how does the family change when the father loses his job ?

The family begins to unravel what little stability they had. After six-months living in Battle Mountain, Rex loses his job at the mine. He devotes his free time to perfecting the prospector and looking for gold. As a result, the family has very little to eat and the children are forced to scavenge food from neighbors. Jeannette sneaks food from her classmates’ lunch boxes at recess. Brian gets caught stealing a jar of pickles from a neighbor and is forced to eat the entire jar until he is sick. One evening, Rose Mary gets angry at Jeannette for eating the last stick of butter and when Jeannette defends her actions, saying that she was hungry, Rose Mary begins to cry and confesses that she doesn’t like living in poverty either. That night, Rex and Rose Mary get into a rowdy fight which draws the entire neighborhood out of their homes.