The Good and The Bad

The idea that everyone has both a good and a bad side is so easy to see in this book. Especially with Jeanette's parents. An example of good would be her dad taking the kids out one by one at Christmas time and telling them to pick a star for their present.

"Pick out your favorite star," Dad said that night. He told me I could have it for keeps. He said it was my Christmas present.
"You can't give me a star!" I said. "No one owns the stars."
"That's right," Dad said. "No one else owns them. You just have to claim it before everyone else does, like that dago fellow Christopher claimed America from Queen Isabella. Claiming a star as your own had every bit as much logic to it."
I thought about it and realized Dad was right. He was always figuring out things like that.

This passage is sweet and sincere. It may not be logical but it was better than anything he could have given her.

An example of bad would be when they are moving from Blythe to Battle Mountain. There is only enough room for thier parents in the front seat so all the kids, including a newborn baby were stuck in the pitch black in the back of the truck for hours. Without food drink or bathroom. I understand that their parents really didn't have options. But that is just something you do not do.

After a while, it got cold and uncomfortable in the back of the dark U-Haul. The engine made the floor vibrate, and we'd all go tumbling around whenever we hit a bump. Several hours passed. By then we all had to pee and wondering if Dad was going to pull over for a rest stop. Suddenly, with a bang, we hit a huge pothole and the back doors on the U-Haul flew open. The wind shrieked through the compartment. We were afraid we were going to get sucked out, and we all shrank back against the Prospector. The moon was out. We could see the glow from the U-Haul's talilights and the road we'd come down, stretching back through the silvery desert. The unlocked doors swung back and forth with loud clangs.

This passage makes me wonder about how many other things may be happening out there in the world like this. The family seems crazy and like something like this could never exist but it does. And these kids really were raised like this. It's crazy to think about.