Jeannette's job at the jewelry store and her interest in journalism allow her independence. For once in her life, she is a part of something at her school. She has never been allowed to try sports or clubs because they cost money. Journalism also allows her a look into the outside world. She has always been fed lies by her parents. "I'd never known what was going on in the world, except for the skewed version of events we got from Mom ans Dad-one in which every politician was a crook, every cop was a thug, and every criminal had been framed. I began to feel like I was getting the whole story for the first time, that I was being handed the missing pieces to the puzzle, and the world was making a little more sense (pp. 205)."
Moving to New York symbolized a turning point in Jeannette's life. She is finally free of her parents and the neglectful childhood she lived through. The move is very justifiable. It is not just another skedaddle for her. Once she moved to New York, she got a job doing what she loved writing newspaper articles, moved into an apartment, and finally started living a life that she wanted to live.
Jeannette's parents continued living on the street even after their children offered them help because that is how they've always lived. They couldn't live another way at that point. Her parents often refused charity and refused social security, placing distrust in the government. When Jeannette tells her mom, "You can't just live like this," referring to being homeless and on the streets, her mom replies, "Why not? Being homeless is an adventure (pp. 255)."
Once Maureen feels neglected and begins going down a rough patch, she begins being homeless herself. She becomes a squatter like her parents and eventually moves in with them. After that had been going on a while, Rose Mary decided it was time for Maureen to try and find her own place and be "self-sufficient." Jeannette wrote, "Maureen couldn't bear the idea that her own mom would kick her out onto the street, and she snapped (pp. 275)." All the pent up anger and resent that Maureen had bottled up toward her parents while she lived with others in Welch came pouring out and she truly did snap. Jeannette feels like she let Maureen down and broke her promise that she would always keep Maureen safe when she was born. Jeannette expresses this while writing about Maureen leaving New York for California. "I'd always had mixed feelings about bringing her to New York, but I'd agreed to let her come. Once she arrived, I'd been too busy taking care of myself to look after her. 'I'm sorry, Maureen,' I said when the time came, 'sorry for everything.' (pp. 276)."
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