This passage and poem conveys two main themes in this memoir. One major theme seen throughout the book is Jeanette always felt like an outsider growing up, so she relates to Venus, and that’s why she likes it so much. In the passage, it says “Poor old Venus didn’t even make her own light, Dad said. She shone only from reflected light.” This is how Jeanette felt her whole life. Her mom even tells her later in the book, that “No one expected you to amount to much...Lori was the smart one, Maureen the pretty one, and Brian the brave one. You never had much going for you except that you always worked hard.” This passage is a metaphor because both of her siblings choose big and bright stars, and she choses a dinky planet, but her dinky planet will turn out to be more useful in the end.…show more content… It would explain why he left Welch so fast and why he never wanted to go back, why he refused to go until his family almost left him, why he drank so much, and why he wouldn’t listen to Jeanette when she was explaining what happened to Brian. I believe that if this didn’t happen when he was younger, he never would have started drinking and he would be able to hold down a job. Rex is a really smart man, and he could have easily gone to college to get a job to support his family. His drinking and his dark past were holding him back. This passage comes from the brief period where he was sober, and you can see the love and compassion he has for Jeanette. All the horrible things Rex has done to his family are results of his addiction. He has deep emotional trauma from the years of Erma’s sexual abuse. If he had seen a therapist to work through the issues he faces from his childhood, he would most like be able to work through his alcoholism as well. If he had sought out treatment, he would be the loving, doting man he is in this passage all of the time. He would have been and better father to his kids and a better wife to Rose
