How Does The Environment Affect Jolly's Identity

In Virginia Euwer Wolff’s Make Lemonade, Jolly’s apartment was a mess, she never thought that she could fix her apartment of her identity. LaVaughn came into her life and tried to help her. The environment of Jolly’s apartment affected Jolly and LaVaughn differently, but it affected them both in a positive direction. LaVaughn and her friend Jolly who LaVaughn worked for as a babysitter, LaVaughn came into Jolly’s life to try to turn it around. She tried to clean Jolly’s apartment, get her to school, and help her get a job so Jolly can pay her for babysitting. Throughout Make Lemonade, the environment develops in a positive direction at the same time as the identity changes of Jolly and LaVaughn. The positive changes of the environment connects

“Jolly get’s back in school, she gets Daycare free? How does she get back in school? She gives me a phone number from her memory and says ask for Barbara” (102). Jolly lost her old job earlier in the book that was causing her to get home late and have LaVaughn work extra hours that Jolly cannot afford to pay her. LaVaughn thinks that the program will help her take better care of her kids. When Jolly accepts to go to school, Jolly finds out that she is doing better than she thought that she would. When Jolly goes to school she is surprised to see that she is doing better than she thought she would be. “Guess what. Jolly got a B one day and then three more B’s then she did A work in typing” (121). If she graduates the moms-up program, then she will have a better future with her kids and herself. Not only does she have to do school work, she has to go to swimming classes and learn CPR so that if one of her kids is in danger, she can help them. LaVaughn explains, “What she has to do, Jolly,besides learn to put her face in water and swim is she has to learn CPR because she’s a mom and they won’t let her graduate without it. It’s how you save somebody’s life” (163). If Jolly did not learn CPR, her life as a mother could change if something did happen to her child and she did not know what to do. Jolly going to school has a huge impact on her identity because it gives her confidence that she can take care of her kids and her apartment. The school also made her believe that she can actually be good at something if you try hard enough. Jolly could not have got those grades without trying. Her going and excelling at school proves that she can handle herself more than she thought she could. Jolly going to school also made LaVaughn want to help Jolly never