The Borrowers by Mary Norton

    In The Borrowers by Mary Norton, the character Arrietty changes throughout the book.  In the beginning, she curious and naive.  In the middle of this book, Arrietty changes by going outside her home for the first time.  In the end, Arrietty is more mature, and cautious about who sees her and what the consequences are for being seen.
    The Borrowers is about a family of little people (about two inches tall) who call their species borrowers because they borrow things humans leave around (blotting paper, hat pins, etc.). They live in a hole next to a clock in a kitchen.  This is why the family is called the Clocks.  The Clocks consist of a mother named Homily, a father named Pod, and their daughter named Arrietty.  They are the last borrowers in the house.
    In the beginning of the book, Arrietty is curious about the outside world and borrowing.  She is so curious, that when he father first takes her borrowing, she is told to stay put but she wanders into the garden and explores underneath a tree.  That is when she is seen by a little boy who temporarily lives in the house.  She is very naive at this point in the story because she then starts talking to the little boy and tells him where she lives.  Arrietty has no idea how destructive this boy could be, for all she knows, he could kill her!  But Arrietty tells the boy everything anyway.  In fact, at one point the boy threatens her and says, "...I'll hit you with my ash stick!".  When Arrietty calmly replies "All right, hit me!" the boy threatens to break her in half!  This shows just how naive Arrietty really is.
    In the middle of the book, Arrietty changes.  When she gets a letter from her uncle, it says "Tell your Aunt Lupy to come home".  This is when Arrietty realizes her Aunt is probably lost or dead.  She figures that her Aunt probably left their badger's hole where the rest of their family was hiding and tried to make it back to the house.  She also realizes that the fields are dangerous and immigrating to the forest is a risky plan.  When the boy who lives upstairs discovers Arrietty's house, he brings them doll house furniture and the Clocks become dependent on the boy.  Pod even stops borrowing outside of the kitchen.  Arrietty now trusts the boy.
    In the end of the book, (SPOILER ALERT) Mrs. Driver, the maid discovers how the boy is giving the borrowers expensive antique doll house furniture.  At first, she sees them and thinks they're rats so she calls the rat catcher.  Mrs. Driver locks up the boy in his room and the borrowers are forced to immigrate.  Arrietty learns her lesson, don't trust the human "beans".  Now she is more cautious and mature about what she does.
    All in all, Arrietty's character changes throughout the course of this book.  She goes from being a naive little girl to a mature young woman.  Arrietty was excited to live in the badger's hole, so I wonder if she'll become as raggedy as her boy cousins who she'll have to share her new home with.