August 4, 2014
A) Jeannette's mother strikes me as a sheltered woman. Even though that does sound crazy since that's not what we think of nowadays when we think of sheltered, she is still isolated from the world's idea of how "the other half lives," since she has never lived any other way. She has become so narrow-minded about the idea of living a life of dumpster diving for food that she thinks that this way of life is how everyone should live. Jeannette is told by her mother that her "values are confused" because of the way she is trying to help her parents with money and how her lifestyle has changed. In her mind, anything but her way of life is wrong. Jeannette chooses to begin the memoir with this encounter in order to give readers a hint about her life in the past. The fact that she is embarrassed by her mother in the dumpster foreshadows that she was once like that and is scared that if anyone finds out her real identity, she'll lose everything that she has worked so hard to succeed in. It also keeps readers interested because they want to know why Jeannette is going to a fancy dinner party, while her mother doesn't even have dinner.
B) Jeannette's father explained the "skedaddle" as a way to escape the gestapo. He justified the moves as adventures, making the moves sound like some sort of exciting race. To me, he made the escapes into a big game of hide-and-go-seek and tag for the kids. Jeannette's mother explained the "skedaddle" with more of a purpose. She used it as a way to get out of paying overdue bills and rent. She justified the moves as a fresh start and a way to not owe anyone money after the move. Jeannette and her siblings' like the idea of moving. In fact if they stay in a place for too long, they start to get antsy, asking when their next move will happen. Since they aren't accustomed to staying somewhere for more than a couple of months, the kids aren't really used to making friends. In addition, the way the kids at their school, specifically in Welch, make fun of them causes them to want to move.
C) When I was 4-years-old my family and I moved from our house across from Polly's Freeze in Edwardsville into our current house that we built in Greenville. Even though I was pretty little during this time, I can remember being scared, as this was my first real instance of change. Our house in Edwardsville was my first and only house that I had ever lived in. I specifically remember thinking about missing my mom's sunflower kitchen. I just couldn't believe that someone could live in a house without a sunflower themed kitchen. The move was going to happen whether I liked it or not and after moving into our new house, I learned that change could be a good thing. It became one of my most favorite places to go, even before it was completely built. There was so much space for my brother and me to play. Now I know that our new and current house was the best for us, no matter how scary it was to think about at a young age. Plus, I also learned that an apple themed kitchen could be just as good as one full of sunflowers.
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