The Birth Family's Home

The narrator's new home is in her birth family's apartment. The place is shabby, small, and not very clean. All the children have to sleep in one room, including both boys and girls. Adriana and the narrator have to share a bed until Adalgisa has bunk beds delivered and the urine-soaked mattresses that Adriana stains with her bed-wetting are never replaced and do not even appear to get washed. The home is a place full of physical abuse, bullying, and parental neglect. Adriana, Vincenzo, and the narrator spend time in the garage to get away from the others. It is clearly portrayed as an unhappy and unhealthy home. Despite this, the narrator forges meaningful relationships in this environment with some of her siblings.

Adalgisa's House

Adalgisa's house is the narrator's first home and it contrasts sharply with the apartment she lives in with her birth...