The following passage epitomizes the Walls’ lifestyle, Jeanette's parent’s teaching mantra being, “If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.” This attitude towards life reminds me of when Rose Mary says, “Suffering is good for the soul” earlier in the story. In this scene in particular, Rex Walls attempts teaching Jeannette how to swim. However, he takes a different approach than most parents would, continually pushing her away from him, and allowing her to thrash around in the waters, drowning until he brought her back to the shallow end of the spring. Although a memorable section of the text, this wasn’t the only occurrence where the parenting of the Walls’ bordered neglect. Rose Mary and Rex barely restrict the affairs of their children, but it is uncertain if their motive is to teach their kids independence, or if they truly don’t care as long as they come back safe. When Jeanette flew out the doors of the Green Caboose, left for hours in the desert, she was convinced she’d be left to fend for herself, …show more content…
Even though she is fairly young in the time the family lives in Battle Mountain, she still can be described as tolerant and understanding in most situations. Her father was really pushing her, making her suffer, and though at first upset with his actions, she quickly analyzed the situation, coming to an understanding as to why he did what he did. For a short time, she resented her family at the sulfur spring because as she was drowning, her own mother floated on her back, unconcerned with what Jeannette thought was a life or death situation. In the end, Jeannette came to the conclusion that maybe her father’s actions were justified. There was no way he would let anything happen to her, and there was no other way to explain why he or her family would let her drown, so she tolerated the