Her parents nearly entirely disregard the needs of the children into their finances and budgeting. She and Lori take it amongst themselves to deal with the earnings for the family when Rosemary leaves for eight weeks. Jeanette says “[she] bought food and made meals for Brian, Maureen, and [herself]” (208). She has always had a mind for numbers and managing money from the family struggles and is then able to provide for herself in New York. Her self-motivation gives her and opportunity to “quit [her] job at the hamburger joint… and [become]a full-time reporter for The Phoenix” (248). She doesn’t wait for someone to realize her potential in her career she takes it into her own hands and gets what she wants. Her parents often treated her and her siblings as a nuisance which instead of sulking she thrives and develops a mature and intelligent sense of …show more content…
She searches for someone to have something mutual with after being taken advantage of by her father time and time again in her younger years. He funds his habits and alcoholism by stealing from Jeanette and her sibling's savings and food budget. She has been saving for New York for months when after they’d been saving for nine months “[she] finally found oz on the floor, someone had slashed him apart and stolen all the money. She finds it had been Rex who sacrificed her and Lori’s future for himself. When she is dating all she searches for is a guy that will love her and not take her for granted the way her parents never did. Her first boyfriend as a free adult Jeanette describes as “decent and responsible, never gambled or lost his temper, and always paid his bills on time.” (268). Jeanette tries to find a man to replace the father she never really had. She is describing her current boyfriend at the time who is the opposite of Rex. She hopes for someone opposite to her parents who took stole her money and her childhood. Both show that she is unloved or cared for by her negligent parents when she is young and then searches for someone who will care for her when she’s grown