Jeannette's Siblings

Jeannette is very insecure about her past life of poverty, and although she has now dug herself out of the rut of destitution, her parents’ continued homelessness is always a reminder of

Had Jeannette never experienced poverty, had she never had to make do with what she had, she would never have thought to create her own braces. Hence, because poverty forces her to manage with the little she has throughout all of her childhood, Jeannette gains resourcefulness. Poverty’s final gift to Jeannette and her siblings is the desire to survive. Throughout her childhood, Jeannette is forced to survive. She must survive burns from a freak accident and cuts from falling out of a car. She must survive constant moving around and repeated incidents with sexual predators. All of these incidents instill in Jeannette a desire to survive. As a junior in high school, Jeannette flees to New York City where she finishes high school and begins college. Jeannette works hard to support herself but eventually runs out of money. Instead of quitting and falling through the cracks, Jeannette works harder; she refuses to give up and continues to live her life in the face of difficult circumstances. Thus, the Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle changed my views about poverty by revealing that poverty can produce more than negative outcomes; it can foster resiliency, ingenuity, and a desire to succeed.

Jeannette always admired her parents despite the way that they chose to live. Even though both parents were both intelligently capable, they chose to live homeless. They both chose their own welfare over their children. With parents like hers, Jeannette took what good she could from her

Though Jeannette gave her all to support her family, she did the same for herself without anyone’s support. She understood what it was meant to be poverty at a very young age and realised that she could not have what others did. While Jeannette didn’t have money, she was smart and resourceful to achieve whatever she could for herself. When Jeannette was young, she had already decided that if she wanted to do something for herself, she was going to have to do it herself. An example of this was when she herself to have buckteeth, and promptly said, “I decided to make my own braces,” and she did (Wall 200). In spite of Jeannette being underprivilaged and with less money, she found ways time and time again to succeed.

Describe Jeannette’s childhood, specifically her socialization or the process by which she acquired family values, information about social expectations, and survival strategies.

Hernandez does what she can to keep her own head above water by getting a job at a local McDonalds and keeping her grades up in school. Though guilty of her own successes Hernandez did what she had to do, to survive and create her own future.

As a child, Jeannette’s sense of wonder and curiosity in the world undermine the need for money. During her young adult years, a new wave of insecurity associated with her poor past infects her. Finally, as an experienced and aged woman, Jeannette finds joy and nostalgia in cherishing her poverty- stricken past. It must be noted that no story goes without a couple twists and turns, especiallydefinitely not Jeannette Walls’. The fact of the matter is that growing up in poverty effectively craftsed, and transformsed her into the person she becomeshas become. While statistics and research show that living in poverty can be detrimental to a child’s self-esteem, Jeannette Walls encourages children living in poverty to have ownership over their temporary situation, and never to feel inferior because of past or present socio-economic

Jeannette’s self-reliant behavior is frequently shown through her refusal of help from others. On one trip to retrieve her father from a bar, Jeannette’s father is so drunk that he can no longer walk. Another man offers to drive them home, and

Within this quote, the author uses point of view through Jeannette to convey the understanding. Through Jeannette’s perspective and knowledge of her current situation, the reader can infer that the family is poor and is faced with obstacles that they are shortly able to overcome even with their compact sum of money. Another example that demonstrates how point of view supports the understanding, is when Rose Mary (Jeannette’s mother) finds an old sewing machine in their new house. She, “ said it would come in handy because we could make our own clothes even when the electricity was turned off “ (153). In this quote, Jeannette’s mother is trying to make living at 93 Hobart Street seem like an adventure by finding new activities to do with her children.

Secondly, self-sufficiency is illustrated through motivation. One afternoon when Jeannette was at home by herself child services came to talk to her about her living conditions and her parents. Jeannette told the man to come back when her parents were home. When Jeannette’s mom came home she told her what happened and that she needed to do something so child services wouldn't take them away, Jeannette’s mom then said, “Jeannette, you're so focused it's scary.”(195) Rosemary says when Jeannette is focused she can get intimidating. Jeannette is motivated by the need to protect her family, which shows her self sufficiency because it's up to her to keep the family together, because she knows her parents are unreliable. Additionally, Rosemary has been known to feel sorry for herself and expresses how she hates her life. When Jeannette sees her mom wallowing she stands there in disgust watching her mother give up on life when she

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

A part of maturing is finally doing things independently without the supervision from parents. In her short story, “Through the Tunnel”, Doris Lessing conveys the concept of maturing through becoming self-sufficient. Lessing uses characterization and symbolism to show that being self-reliant is a part of growing up.

Samantha came from a hardworking, family oriented, working class of community involved family members on her father’s side. Her paternal grandmother, Joanne Smith, pushed her four sons to be respectful, always work for what you want to receive, and always remember where you came from, therefore, Samantha’s father Brian decided to get his associates degree in architecture with a full-time job at Glenmark Construction to attain a career and pursue to be a part owner of the business. Samantha also came from an east coast, working class, intelligent, Norwegian based family on her mother’s side. Her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth Bensen, worked at a bank while her grandfather, Kenneth Bensen, worked in a laboratory that manufactured mechanical circulatory support for the heart and lungs called cardiopulmonary bypass. Kenneth and Elizabeth pushed their two children to achieve a higher education, never give up, and never disbelieve in the talent that is given to you, thus, Samantha’s mother Christine went to Indiana University for undergraduate and graduate school, receiving her Doctorate in Law to pursue a career in criminal justice as a chief prosecutor in the state of

However, when their mother came through the door and told them of a hungry family, the 4 women did not hesitate in giving away their luscious breakfast to those in need. The children delivered the food to the family and “a poor, bare, miserable room it was, with broken windows, no fire, ragged bedclothes, a sick mother, wailing baby, and a group of pale, hungry children cuddled under one old quilt, trying to keep warm”(24). The sisters realize what a harsh environment they live in, and because the setting is so pessimistic, they try to share the little wealth they have so that everyone may live long full lives. The setting in which they live, houses many people who have even less wealth than their own family. However, because of this dreadful place, they try and make sure that their community, or their family, is taken care of, even at the expense of their luxuries.

The family started to notice a big change in the income, so much that they began to question father. Nicole was now on full time father watch. Nicole only drops off father at an office building, but what she doesn’t know is that the office building is not where he works. He works at a secret bar owned by one of the biggest drug dealers known to Kentucky. Father starts to deal drugs to earn more money for his family, but this backfires. A week later the cops showed up to arrest him. Yet again, the family lost everything because the mother’s agency thought that she knew about her husband dealing the drugs and fired her. Nicole and her mom are homeless with only their storage lockers full of expensive clothing. They both have to find jobs so that they can eat... After about a month Nicole has been planning to run away to one of her friend’s house, even though she loves and will miss her mother. But when she gets to her friend’s house and they see who it is they treat her like a nobody, and they send her back onto the streets. Nicole runs away to another one of her friend’s houses, and this time they kick her out and pretend that they didn’t know her because she is now poor. She tries with all of her friends even her best friend , Ava. She comes back to the storage lockers where her mom lives and finds out that her mom has met a few new friends who have gone through similar things. A few months later mom and her new friends all decide to buy a big enough house for all of the families to live together. That is where Nicole finds her new best friend ,Mia,... eventually they all become middle class citizens and were quite content with it too. Mia was one of those spoiled brats who would go and get into trouble to make the parents suffer like they made her when they told her no. Now she sees that there is more to life than getting things; like