Make Lemonade Quotes

Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff was a book that had been pulled straight from a dirty Salvation Army chair. The book follows the story of Jolly, a teen mom who has two kids and is living in poverty. Until Verna LaVaughn comes along, and Jolly starts the process of turning her life around. Through it all, Jolly experiences various hardships along with issues involving her self-esteem. The quote from Christopher Reevem explains, “A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” This quote essentially says that overcoming extreme obstacles makes you a hero in your own right. This implies that you can be a hero in others’ eyes even if you’re an ordinary person.

The quote applies to Jolly because she has two kids and no family, but she is still able to persevere and becomes a hero for her children. One obstacle that she faces is the fact that she has no job and no money to take care of herself and her children. Though she was sexually abused at her previous job, she still finds the strength to persevere and go back to school to try and obtain her G.E.D. (Wolff 117). This shows that she still tries to take care of her children even though she has no money. Jolly displays that she is tenacious for a better life, not just for herself, but also for her children. Her going back to school is an example of her pushing through all the hardships that she has—a teen mom, no family, public housing, and much more. However, through this she becomes a hero

One obstacle that LaVaughn must face is the death of her dad. In fact, she even states, “The death of your dad is not something you just have a conversation about, it’s a burden”(Wolff 51). The death of LaVaughn’s dad is a burden to her. Iy constantly weighs on her mind and sets an emotional barrier that she must deal with. It is a devastating hurdle for LaVaughn. Even so, LaVaughn is not dismayed or depressed; she pushes through the death of her father and keeps pursuing her goals of College and higher education. She is doing what her father would’ve wanted. This makes her a hero to her family because if she let the grief of her dead father weigh her down, she would not only become a burden to her mother but lose her hopes and dreams for her future. Hence, she is a hero because she overcame the overwhelming obstacles put in front of her and kept pushing on through her grief and sadness. Another obstacle LaVaughn faces is her lack of money. One aspiration that LaVaughn has is to go to college, and so, money is a big challenge for her. However, the obstacle there is that she does not have enough money for college, “1. I’ll need mostly my own money for college”(Wolff 15). Considering the fact that annual college tuition can reach up to one hundred thirty-three thousand dollars, it is quite clear that LaVaughn doesn’t have adequate money to pay for college