Jeannette Wall's Life Is The Perfect Example Of The American Dream

Jack Huntebrinker
Dr. Farmer
English 3
15 May 2023
The American Dream
Jeannette Wall’s life is the perfect example of the American dream. “The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers.” (cited https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream). The reason why I think the Walls kids are the perfect example of the American dream is that they came from nothing to something and through all of the situations that happened they strived when something happened. Jeannette lived

Ever since she was a little girl her whole family struggled with having a steady place to live. This was all from her parents though because Rex and Rose liked being on the run. Rex was a very smart person but had very bad habits and Rose was very bright and artistic but also had bad habits. Jeannette had plans on going to New York with her older sister Lori but their dad ruined it by smashing open the piggy bank with all of the money they had saved. After that they only saved up enough money for either Lori or Jeannette. Lori had the opportunity to be the first Walls kid to become better than what their parents would ever be. Not too long after Jean went to New York the rest of the family followed along. They all created boundaries with their parents because they knew that it would be for the best. The quote on page 10 says “I know,” I said, “but if I’m not, that's okay, too”. This was said during one of the times they were on the run and Lori was overwhelmed because of what was happening so Jeannette calmed her down and explained that even though Jeanette was calm if she wasn’t that's also okay. It shows that this isn’t the first time they have been in this situation. With all of this information stated above that is why I think the Walls kid became the perfect example of becoming something from

All of the kids constantly struggled with multiple things, these ranged from being picked on because of how they smell all the way to being hungry so badly that they stole. Lori was really the one that struggled the most, she was the oldest and was taking care of her siblings a lot as her dad was out drinking or working and her mom was painting and not caring. The quote that I picked was on page 96 says “I nodded. Lori looked at me and then burs ted into tears.” The reason why I picked this quote is because it's talking about when Lori first got her glasses she was overwhelmed because she was finally able to see clearly. Something that Lori has always dealt with has finally been fixed. This is a struggle that she went through and this shows how much the little stuff we take for granted. Like I said before Lori was like the parent of the family, she matured at a young age which caused her to not have a childhood. Not only did she struggle but the rest of her siblings did, they all struggled with being bullied and each one also had their own separate things about them. If they didn’t struggle I always wondered how different they would