-
Cooking Hot Dogs
Jeannette is 3 years old and cooks hot dogs unsupervised because her mom is busy painting. One day while doing so, the gas flame catches on her dress. She calls for help and Mom dashes to her, wraps her in a blanket, and a neighbor drives them to the hospital. Her dress caught on fire and burned her right side.
Jeannette receives permanent scar from this event. She learns she cannot be scared of fire and this shows her resilience. Jeannette learns quickly that she must take care of herself. -
Family Forced to Starve
Rex lost his job and there was no money coming in. The children realize food is going to be scarce, and Jeannette and Brian take to scavenging. When Mom catches Lori and Jeannette eating the last of the margarine mixed with sugar, she yells at them. They admit their hunger, which makes Mom realize how bad their lives are.
This event impacted Jeannette because she saw how poor her family really was and in order to eat, she had to steal food from others. The kids have to be self sufficient. -
Interaction with Billy Deel
During a game of hide and seek, he joins her in a tool shed and forcefully kisses her and begins trying to undress her. Jeannette bites his ear to make him stop; the next day, she returns the ring to him, saying she can't be his friend. Billy throws the ring at her and tells her he raped her.
Jeannette loses some of her innocence through her interactions with Billy. When Billy forces Jeannette to kiss him, she begins to learn about sexuality and learns what happens in the Green Lantern. -
Christmas in Phoenix
Mom decides it is no reason to despair and encourages the children in throwing their hearts into Christmas this year. For the month of December the family decorates the house and wrap presents for each other. When the family gets home from Mass, Dad sets the tree on fire. He sits on the sofa laughing while everyone else puts out the fire.
The entire family is scarred — not by the fire itself, but by Rex's behavior. Mom is unable to leave him; the kids are unable to change the situation. -
Stitching Up Rex
Rex came home late and Jeannette gets up to see him. He has a gash in his face and forearm. Too drunk to take care of his wounds, Rex asks Jeannette to stitch up his arm. She is terrified to draw the threaded needle through his skin, but she manages a few stitches. The next evening, when she returns from school, he was gone.
By asking Jeannette to stitch his wound, he ignores how deeply such a task bothers her. Jeannette's belief in her dad wavers from this event and she knows he won't change. -
Placed into classes for People with Learning Disabilities
Mom takes Brian and Jeannette to school to enroll. The three of them meet with the principal who asks them simple questions to test their intelligence. Due to their dissimilar accents, the principal can't understand their answers and they can't understand his questions, so they are placed into classes for students with learning disabilities.
This has a negative effect because she gets bullied, and the teacher picks on her. This is hard on Jeannette because she is so intelligent. -
Uncle Stanley Acting Inappropriately
Grandpa and Uncle Stanley move by the Walls.The kids would go over their to use a working bathroom. One day Uncle Stanley was behaving inappropriately. When Jeannette tells her mom she justify's Uncle Stanley's actions.Jeannette refused to go back to Grandpa's after because she didn't want her Uncle thinking she was coming back for him.
From this incident Jeannette learns that her strength lies in her perseverance.She had to protect herself because her parent's weren't going to do anything. -
Rex Using Jeannette
Before Mom leaves, she gives $200 to Jeannette for groceries and bills. Jeannette is unable to stick to her budget because she relents to Dad's request for cash. He promises to pay her back, and he does so by taking her to the bar.
Jeannette feels weak when she is unable to deny her father's demands for money. Her role as a distraction in Rex's hustle puts her in another precarious sexual situation. However, through this experience she gains more inner strength and gets her first job. -
Slashed Piggy Bank
Jeannette tells Lori about her escape fund, Lori decides that she will move to New York City after she graduates from high school.
Spring approaches and the count down to Lori's big departure is on. Lori is nervous about the move. However, all the plans get ruined when Rex steals all the cash from Oz. Lori confronts Rex when he returns from a three-day binge, but he does not admit to any of it.
This event was big because Jeannette realized if Lori couldn't get out of Welch, neither could she. -
Rex Dying
Jeannette gets a call from Rex to visit him. After arriving at the apartment, Dad tells her he is dying. They chat for awhile about old times and Jeannette realizes that, through it all, her Dad has always loved her deeply, even if his choices hurt her at times.
A couple weeks later, Rex had a heart attack and died. Rex's death forces Jeannette to examine her life. She eventually leaves Eric and moves away from Park Avenue. Jeannette is able to reconcile who she was with who she has become.
