¶ … sprinkled with skepticism, but once she is well into the piece she produces a deluge of cynicism -- and readers are thoroughly drenched (nearly drowned) in the tsunami of her pessimism (for good reason). Many of Walton's points have validity because disillusionment can hit a person in the face like an icy snowball thrown by a neighborhood bully if he or she is not prepared to face the world as it really is. Happiness is not the same as immaturity at all, and this paper will delve into that subject, because happiness is finding pleasure and joy in a world that can be brutally cold and callous. But meanwhile when Walton says she knows adults "…who will never recover from happy childhoods," she is alluding perhaps to people who were lucky to have great, loving parents that raised them in emotionally pristine environments, sheltered from simpletons and tormenters. But those same young people from wonderful homes find out soon enough in their adult lives that "the world was not nice after all."

This paper uses examples from Walton as to how a person can become disillusioned, whether that...

Living life brings realities into focus; sweetness and light is the exception, not the rule.
Example One: It is true that universities (in some cases) are influenced to accept certain students because the fathers of those students have endowed the university with millions of dollars for the building program -- or some other project that benefitted the institution. Hence, young women learn that if daddy has influence they can get by without having glowing transcripts. "She found out that their fathers had influence that gained entry for their daughters…" while "an honor student" (friend of Walton) "was kept out." In truth, this is disillusioning for a worthy candidate. But wait, in every high school (public or private) attractive girls always seem to get the teacher aide position and other perks.

That is really the same concept as the bubble-brained girls getting into a college because their fathers had influence. A worthy high…