I'd imagine the correct answer is<em> the third one</em>, "The story illustrates that growing up can be a painful experience".
Explanation:
Well, numbers 2 and 4 just explain the story's setting, they don't really demonstrate the story's main theme or lesson. Number 1 is, like, super vague as well. Like, it could be describing a million different stories. Number 3, however, <u>displays the story's main theme</u> and has a statement that <u>can be backed up with evidence</u> from that story. So, the sentence that best shows a strong thesis statement is the third statement.
