Vance was able to succeed in life despite all the obstacles he faced. His success could be credited to the support of his grandparents, the prosperity towards his education, and the many incidents he dealt with as a child. Vance was able to learn how to cope with these incidents from the support of his grandmother, and while doing so he was able to become aware of the mindset of his surroundings and defeat the stereotypes that are often portrayed in his community.
Bev, Vance’s mother, was often unstable with her relationships and drug abuse, this brought instability to Vance’s life. A major incident that happened to Vance as a child was when Bev was going to crash her car while Vance was in it, wanting to kill them both. Vance escaped from …show more content…
The living arrangement between his mother’s new husband and his family does not work out so Vance continues bouncing back from that home to Mamaws. During this time Vance continues to perform poorly in school, he is close to dropping out and also begins experimenting with drugs and alcohol. One day while staying the night at Mamaw’s he is asked by Bev for a sample of his urine in order to keep her nursing license. Vance become upset that his mother is abusing drugs again. This is the last straw for Vance and Mamaw, leading Mamaw to ask Vance to live with her permanently. This living arrangement began affecting Vance’s life and education positively. While living with Mamaw, Vance’s life changes for the better. She teaches him hard work, makes sure he’s surrounding himself with positive influences and that he prioritizes school. “We didn’t have cell phones, and we didn’t have nice clothes, but Mamaw made sure that I had one of those graphing calculators. This taught me an important lesson about Mamaw’s values, and it forced me to engage with school in a way I never had before.” He puts in every amount of effort into his school work because he feels as though he owed it to her. This is a key element on how Mamaw becomes a factor to J.D.’s road to success, if J.D. did not have his grandmother to turn to, J.D. could have possibly continued on the path of drug abuse following his mother’s
Bev, Vance’s mother, was often unstable with her relationships and drug abuse, this brought instability to Vance’s life. A major incident that happened to Vance as a child was when Bev was going to crash her car while Vance was in it, wanting to kill them both. Vance escaped from …show more content…
The living arrangement between his mother’s new husband and his family does not work out so Vance continues bouncing back from that home to Mamaws. During this time Vance continues to perform poorly in school, he is close to dropping out and also begins experimenting with drugs and alcohol. One day while staying the night at Mamaw’s he is asked by Bev for a sample of his urine in order to keep her nursing license. Vance become upset that his mother is abusing drugs again. This is the last straw for Vance and Mamaw, leading Mamaw to ask Vance to live with her permanently. This living arrangement began affecting Vance’s life and education positively. While living with Mamaw, Vance’s life changes for the better. She teaches him hard work, makes sure he’s surrounding himself with positive influences and that he prioritizes school. “We didn’t have cell phones, and we didn’t have nice clothes, but Mamaw made sure that I had one of those graphing calculators. This taught me an important lesson about Mamaw’s values, and it forced me to engage with school in a way I never had before.” He puts in every amount of effort into his school work because he feels as though he owed it to her. This is a key element on how Mamaw becomes a factor to J.D.’s road to success, if J.D. did not have his grandmother to turn to, J.D. could have possibly continued on the path of drug abuse following his mother’s