Daughter of a Roughneck
Juanita "June" was born in the mid-1940's, the firstborn of Q.D. and Hazel. Q.D. was a driller on oilrigs, a crew called "roughnecks." Over the years the family lived in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. For the first 16 years of her life, June lived with her father, mother, and two younger brothers in a trailer that was so small it could (and was) pulled by the family car from oil patch to oil patch. Despite social prejudices, educational setbacks, and trauma in her life, she overcame those obstacles.
Many of today's oilrigs are located offshore. During the 1940's there were more areas on land available to set up a rig. A roughneck crew would set up a rig at an oil patch. A typical job would last about six weeks. The oil was pumped out until the patch went dry. When the patch dried up, the crew would move on to the next pre-designated patch. The crews lived in portable homes on wheels, more commonly known as "trailers." A roughneck's family traveled with him. It was common for crews to move together, following each other in a caravan.
This lifestyle had a great impact on June's life. It was difficult for her to make friends because the family moved so often. Since the family was moving every six to eight weeks, she was never in one school for very long. It was difficult to make friends as she got older. Even though she knew a friendship was going to be temporary, June longed to have a companion. The girls were cliquish and not friendly to her. On the other hand, the boys instantly took an interest in the pretty young lady. Unfortunately, this caused even more of a rife with the girls. She started dreading the moves that happened so frequently. Learning anything in class was a struggle. The constant moves took a toll. The family would move to a new place and she would start school. A new school might be ahead of the last school, and it would be hard to catch up before the next move. Sometimes she would start at a school and already know that material, and she would become bored. Developing study habits was very difficult and it was difficult for her to concentrate.
Social prejudice was another fact of life. Roughnecks were viewed by some people as poor, trailer park trash.
...he story with the various characters. Melinda’s acquaintance, Heather works hard at finding friends and becoming popular, but in the end she turns away from Melinda. The story is about the high school years. Many times when we are growing up we can’t wait to get there because we will be treated as adults, but the truth is the problems that come along when we are older can be difficult. The various clans of students help present the theme by showing us that there are many different types of people. The popular cheerleaders, the jocks, the geeks and those who are just trying to fit in. Melinda transforming the janitor’s closet symbolizes her hiding her feelings and Melinda’s inability to speak and tell people what happened to her. High school can be fun but unfortunately through the eyes of Melinda it was a very hard time.
Since the early 1800’s, the term redneck has been used to describe someone who has been in the sun all day. Towards the 1970’s the term redneck had begun to be used more as a compliment rather that an insult. Marshall explains this, “In the 1970s, being ‘redneck’ became fashionable, and the term redneck chic, which seems to have little to do with outwardly disparaging race or class, was born” (Marshall). Towards the 1980s is when the term redneck started to be used more as a derogatory term rather than a term used to describe a hard worker. It was also towards this time when redneck had taken its sour turn towards becoming a
One of the challenges of growing up is loneliness. As a small child living in Brooklyn Francie had no friends her age, the kids in her neighborhood that would have been candidates for friends either found her too quiet or shunned her for being different. Betty Smith describes on page 106 how most of Francie's childhood days were spent: "So in the warm summer days the lonesome child sat on her stoop and pretended disdain for the group of children playing on the sidewalk. Francie played with her imaginary companions and made believe they were better than real children. But all the while her heart beat in rhythm to the poignant sadness of the song the children sang while walking around in a ring with hands joined." As time went by and Francie got older she began to get to know a different kind of loneliness. Betty Smith narrates her feelings on page 403: "Spring came early that year and the sweet warm nights made her restless. She walked up and down the streets and through the park. And wherever she went, she saw a boy and a girl together; walking arm-in-arm, sitting on a park bench with their arms around each other, standing closely and in silence in a vestibule. Everyone in the world but Francie had a sweetheart or a friend she seemed to be the only lonely one in Brooklyn without a friend." Loneliness is one of the challenges we must all conquer as part of maturing and it helps us learn to be independent and overcome hardship.
