Essay On Walls

The Walls family lives on 93 Little Hobart Street, Welch, West Virginia. The family includes Rose Mary, the mother, Rex, the father, and their four children. Lori is fifteen years old, Jeannette is twelve years old, Brian is eleven, and Maureen is six years old. The house itself was in bad condition: house made out of wood, sagging roof, rusted gutters, and the white paint had turned gray and started to peel off. The house has three bedrooms, but no bathroom. There is no running water indoors, they used water outside from a spigot. The house has electricity but the family can not afford to turn it on. The house does not have a chimney so the ceiling is black from soot which could potentially be bad for the children's health. The oldest

Similar to Lori's problem with their grandmother Erma, she also abused Brian. Brian is a lot younger than Lori so he is more easily influenced. Grandma Erma had told Brian that his pants needed mending. She told him not to take them off but to keep them on while she “fixed them”. Jeannette finds Erma kneeling on the floor grabbing at the crotch of Brian’s pants, kneading and squeezing. (page 146) Once the dad came back home, he refused to believe the children and believed Erma instead (Walls 147). Brian was sexually abused by Erma and when the children tried defending Brian their father did not believe them. Just like Lori, Brian talked about how they have little food. Brian and Jeanette have picked crab apples, corn, pawpaws and wild berries because there was no food at home. They then climbed in the window of an abandoned house to find canned goods. The cans were rusting and the food on the inside were rotting. They went home with nothing to eat that night (Walls 172-173). At school during lunch they were forced to read while the other kids ate because they did not have any lunch (Walls 173). The children are obviously not getting enough nutrients, Brian said the kids at school bully them because they are so skinny (Walls 173). The parents, Rose Mary and Rex, do not seem to care that their children are hungry and are not healthy. Another thing Brian said was that he caught Rose Mary,his mother, eating chocolate while her

The children are under fed and that can affect how they do in school, how they interact with other kids, and their mental health. “Young children in deep poverty, whose family income is below 50 percent of the federal poverty line, fare even worse on health and development indicators than children in poverty, according to a study” (“Deep poverty”). Each kid is affected by being hungry differently. Lori will eat anything she can find, even butter and sugar. Jeannette will go through the trash to find food that her classmates threw out. And Brian will go to his neighbors house and steal their food. The abuse that the kids endure can affect how their brain develops. “Even if physical punishment does not result in serious physical injury, children may experience fear and distress, and this stress has been found to negatively impact brain structure, development and overall well-being” (Font). Even though the abuse they all experience is different, it all negatively affects them. Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen experience sexual abuse while Lori experienced physical abuse by the grandmother. These are all reasons why the children should not be in the house with Rex and Rose Mary