Does age affect trust?

[Job Njoroge]

I would tend to trust a young person since his or her ability to cheat would not be developed unlike an adult who is capable of easily cheating and be very convincing

[KATRIKA HENRY]

it depends on the era u grew up in

[Katherine Smith]

I think that some people might believe that children are unable to accurately describe what happened to them. I believe that children and teenagers are believable with their stories because they become very animated when telling them.

[Charlie Sheldon]

Fatemeh133 - I wrote Sarah's tale, to the best of my ability, as I thought someone her age would describe what she saw and experienced, without a lot of interpretation on her part or ruminating on what it all meant. Sarah is a smart, solitary sort of girl, wounded by her past, and thus careful and very observant of others. When she had her vision, or "went back" she had no memory or picture of her life today, or before she went back, she just woke up in that cage and "was" and immediately, as all humans would do, tried to assess her surroundings and survive. So, she named her companions and captors, and then she experienced this voyage, trying to learn and survive as best she could. And when she told her story, she was recalling it as it happened, telling it, not in a discussion with Tom, Myra, William and Sergei, but recounting what she saw and heard and felt exactly as she remembers it. I don't think the detail of her memories is something a 13 year old would find difficult, neither the remembrance of what she was told and heard, and I base this on my own experiences, when I was that age or younger, and some of the experiences I had in the woods (nothing like Sarah's of course). I think all of us become familiar with the world and place we are in, and hence we don't recall so much, all the time, but when at a young age we are thrust into something entirely novel and new and different that experience sears it on our memories like a branding iron, or at least that happened with me when I first went for example, white water canoeing at 12 or winter camping at 13 with my dad. Everything from those unique and entirely new experiences seared onto my mind, and I would expect a girl like Sarah, suddenly thrust into a life she had no idea existed, would similarly imprint everything with great detail. In this way Sarah's journey is similar to the experience of the protagonist in that wonderful book "Life of Pi" where he is cast into a lifeboat with animals or other humans he remembers as animals, vivid, real, unquestioning. But, yes, you are right, Sarah did grow up back there, very fast, very fast indeed, and I don't think this is unreal either.

[KATRIKA HENRY]

Yes it does.

[Sally_Heart]

Fatemeh133 - I wrote Sarah's tale, to the best of my ability, as I thought someone her age would describe what she saw and experienced, without a lot of interpretation on her part or ruminating on what it all meant. Sarah is a smart, solitary sort of girl, wounded by her past, and thus careful and very observant of others. When she had her vision, or "went back" she had no memory or picture of her life today, or before she went back, she just woke up in that cage and "was" and immediately, as all humans would do, tried to assess her surroundings and survive. So, she named her companions and captors, and then she experienced this voyage, trying to learn and survive as best she could. And when she told her story, she was recalling it as it happened, telling it, not in a discussion with Tom, Myra, William and Sergei, but recounting what she saw and heard and felt exactly as she remembers it. I don't think the detail of her memories is something a 13 year old would find difficult, neither the remembrance of what she was told and heard, and I base this on my own experiences, when I was that age or younger, and some of the experiences I had in the woods (nothing like Sarah's of course). I think all of us become familiar with the world and place we are in, and hence we don't recall so much, all the time, but when at a young age we are thrust into something entirely novel and new and different that experience sears it on our memories like a branding iron, or at least that happened with me when I first went for example, white water canoeing at 12 or winter camping at 13 with my dad. Everything from those unique and entirely new experiences seared onto my mind, and I would expect a girl like Sarah, suddenly thrust into a life she had no idea existed, would similarly imprint everything with great detail. In this way Sarah's journey is similar to the experience of the protagonist in that wonderful book "Life of Pi" where he is cast into a lifeboat with animals or other humans he remembers as animals, vivid, real, unquestioning. But, yes, you are right, Sarah did grow up back there, very fast, very fast indeed, and I don't think this is unreal either.

Well said author though we do wonder did you account Tom's feedback to her age or to the lack of familiarity between them.

[Charlie Sheldon]

Salsabila - Not sure I understand your comment/question. Tom had been a pretty bad father, as in, not there because he was always gone fishing, and then Ruth left him for Fletcher before Becky was three years old. So he had some quilt, and shame, for failing his daughter, who was now dead. Sarahs's appearance was a total astonishing surprise, and he did not know what to do nor did he have much confidence he would do the right thing. Plus Sarah was an ornery angry teenager, telling Tom, basically, prove you give a damn about me. Then recall - she shows up one day, the very next they are off on the trail, the day after that she sees the bear, the day after that they get up to Bear Valley and the grave site of her great grandfather and Myra tells her the story of the whale and the bear, and the next morning - the fifth day Tom has known Sarah at all - she vanishes, so in a way he has had no time to develop much of anything with her. When she comes back with this story, Tom has trouble not because he doesn;t (by then) like his new granddaughter but because he is a "nuts and bolts" type of person not very taken with anything overtly spiritual or mysterious. All of them (except maybe William) have trouble beleving anything about Sarah's tale. I am not sure if this answers your question.

[Sally_Heart]

Thank you. It does answer my question. Am glad you are here to clarify these things.

[Leonidas Ndeta]

Young once are more sincere and honest than older people

[Christina Rose]

I don't think age plays much of a factor in this particular situation. Tom had mentioned earlier in the book when talking to William that he "don't believe that spirit stuff," so it really isn't surprising when he doesn't initially believe Sarah's stories.

[eelavahs-jay]

I don't think age necessarily affects trust what it does is cause people to doubt one's readiness to undertake or deal with certain things.

[Annelore Trujillo]

I do feel like the other characters would have found her story more believable if she had been older. However, I don't think that this is the only factor that played into them not believing her. I also think that her background made them not believe her and the fact that they really didn't know her that well.

[Bluecobia]

Age can affect trust. In general I think young people trust their elders probably more than the adults deserve. Most children are generally honest to start out, dishonesty is a learned trait.

[Kalin Adi]

This is an interesting question! I know kids sometimes lie, yet they are surprisingly very honest most of the time. I've worked with kids for more than 10 years and this is my perception. I know others may disagree, but in my case, age does not affect trust if you know the person.

[Ash and Stars]

Although Sarah is mature for her age, I feel that characters that are older are easier to trust