PLOT STRUCTURE ANALYSIS

The plot of this memoir is divided into five parts, most of which represent a place where the Walls family lived. The towns and cities are all part of this eternal journey they take together and out of which come the events that mold their characters. Nevada is a desert that is very representative of the arid, dry childhood Jeannette, Brian, Lori and Maureen experience. Welch is covered with a fine layer of coal dust and is often wet and cold, which is representative of their later childhood, when they scrounged for food, heat, and proper shelter. New York is exciting and offers new and different experiences which can be seen in the new success and comfort each of the children discover.

The plot also imitates the idea of a young boy coming of age in a bildungsroman. Jeannette is the young boy who learns how to be a mature adult through each and every experience in her life. She learns how to cook, scrounge for food, and find necessary shelter for herself and her siblings. She also learns how to deal with inept and neglectful parents who offer little in the way of comfort and support. In the process, she learns the value of love, loyalty, and strength of character.


AUTHOR'S STYLE

Jeannette Walls writes a reader-friendly story which relates the unbelievable circumstances under which she and her brother and sisters were raised. The language is representative of a group of people who grew up in abject poverty and therefore, draws the reader in with the sense that anyone of us could have grown up this way. She shares her story with no sense of self-pity for what happened to her, but instead presents it realistically.


RISING ACTION

The rising action begins with Jeannette seeing her mother searching through a dumpster and then begins a series of flashbacks to being raised by the homeless woman she now sees. It ends with the mental breakdown of her sister and the temporary breakup of her family.


FALLING ACTION

The falling action involves Maureen's escape to California after serving a year in prison and Dad's death from a heart attack. Then the family barely sees each other for the next five years until they all - except for Maureen - meet for Thanksgiving dinner. There they come to terms with the events in their lives that dramatically impact on them and lose any sense of recrimination.


POINT OF VIEW

The point of view is first person, told from Jeannette's viewpoint. She is the narrator and this allows the reader to personally experience how she witnesses her life in poverty and how she learns from it and the parents who often let her down.

 

Cite this page:

Clapsaddle, Diane. "TheBestNotes on A Long Way Gone". TheBestNotes.com.

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