Who do you think you are? (pgs 11-53)

Summary
The main character, Alyse, describes how her family life was during her childhood. She lives with her parents and her two younger sisters. Alyse's childhood has not been an easy one. For starters, her parents are constantly arguing and its usually because her father has been gone for a long period of time and he didn't call and tell them where he was. If its not about that, its about their poor financial situation. This troubles Alyse because not only does she want peace in her household, but she loves her father so much and she hates when her mom abuses him verbally and calls him horrible names. Alyse wonders how two people could fall in love and have children, but somehow seem to hate each other. Also, Alyse gets discouraged at times because she doesn't know if her mother likes her. Her mother never tells her that she loves her and she is always yelling at her. Alyse's parents both deal with stress by smoking cigarettes, and her mom smokes more vigorously than her dad. This habit bothers Alyse, but of course because she's the child so there's nothing she can do about that. One night Alyse and her family go out to eat for chinese food. While they are out there is a black out. During this black out Alyse's father stepped out of the restaurant and they have no idea where he is. When they get back home, all night her mom is sitting by the window smoking one cigarette after the other, until Alyse's father finally arrives home the next morning. Alyse's mother as usual is yelling at him asking him where he's been and why he didn't call them to tell him where he went. She says that he doesn't care about them at all because if he did he would be home or at least tell his family where he is when he's gone for a long period of time.

Quote
""Don't you care about us?" she repeated. But this time she was whispering. It was almost as if she was talking to herself. I started to wonder if she was right. Didn't he care about us?" (Myers, 51)

Reaction
Despite how often Alyse's mom mistreats her father, I can feel the pain in her voice when she asks him if he cares about them. Alyse's mom puts on this facade as if she doesn't care about him, but in this quote I see her true feelings. I can tell that it bothered her and that she was worried about him to the point where she couldn't sleep because before this quote the author said that when he got home she was wearing the same clothes that she was wearing the night before. Therefore, she's probably wearing the same clothes because she didn't go to bed that night. Also, when Alyse's mom asks her husband that question, it begins to change the way Alyse feels, or at least gives her some doubt as well. She starts to wonder if her mom was right and if he really does care about his family. Overall this links to the big picture because Alyse talks about how much she loves her father because he shows a lot of love for her. However, if Alyse doesn't feel that he cares about them, then her feelings for her father will change and their bond will weaken. This will change the rest of the story because Alyse always looked forward to seeing her father when he came home and she loved spending time with him and talking to him. On the other hand, if Alyse doesn't feel that closeness with him anymore, she will have no one else to turn to because her father is her only confidant.