Themes and Setting
The different places in the memoir help shape the characters and events.
What is setting?
This Nevada desert town represents freedom, instability, and the beginning of the Walls family’s wandering lifestyle.
What is Battle Mountain?
This city gives the family a chance to live a more normal life for a short time.
What is Phoenix?
This poor West Virginia town is where Rex grew up.
What is Welch?
This city represents freedom and success for Jeannette and her siblings.
What is New York City?
Moving around constantly teaches the children independence but also causes this feeling.
What is instability?
Battle Mountain is a desert town with a rough mining culture that teaches the children how to do this.
What is being independent?
Jeannette began attending a certain type of school while in Phoenix after being homeschooled
What is a public school?
Welch is affected by poverty and the decline of this industry.
What is coal mining?
In New York City, the Walls children finally begin living this kind of life.
What is a stable/independent life?
The changing settings help highlight the conflict between Rex’s idealism and this harsh reality.
What is poverty?
Rex likes places like Battle Mountain because he thinks freedom is more important than this.
What is stability?
Rex Walls often used this excuse for not having a stable job.
What is alcoholism/drinking?
In Welch, Jeannette is often bullied because of her family’s poverty and reputation.
What is being poor?
The culture of New York City provided stability, employment, and education.
What is opportunity?
The settings in the story often show the difference between Rex’s dreams and this harsh truth.
What is reality?
Jeannette and her sibling often had to do this to find food.
What is scavenging?
In Phoenix, Rose Mary often refuses to act like this kind of traditional parent.
What is responsible?
The setting of Welch makes Jeannette want to do this when she grows older.
What is escape or leave town?
Rex and Rose Mary eventually live this way in New York City.
What is homeless?
Because the family moves so often, the children struggle to feel this.
What is a sense of belonging?
The setting of Battle Mountain helps create this feeling in the story.
What is adventure and chaos?
Leaving Phoenix shows Rex's and Rose Mary's inability to give their kids a stable life.
What is a normal family life/dynamic?
Welch helps explains why Rex is the way he is.
What is abuse/neglect/trauma?
In New York, the Walls children depend more on themselves than on these people.
What is parents?