Journal Entry: As a kid Jeannette Walls age how would you handle situations where your father is using you for money to buy Alcohol and Cigarettes? Has any teacher had faith in you where no one else has and has had made a huge impact on your life?
The reading starts off by saying how Jeanette is joining the school newspaper club called the “Maroon Wave.” She says how she wants to be apart of something that people won’t bully her and move away from her when people sit next to her. Jeanette then explains how she is a good runner and wanted to be on the track team but with the fees, her mother couldn't afford it. Miss Bivens, the “Maroon Wave” advisor, was also Rexs teacher when he was young. Miss Bivens was the only one who had faith in Rex and was the one who told him to run back to the school after a poem contest incident. This showed Rex how much she cared about him and ended up naming Jeannette after Miss Bivens. Everyday Jeannette would go to the newsrooms and watch how the process works. The “Wave” was written there so she was there. She watched the editors and reporters of the real newspaper of the town and was very interested. She had never known what was going on in the world except for her Mom and Dad's twisted version of everything.
In the next chapter, Jeannette starts off by saying how she feels that she has failed as a sister of Maureen. Her job was to protect her and she hasn't done that. She wanted to be a good sister this year for her birthday and wanted to get her something because she knew her mom and dad wouldn't get her anything. She saved up for months and Brian, Lori and Jeannette ended up getting her a plastic kitchen appliance set.
Jeannette then starts to talk about how her mother's mood swings were making Jeannette upset. She would be happy for a little and then mad and have a mental breakdown. She explains how one morning of one of her breakdowns Jeannette was mad and proclaimed how she needs to not be a baby and toughen up. Nothing would cheer her Mom up and Jeannette was getting frustrated. Jeannette thinks it's her mom's fault for not keeping control of her dad and Lori thinks the opposite.
The summer came up and Jeannette wanted to prove that she could manage her father and control him. Her mom left for 8 weeks to go to Charleston, South Carolina taking college courses. Jeannette was given $200 for food and bills and after the first week, Rex manipulated Jeannette into giving him money for beer and cigarettes. She wanted to say no but she also had to give it to him because it is her father. She says how he knows she has a soft spot for him and he took advantage of it. She was feeling used. He kept on using her for more and more money. He asked for 20 and she gave it to him because of his excuse for borrowing a friend's car and needed to put gas in it. He used the money for something else. He was scamming her of her money. She kept trying to say no and that the money was for bills and things like that, but Rex kept making excuses to get more money off her. It puts the family in a hole they can't get out of and that's why they live in poverty.
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