Comprare and contrast Jeannette's apartment with where her mother lives.

Jeanette's mother is something of a bohemian. She appears completely unconcerned about the squalid conditions in which she lives, no matter how bad they are. Wherever they go, Jeanette's parents seem content to wallow in filth, wasting their lives in places unfit for human habitation. Even when Jeanette's moved to New York and into a nice apartment, her parents refuse her help, stubbornly refusing to move out of their dilapidated squat on the Lower East Side.
Jeanette lives with her rich boyfriend in a swanky apartment on Park Avenue, a luxurious place with Persian rugs and fine china. Contrast that with the rundown squat where Jeanette's parents choose to live. The place is an absolute pig-sty, with boarded-up windows, a single light-bulb hanging from the ceiling, and no hinges on the doors. There's electricity, to be sure, but that's only because Jeanette's dad has managed to rig up an illegal supply to a utility cable down the block.
Nevertheless, in their own unique, individual ways, Jeannette's apartment and her parents' squat both have a certain homeliness about them. It's just that Jeannette and her parents have a radically different understanding of what constitutes a home.