Similarly, Rose Mary teaches Jeannette a valuable lesson: "Things usually work out in the end" "What if they don't?" "That just means you haven't come to the end yet" (259). It is amazing how a dysfunctional family can still warm your heart. This is one of Jeanette's mother's miniature life lessons. Her point is that things will work out no matter what as long as you are patient enough. By the way, knowledge was not the only thing they gained through experiences, they also gained intelligence. Over time, Rex educates his children with every experience they face:.
Later that night, Dad stopped the car out in the middle of the desert, and we slept under the stars. We had no pillows, but Dad said that was part of his plan. He was teaching us to have good posture. The Indians didn't use pillows, either, he explained, and look how straight they stood. We did have our scratchy army-surplus blankets, so we spread them out and lay there, looking up at the field of stars. I told Lori how lucky we were to be sleeping out under the sky like Indians. "We could live like this forever," I said. "I think we're going to," she said. (18).
Although Rex was making excuses for being homeless, he always had a great intellectual influence on his children. The Walls Children were technically raised in a learning environment, whether it was Rose Mary teaching about art and the positives in each person, or Rex teaching about mathematics, physics, and astronomy. .
In addition to knowledge, if the Walls were raised in another fashion, they would not be as strong as they are due to their loss of experiences they already gained in life. For example, Rex told his kids not to use kerosene as a fire starter but, Lori tried to use it and it resulted in having blisters on her hands. Rose Mary shows Lori that it's okay to have mistakes when she says, "Just remember, what doesn't kill you will make you stronger" (179).