“I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.” 

In these opening lines, the author paints a picture full of stark contrasts. Jeanette worries about such trivial matters as whether her stylish clothes are appropriate for the evening at hand, while her homeless Mom struggles to find dinner from other people’s refuse. The quote also foreshadows the complicated feelings of guilt and shame Jeannette feels when she takes stock of her own success in light of the squalor in which her parents live.

“That was the thing about the hospital. You never had to worry about running out of stuff like food or ice or even chewing gum. I would have been happy staying in that hospital forever.” 

Little is known about the Wallses’ life at this point in the book. However, the fact that Jeannette would rather live in the hospital than return to her life in the trailer park speaks volumes about the struggles her family faces. It also renders Dad’s late-night abduction of Jeannette from the hospital all the more symbolic, as he rips her from a state of existence in which all her needs are addressed.

“The next day the saguaros and prickly pears were fat from drinking as much as they could, because they knew it might be a long, long time until the next rain. We were sort of like the cactus. We ate irregularly, and when we did, we’d gorge ourselves.” 

The extent to which the Wallses are well-suited to desert life is illustrated here, with the saguaros and prickly pears standing in as symbols for their hunger. Mom in particular would appreciate this symbolism, given her insistence that beauty is forged through struggle and therefore desert landscapes are most beautiful.