Usually people hear about the environment changing your identity they think of it as a positive change. Like say you move, and you go to a new school. The parents would say that the new school is really changing their attitude. But in this case the book does not start out with a positive identity. It starts out negative. However in the book Make Lemonade By Virginia Euwer Wolff, as Jolly and Jeremy’s environment changes throughout the story their identity gets healthier. During Jolly’s childhood her identity wasn’t very healthy. Jolly tells LaVaughn about her foster mom “‘I had a gram, though,’ Jolly says...[LaVaughn speaking] Now, weeks later, when she suddenly says [back to Jolly]‘Gram,’ she explains: ‘I mean a big-G Gram, a lady
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LaVaughn says “I’m standing in their smelly apartment looking over the way things are going to be, me with these two small ones that I can already tell are leaking liquids everywhere” (7). This quotation shows that during the beginning of when Jolly was living in her smelly apartment the environment showed that the messiness of the apartment didn’t just change the identity of Jolly, but her kids Jilly and Jeremy as well. LaVaughn then shows Jeremy how to help around the house “handing him a clean sponge from the whole package of them my mother sent along. [LaVaughn says to Jeremy] ‘Squeeze it in the suds like this.’ I put his hand and the sponge in the bucket of suds. ‘Now, scrub,’ I say, and push his hand onto the kitchen floor” (38). This quotation shows that LaVaughn is trying to make the environment better so that Jolly, Jilly and Jeremy’s identity’s will change due to the changes they’re making. Later in the book Jolly see’s what LaVaughn did to the environment “Jolly’s eyes go into remembering and I begin to see what I’ve done. Jolly says to me, ‘You’re so perfect what are you doing sitting my brats? You’re so highmighty what are you doing even stepping in my door? You’re so expert in birth control why are you going to school, you should be teaching it.’ Jolly is saying, ‘You carry your school books like they’re some kind of Bibles, …show more content…
“The way Jolly makes a joke out of a Situation maybe is the wrong way. Or maybe it’s the right way. Jolly sees me looking at her studying and she asks me what it is on my mind. ‘Somethin’ here makin’ you stare, maybe I’m a movie?’ she says. I decide not to tell her ‘No,’ I say. ‘My hour’s up,’ I say. I don’t want to tell her I’m thinking how she’s got things so stacked up against her and yet she gets a laugh out of her math worksheet” (167). Because of school this quote shows that the environment is changing her identity to more of a negative person because of the homework she’s getting. “It’s her face. It’s her teacher in the Parent Skills Class. Now Jolly never got excited in liking a teacher before, I know for a fact. So I listen close. ‘She told this story, it was about a blind lady somewhere over there in a country, one of the far ones where they don't have health.’ I listen on” (169). This quotation shows a huge identity change because it says that Jolly actually likes a teacher. She never liked school, that’s why LaVaughn was listening so closely. Lastly “Jolly she’s on the floor, she has Jilly’s chin up in her one hand, and she’s blowing into her nose and mouth both while I’m talking and then she has her fingers on Jilly’s little fat arm ur high and she holds her fingers there and she says, ‘There’s a pulse but no
LaVaughn says “I’m standing in their smelly apartment looking over the way things are going to be, me with these two small ones that I can already tell are leaking liquids everywhere” (7). This quotation shows that during the beginning of when Jolly was living in her smelly apartment the environment showed that the messiness of the apartment didn’t just change the identity of Jolly, but her kids Jilly and Jeremy as well. LaVaughn then shows Jeremy how to help around the house “handing him a clean sponge from the whole package of them my mother sent along. [LaVaughn says to Jeremy] ‘Squeeze it in the suds like this.’ I put his hand and the sponge in the bucket of suds. ‘Now, scrub,’ I say, and push his hand onto the kitchen floor” (38). This quotation shows that LaVaughn is trying to make the environment better so that Jolly, Jilly and Jeremy’s identity’s will change due to the changes they’re making. Later in the book Jolly see’s what LaVaughn did to the environment “Jolly’s eyes go into remembering and I begin to see what I’ve done. Jolly says to me, ‘You’re so perfect what are you doing sitting my brats? You’re so highmighty what are you doing even stepping in my door? You’re so expert in birth control why are you going to school, you should be teaching it.’ Jolly is saying, ‘You carry your school books like they’re some kind of Bibles, …show more content…
“The way Jolly makes a joke out of a Situation maybe is the wrong way. Or maybe it’s the right way. Jolly sees me looking at her studying and she asks me what it is on my mind. ‘Somethin’ here makin’ you stare, maybe I’m a movie?’ she says. I decide not to tell her ‘No,’ I say. ‘My hour’s up,’ I say. I don’t want to tell her I’m thinking how she’s got things so stacked up against her and yet she gets a laugh out of her math worksheet” (167). Because of school this quote shows that the environment is changing her identity to more of a negative person because of the homework she’s getting. “It’s her face. It’s her teacher in the Parent Skills Class. Now Jolly never got excited in liking a teacher before, I know for a fact. So I listen close. ‘She told this story, it was about a blind lady somewhere over there in a country, one of the far ones where they don't have health.’ I listen on” (169). This quotation shows a huge identity change because it says that Jolly actually likes a teacher. She never liked school, that’s why LaVaughn was listening so closely. Lastly “Jolly she’s on the floor, she has Jilly’s chin up in her one hand, and she’s blowing into her nose and mouth both while I’m talking and then she has her fingers on Jilly’s little fat arm ur high and she holds her fingers there and she says, ‘There’s a pulse but no