Homework Journal #4

A) When the Walls family moves to Little Hobart Street, they quickly descend into impoverished living conditions. How does Jeannette cope with the deficiencies in her life? Discuss at least one specific example.

Little Hobart Street had the Walls family scavenging for food. When the Walls family didn't have enough food at home, and no one at school would believe Jeannette if she told them she forgot her lunch, she would hide in the bathrooms and wait for kids to throw away their lunches. Then, once they were gone, Jeannette would grab their lunches out of the garbage, and eat the rest of their lunch. Jeannette in a way, took advantage of the situation, but it was in order for her to survive. Sometimes Jeannette would also go with Brian to steal food from Old Man Wilson's farm. Soon, they became experts at stealing food, just because they were starving and living in poor conditions.

B) How do Jeannette and her siblings tolerate abuse? To what extent do you sympathize with her situation? Are her justifications (for her father's behavior, her mother's neglect, etc) valid or has she been taught to believe in a false reality?

Jeannette and her siblings often times ignore it, or help each other to stay strong and not give up, even in the midst of tough situations. Sometimes, they try to show their parents that they are not taking care of them the way they should. They try to help each other because they don't know what else to do, and don't know how to do it. Although, sometimes they get mad at their parents for not taking care of them the right way. For example, when Jeannette and her siblings find out that their mom was withholding chocolate from them when they were starving, they take it and eat it right in front of her, wanting to show her exactly how hungry they are and making their mom feel guilty. I sympathize with the
Walls siblings' situation because they didn't truly know how to take care of themselves, or their parents, and if I was in their position, I probably wouldn't even have known what to do besides the same things they did to stay sane and not give up. I believe that Jeannette's justifications for her father's behavior and her mother's neglect are valid, but I also believe that her own parents didn't know how to take care of the Walls children, or even take care of themselves. So, in a way, I sympathize for both the Walls parents and children. However, I sympathize more for the children because I feel that they should have had better parents that knew how to properly take care of their children.