to me that we had always been together. We had never had a fight. We had never even had an argument. In looks, we were complete opposites: I’m a big guy, dark hair and eyes—the kind who looks like a Saint Bernard puppy, which I don’t mind as most chicks cannot resist a Saint Bernard puppy. Mark was small and compact, with strange golden eyes and hair to match and a grin like a friendly lion. He was much stronger than he looked—he could tie me in arm wrestling. He was my best friend and we were like brothers.
It was a long walk to the bowling alley, and I wished for the hundredth time I had a car. I had to walk everywhere I went. As if he’d read my mind, which he was in the habit of doing, Mark said, “I could hot-wire us a car.”
“That’s a bad thing to do,” M&M said. “Taking something that doesn’t belong to you.”
“It ain’t stealin’,” Mark said. “It’s borrowin’.”
“Yeah, well, you’re on probation now for ‘borrowing,’ so I don’t think it’s such a great idea,” I said.
As we got into the elevator Mark said, “I’m inclined to agree with his old man. That is one stupid guy.”
“You mean it?” I said. I had been thinking about Mike’s story, and I could see his point about not hating the people who beat him up.
“Yeah, I mean it. Man, if anybody ever hurt me like that I’d hate them for the rest of my life.”
I didn’t think much about that statement then. But later I would—I still do. I think about it and think about it until I think I’m going crazy.
“Yeah, but still, don’t you kinda miss that one-for-all, all-for-one routine? It’s kinda sad, really, when you get to where you don’t need a gang—I mean, like you did before.”
“It’s kind of a good thing too,” I said, “when you know your own personality so you don’t need the one the gang makes for you.”
“Yeah,” Mark sighed, “but there’s a difference. I wonder what the difference is?”
“The difference is,” I said evenly, “that was then, and this is now.”
Mark didn’t understand and Cathy did. I started spending more and more time with Cathy. Since I had the car, we went for a lot of drives and got a lot of Cokes together. We were always talking to each other about the way we felt—I tried telling her how I felt about Charlie, about how shook the whole thing had me. […] I could talk to her about anything, talk to her better than I could anyone, even Mark.
After a few weeks we’d drive by the park and make out for a little while. It was different for me though, because I had quit thinking only about myself, quit pushing for all I could get.
Mom had to stay in bed for a month, so we were really getting hard up for money. I got to thinking about what Charlie had said when I asked him for a job. I decided I needed a haircut, clean clothes, and a really big change in attitude. I’ve told you that I don’t like authority. This gives people the impression that I’m a smart-aleck kid. I’ll admit I’m pretty mouthy. I got to thinking, Who’s going to hire a mouthy kid who acts like he already knows it all?
I looked across the street, watching some little twelve- and thirteen-year-old teeny-boppers make fools of themselves—smoking, trying to act cool, pushing each other, screaming and swearing so loud I could hear them. I had a sudden recollection of Mark and me at twelve, smoking our heads off, clowning around, hoping someone—usually some little long-haired chick—would notice us and see how cool we were. All of a sudden it seemed like I was a hundred years old, or thirty at least. I wondered if, when I got to be twenty, I would think how stupid I was at sixteen. When I remembered us, it didn’t seem possible that we had looked as silly as these teenyboppers, but I guess we had. At least then we weren’t worried about looking silly. We were sure of ourselves, so sure we were the coolest things to hit town. Now I wasn’t so sure.
“Nothing bad happens to you when you’re a kid. Or haven’t you realized that?”
“Youth is free from worry,” I said sarcastically. “You’ve been listenin’ to too many adults.”
“I don’t worry. I’m never scared of nothing, and I never will be,” Mark said, “as long as I’m a kid.”
“You can get away with anything,” I said, because that phrase came through my head whenever I really thought about Mark.
“Yeah, I can.” He was quiet. “You used to be able to.”
I looked at him, and suddenly it was like seeing someone across a deep pit, someone you couldn’t ever reach.
“You can’t walk through your whole life saying ‘If.’ You can’t keep trying to figure out why things happen, man. That’s what old people do. That’s when you can’t get away with things any more. You gotta just take things as they come, and quit trying to reason them out. Bryon, you never used to wonder about things. Man, I been gettin’ worried about you. You start wonderin’ why, and you get old. Lately, I felt like you were leavin’ me, man. You used to have all the answers.”
“Cathy, I am really glad you are here,” I said. “I love you.”
“O.K.,” she sobbed. “O.K.” Then she reached over and held my hand. I took a quivering breath and looked at the ceiling. That hadn’t been so hard after all. If I could do that, maybe there were a few other things I could take care of.
“Is that what’s buggin’ you? Listen, I didn’t sell M&M anything. He got it from somebody else. Lookit, Bryon, they’re going to get it from somebody if they want it, so why can’t I make some money? I never forced it on anybody. I never tried to talk somebody into using drugs so I could make a buck.”
He could have talked all night and I wouldn’t have changed my mind.
I wondered tiredly why I had never seen it before: Mark had absolutely no concept of what was right and what was wrong; he didn’t obey any laws, because he couldn’t see that there were any. Laws, right and wrong, they didn’t matter to Mark, because they were just words.
“…you straighten up and they’ll let you out early on probation or parole or whatever it is, and you can come home. I’ll get you a job at the store—”
“Like hell you will […] I ain’t never goin’ back there again. When I get outa here, you ain’t never going to see me again.”
“We were like brothers,” I said, desperate. “You were my best friend—”
He laughed then, and his eyes were the golden, hard, flat eyes of a jungle animal. “Like a friend once said to me, ‘That was then, and this is now.’”
I broke out in a sweat and was suddenly glad of the walls and the guards and the bars. I think if he could have, Mark would have killed me.
Mostly I wonder “what if?” What if I had found out about Mark some other time, when I wasn’t half out of my mind with worry about Cathy? What if I hadn’t met her in the first place, would I still have grown away from Mark? What if M&M had had a good trip instead of a bad one? What if someone else had turned Mark in—would there still be hope for him?
I am too mixed up to really care. And to think, I used to be sure of things. Me, once I had all the answers. I wish I was a kid again, when I had all the answers.
