Paragraph Question

In the novel the Running Man by Michael Gerard Bauer, there are many experiences and personalities from which Joseph as a character has changed and developed his understanding of others. Joseph at the beginning of the novel was someone who was shy and believed every rumor that was said and /or described by Mrs Mossop. As the novel progress, so did Joseph. His progress started from one afternoon in the Leyton's backyard. He was helping Caroline Layton (his neighbor) with her lawn. They were talking about Josephs art project; he had to draw a portrait of a real person that he knew. Caroline had then suggested the following;
"Caroline looked at the young boy before her and seemed reassured by his open, friendly expression, but what she said next hit Joseph like an unexpected blow to the stomach.
'I thought perhaps you could draw my brother Tommy?'"(pg.17)
What Caroline had said made Joseph think quiet bit about her proposal. He was changing his find to weather he should or not go. A few pages later in the book, Joseph was over hearing his mother and Mrs Mossop talk about Caroline's proposal. He felt as though at that moment in the novel, as though Mrs Mossop was praying on his mothers conversation with caroline that had happen earlier that morning about the portrait. As his mother and Mrs Mossop started turning there discussion on Joseph he felt like;
" Everyone was always saying that he was too quiet or too shy, blaming his fathers absence or his mothers 'mollycoddling', whatever that meant. They were always asking if the cat had got his tongue. He hated it. It just made him feel less sure and more lost in his own silent world. And now Mrs Mossop and his mother were convinced that he was too timid, too scared - too much of a baby - to face up to Tom Layton."(pg. 49)
Joseph knew that he had to do something, to prove to them that he has changed and is tough enough to be in the same room as Tom Layton. What he did, surprised everyone in the room when he agreed to Caroline's offer. His first session with Tom, was quiet silent and mysterious. Just as he was about to leave he saw a box full of unhatched silkworms which he saw Tom hovering over. Joseph didn't like going to he Layton's house, for the first few times. But as the silkworms grew and developed, so did Josephs regular visits to the Layton's house. His relationship with Tom grew as the visits became more based on the silkworms. The silkworms would bring them together, and they would share stories of life experiences. Joseph had found out more about Tom then any other person living in the street. He started to enjoy visiting the Layton's. He found that the stories that he was told about Tom Layton, weren't true and that his personality wasn't all that bad. Overall Joseph has dramatically changed through the experiences that he has come across quiet early in the book. He has relised that he is tough enough to stand up to his fears and also that his opinions have changed about people and who they are.