Baker knows his life story and what it was like growing up in his family. He talks about his father and how badly he treated them. Mimi's father was a violent man towards her and her mother. He spent all his money on alcohol and little on his family. Mimi's mother locked the door when her husband got drunk and her first memory (page 297) of her father was him "smashing the large glass window of the locked front door to get to the lock inside." . During the holidays he was often drunk and violent. For example, her mother was building a toy garden under the Christmas tree and Mimi's drunken father came in and "returned it to ruins." Mimi's father is an example of a bad man because he was evil, violent and an alcoholic. He would leave Mimi to her own devices and she would move from house to house and then weeks or months later he would return wanting to reunite the family only to disappear again. Russell Baker's Growing Up shows us what it was like to grow up between the two world wars. He meets people who influence his life and work ethic. Growing up explains the definition of a good man and a bad man. The good men in the book are hardworking and caring. Good men support their families and stay away from alcohol. Baker also meets bad men who don't fit the description at all. These men like Mr. Simmons and Mimi's father are rude, mean, and self-centered.