This lowered their social status and they became labeled as rednecks or hillbillies. We have to remember that although these two types of people are similar they do have different natures, cultures, and life styles. Hillbillies are people who live in remote, rural, mountainous areas, and have their own way of life. These mountain and village people avoided coming in contact with other people and their cities. We view the hillbillies to be a poor, uneducated, and uncivilized people, but even so they enjoy an undemanding and uncomplicated way of life. The name redneck is similar to hillbilly in meaning. Both types of people are seen as poor, uneducated, simple people living in the South. Rednecks are also thought to be foolish, backwards, and often drunk farmers. Some say they recieved the name redneck because they turned down their collars while working causing thier neck to get sunburned and darken. Although perception of the two can seem similar, we can see there are signfience differences between these two types of
First, the family is very poor because their father is out at war. This makes it so the family has to work together in order to survive on the money they have; and look for money elsewhere to inherit. This reminds me of when the mother told her daughters that the family down the street was also very poor and asked if they could give their breakfast to the family instead of eating it themselves. This shows a strong family bond, as well as a very caring group of individuals; since the girls all went to the house to give up their breakfast for the people in need. This also reminds me of when the family received a letter about where to get more money. After reading the letter, the family boated together to get to the destination written on the letter. This was a group effort in order to get something that they all needed. Each child also has their own book given to them by their mother as a guidebook. This helps keep the family closer together because they all have the same type of guidebook to relate to. The girls also worked together to get their mother a present for Christmas, as well as helped each other the best they could with any problem or obstacle they faced. For example, sicknesses, sharing of clothes, money, deaths in the family etc. With this in mind, the family tended to always be
Strain theory stood out as a good explanation as to why the Roughnecks didn’t really set goals or seek guidance for their issues. This theory basically states that limitations applied to certain people will affect their strive and the confidence in their efforts which will eventually lead to
Near the beginning of the movie her brother dies from falling out of a third story window and she is forced to buy a coffin for him because her parents are unable to communicate this is largely because of the lack of accommodations that were available during the time. As the movie progresses and she faces more of lives hardships she starts to realize that she is the connection between the hearing and non-hearing worlds for her parents. For her graduation her father makes a kind jester of purchasing a hearing aid, which was one of the early models. Unfortunately her misunderstanding led to he feeling embarrassed of her parents although, it is unfair that she hid away her parents from her social life in the first place. One of the main characters that really kept her grounded was Mr. Petrakis. A kind elderly man who runs a pawnshop down the street. He also tends to be her way of venting because she doesn’t know how to tell her parents how upset she is. After her graduation she starts as a secretary where she meets her eventual husband William Anglin who repeatedly asks her out, but is unable to up until he is leaving for basic training for WWII. After they date are dating for a while ...
This story was written for the author to reflect upon her childhood, and to share how her family tormented her; also, how that helped her become who she is today. She talks about her aunt Baba who always encouraged her to do her best in school. The author speaks about how they would sit on her bed and look at her report cards when she was upset. Her aunt Baba would always say something like, “look at this one all A’s and top of your class again.” (Yen Mah 61-62). She spoke about how her aunt and grandfather would sneak her money to ride the bus to school, or little pieces of candy when she would get good grades in school (Yen Mah 47-50). They encouraged her and helped her become the wonderful accomplished person she is today. Even the bad things that happened to her when she was a child helped her. If she had not been sent to that boarding school by Naing she would not have entered the writing competition that lead her father to realize how talented she was, and send her to college. If she hadn’t been sent to college in London by her parents she would have never become a
In the story, each character's mental and physical health changes, whether it is prominently obvious or not. Their health declines – whether it be a rapid decline, as in the father's case, or a graduating descent, like the the rest of the family – and they become older and less attached to the real world, more attached to each other. They retain their habits from the camp and it affects the way that they live amongst other people, in the outside world. The permanence of the changes is evident in each character and will strongly affect the way they live the rest of their life from that point.
Margaret’s first major experience was going to school. Margaret often felt out of place because of moving so much and being in many different schools, and often being taught at home by her grandmother.
The story follows three girls- Jeanette, the oldest in the pack, Claudette, the narrator and middle child, and the youngest, Mirabella- as they go through the various stages of becoming civilized people. Each girl is an example of the different reactions to being placed in an unfamiliar environment and retrained. Jeanette adapts quickly, becoming the first in the pack to assimilate to the new way of life. She accepts her education and rejects her previous life with few relapses. Claudette understands the education being presented to her but resists adapting fully, her hatred turning into apathy as she quietly accepts her fate. Mirabella either does not comprehend her education, or fully ignores it, as she continually breaks the rules and boundaries set around her, eventually resulting in her removal from the school.
...parents were much more successful in the working world encouraged him to complete many daily activities such as choir and piano lessons. His parents engaged him in conversations that promoted reasoning and negotiation and they showed interest in his daily life. Harold’s mother joked around with the children, simply asking them questions about television, but never engaged them in conversations that drew them out. She wasn’t aware of Harold’s education habits and was oblivious to his dropping grades because of his missing assignments. Instead of telling one of the children to seek help for a bullying problem she told them to simply beat up the child that was bothering them until they stopped. Alex’s parents on the other hand were very involved in his schooling and in turn he scored very well in his classes. Like Lareau suspected, growing up
Always being on the move meant that I could never really settle in and make some close friends because sooner or later we were going to have to move again. I loved always being on the move and exploring the big world out there. Every time we would move it was always going to become a new adventure with all the family. When we did settle in somewhere for a few months and got to attend school it was always hard for Lori, Brian, and me to fit in and make friends. My family couldn't afford to buy us new clothes or shoes, so most of the time I would be dirty and smell bad which lead the kids to pick on me. “The other students didn't like me very much because I was so tall and pale and skinny and always raised my hand too fast and waved it frantically
Jane had a testing childhood at the hands of her aunt Mrs Reed and her cousins. She lived with the Reed’s until ten years of age and during these ten years she was bullied and unloved. Jane was then sent away to Lowood School she appeared excited to leave Gateshead yet at Lowood she experienced more ridicule and a hard school life. However she did find friendship in Helen Burns, although this friendship was short lived as Helen died during a breakout of typhus, Helen had shown Jane that life at Lowood could be bearable; she was also the first friend Jane ever really had.
It was the second semester of fourth grade year. My parents had recently bought a new house in a nice quite neighborhood. I was ecstatic I always wanted to move to a new house. I was tired of my old home since I had already explored every corner, nook, and cranny. The moment I realized I would have to leave my old friends behind was one of the most devastating moments of my life. I didn’t want to switch schools and make new friends. Yet at the same time was an interesting new experience.