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I wished I could be that frog back at Ep’s old pond. I wished I could get up in the morning and look at the day the way I used to when I was a child. I wished I could walk down the streets and not hear those constant, abrasive sounds from the mouths of the opposite sex. Damn, I wished the world would let me be myself. But I knew better on all counts. I wish I could make my films. That wish I can work for.

In this passage at the end of Rubyfruit Jungle, Molly’s shift from past to present tense marks a transition from childhood to adulthood. As she has grown and changed, Molly has acquired a past of her own. Against her better judgment, she often finds herself yearning for the relative comfort and safety of her earlier years to insulate her from the painful present, where she has few job prospects and even fewer friends. However, Molly’s resolve to turn away from the past and the impracticality of wishing for things that cannot come true signifies that she is ready to meet the challenges of the present and fight through hardship by concentrating on the outcomes of her life that she can control. Though it may be improbable, Molly’s final wish to make films is one she can work to fulfill. Having closed the chapter on her early life, Molly sets out on a new course of adulthood.

The distinction between the wishes Molly discards and the one to which she ultimately clings suggests Brown’s final attitude toward feminism and society. Whereas most coming-of-age stories end with the integration of the protagonist into society, Molly’s story continues in the direction of personal fulfillment. Perhaps realizing that it will take generations of activism for the world to let Molly be herself, Molly focuses on advancing her personal agenda. She and Brown seem to believe that wider social change can occur only after individual change takes place, and Molly as an individual withdraws into the achievement of her artistic career.

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