Quotes | Analyze | Living in Poverty: “We were always doing the skedaddle, usually in the middle of the night” | Jeannette Walls’ family was living in poverty, so it is common to escape at night to get away from bill collectors and cops. However, Jeannette’s father made it more interesting by telling them the FBI was tracing after them. | Self-Reliance: “…but you can’t cling to the side your whole life, what one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is if you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.” | Jeannette and Rex (Jeanette’s father) went to swim at the Hot Pot. However, Jeannette does not know how to swim, so Rex tries to teach her a lesson of self-reliance by heaving her into the water and letting her sink, then saving her, and throwing her back in again until she learned how to swim. | Fearlessness: “I yanked the pistol out of Lori’s hand, aimed low, and pulled the trigger.” | Billy Deel was mad after Jeannette refused to be his girlfriend. When Jeannette’s parents are not home, Billy takes a BB gun to Jeannette’s house and starts to shout at the family. Nonetheless, Jeannette stood out and uses his father’s pistol to scare Billy away. | Alcoholism: “No one tried to wring dad’s neck or yell at him or even point out that he’d ruined the Christmas his family had spent weeks planning.” | Jeannette’s father was addicted to alcohol. If he was drunk, Rex goes crazy and treats his family violently. During Christmas, Jeannette’s father returned home drunk and set on fire the Christmas tree, which ruined their Christmas. | Forgiveness: “She added that you should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them.” | Jeannette confronted her grandmother about not being prejudice toward black people and calling them niggers. Then, Jeannette’s mom told Jeannette to forgive grandma, by telling her that she never tries to hate anyone and that no one is perfect and to try to find
Quotes | Analyze | Living in Poverty: “We were always doing the skedaddle, usually in the middle of the night” | Jeannette Walls’ family was living in poverty, so it is common to escape at night to get away from bill collectors and cops. However, Jeannette’s father made it more interesting by telling them the FBI was tracing after them. | Self-Reliance: “…but you can’t cling to the side your whole life, what one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is if you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.” | Jeannette and Rex (Jeanette’s father) went to swim at the Hot Pot. However, Jeannette does not know how to swim, so Rex tries to teach her a lesson of self-reliance by heaving her into the water and letting her sink, then saving her, and throwing her back in again until she learned how to swim. | Fearlessness: “I yanked the pistol out of Lori’s hand, aimed low, and pulled the trigger.” | Billy Deel was mad after Jeannette refused to be his girlfriend. When Jeannette’s parents are not home, Billy takes a BB gun to Jeannette’s house and starts to shout at the family. Nonetheless, Jeannette stood out and uses his father’s pistol to scare Billy away. | Alcoholism: “No one tried to wring dad’s neck or yell at him or even point out that he’d ruined the Christmas his family had spent weeks planning.” | Jeannette’s father was addicted to alcohol. If he was drunk, Rex goes crazy and treats his family violently. During Christmas, Jeannette’s father returned home drunk and set on fire the Christmas tree, which ruined their Christmas. | Forgiveness: “She added that you should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them.” | Jeannette confronted her grandmother about not being prejudice toward black people and calling them niggers. Then, Jeannette’s mom told Jeannette to forgive grandma, by telling her that she never tries to hate anyone and that no one is perfect and to try to find