Maxine: A Short Story

realizes that the people of the town are so afraid of the devil, she can use

The daughter had a life plan. She wants to be successful even though people will alienate her for the fact that she has the qualities of someone from a low income family. “In pottery class I’m making a jar with a lid. If it comes out all right I think I’ll use it for a jewel box as we don’t ever eat marmalade. Jolley demonstrates that the sister knows she does not have a lot of things that people high up on the social status would normally have. The author uses characterization to provide the reader with an insight of how each individual lives in a low income family.

Layne and Terror went back home and the next morning Layne’s mom goes to his room to pick up his dirty clothes he was very worried about what will be the reaction of his mom if she knows about what he did. His mom saw his shirt that has blood and she thought Layne got the blood on his shirt on his rugby practice then Layne was relief of his worries that his mom going to know about

Jeannette is the narrator of her memoir, telling her story from age three into adulthood. As a child she is adventurous, wild-hearted, and Dad 's favorite. Jeannette, a middle sibling, is closer to younger brother Brian than her older sister Lori: Brian shares Jeannette 's love of the outdoors, while Lori is more a bookworm. As Jeannette matures, her feelings toward Dad and Mom change. She resents Dad 's drinking and how he constantly lets her and the rest of the family down yet never openly admits it or allows his flaws to be discussed. Jeannette also resents Mom 's refusal to hold down a job long enough to provide her kids with a stable food supply. These resentments make her more and more willful and independent. Eventually she scrapes

Katie Nolan, Francie’s mother, is the main reason that Francie is able to survive her arduous childhood and succeed in life. Food, heat and protection are always available to the Nolan children even if it means that Katie has to work multiple jobs or even sacrifice some of her own needs. Katie gives all she can to provide for her children and Francie truly values her mother’s hard work. Francie appreciates her mother’s thougtful acts, but still, Francie develops

realizes that the people of the town are so afraid of the devil, she can use

Jeannette is the second child of four children. She tells her life story through the book. She starts out from her earliest memory, when she was three years old, and into her adulthood. Her actions foreshadows that she will be successful when she grows up away from her parents. Since Jeannette’s parents were often careless of their children, Jeannette had to take care of younger siblings and work to get money for food, but she still loved her parents. Eventually, she decided to leave her parents and go to New York. There she became a successful author and journalist.

However, in most poverty stricken families in America, most of these children give up in life and drop out of school (Brooks-Gunn Jeanne and Duncan 60). In addition, most of them even end becoming street children and later on join gangs in the streets and are introduced to drugs which later on turn them into criminals. A good example from the story is Maureen. She was defiant and only found solace in drugs and running away from home and the ultimate outcome was that she ended up in a mental hospital. What happened to Maureen in the story is what happens to many American children living in poverty. Jeannette and her other siblings endured hunger, bullying and poverty in their family with the hope that they were going to become great in future. The children in the family cared for each other and they strived to be successful, which they did, except for Maureen who never accepted to be

Zoey awoke from her well deserved slumber in her first class of the day, being awoken by Mrs. Serrano yelling "Zoey"! "Mrs. Serrano" she retorted sleeplessly, trying to sit up to the best of her ability. "Do you know why George killed Lennie out of love"? "Can I ask a question? Who's Lennie" she inquired in all seriousness. "If you had been reading the book you would know" she snapped and moved onto the next person before I could answer.

She started back to Boston. She walked and walked and walked and she was there. It was a disaster. She saw Ching Chang standing there with glow red eye. “HE IS A DEMON” she screamed. Ching Chang jumped onto her then she fell to the ground and Ching Chang bit a big chunk of skin off her arm. ‘AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” she scream and cry all at once as Ching Chang ran away to cause more destruction.

In Maxine Claire’s short story, “Cherry Bomb,” the speaker utilizes a nostalgic tone to express the backstory of the cherry bomb in her private box. Moreover, Claire makes use of a number of literary devices such as vivid imagery, allusion and similes in order to clarify the significance of the cherry bomb to the audience.

She walked in the house for the door was open. A large creek of n old door he opened . It echoed throughout the old castle. Strange enough the outside of the house was ugly and old, while the inside was like an enchanted castle that looked as if a king lived there. Everything was sparkling clean, no spider webs, no crumbs just elegance and gorgeousness. A sudden bang was heard upstairs. “ Hello.. Matthew?” she said scared and confused. As she was there to investigate she noticed a scratch on her arm that had been open and bleeding the whole time. She ran out in fear and went home. She was looking out the window when she saw matthew coming back home with black bags. As he knocked on the door it opened and he seemed to be arguing with someone at the door. He looked really frustrated. Suddenly he stopped and turned to Leanna's window where she had been looking. She closed the curtain scared and decided to go to sleep. That night she heard the doorbell ring. “ Oh hey Matthew, what’s up?” Without hesitation he yelled, “Did you go inside my house tell me, did you?” As she looked down at her arm covering it with her arms crossed she said “ No, never.” He uncovered her hand as he looked scared at the cut he said “ I’m sorry, look there’s a demon in my house that has been haunting and feeding off of me and my family. He killed them all... now he scratched you and left his mark in you. The only way he will come after you now is…... through me!” As the possessed Matthew attacked her, she ran upstairs where she knew she had a gun. The lights went dark, she heard a deep breathing as she heard her name being called in a demonic voice. “ LEANNA! Where are you?” Scared for her life she grabbed the pistol she had hidden and started to load it. The house started to shake as a loud frustrated monster like scream was heard throughout the house. The beep in her made her ears bleed as if the

With her husband's outrages and seclusion, she did her best by taken care of the situation with care and calmness, especially in front of her children. Surely, when alone, she would breakdown from the pressure, sadness and changes. A family that would once take walks together on Sundays now had to deal with the father's outrages and drinking problems. Ben, the narrator, was only eight years old at the time and even his young fragile mind noticed that his life would forever be different.

Maxine's life is a faith-filled journey engulfed with multiple personal tragedies. The first tragedy struck Maxine in the fall of 1928. The