• What experiences do you share with the characters?

• In what ways is your family similar or different from those in the book?

• What did you learn about a character or group of people that you have not personally experienced?

Family

Home

Poverty

Resilience

Responsibility, Self Sufficiency,

Non Conformity

Other

• Give context for your quote. What was happening in the story that made this quote significant? Who was speaking?

• Why did this quote stand out to you?

1. What feelings or emotions does this book evoke for you? Choose a passage from the 

   reading that elicits a response from you and explain.

The feeling that this book gives me is very strange and unusual. What we know so far about Jeannette and her family is that they are not like others and they do things very differently. In the book it says, "We were always doing the skedaddle, usually in the middle of the night." (Walls 19), this example helps support my claim in which I believe that they are an unusual family and don't do things as a traditional family would.

2. How does the writer’s diction (word choice) reveal or reflect the work’s meaning?

The writer's diction to me makes it sound like she is trying to have a conversation with the reader.

3. How effective is the author’s use of dialogue? Find an example and evaluate how dialogue enhances the storytelling.

The author's dialogue is effective in her story telling by helping us get a better vision of what she is sharing. For example, "I lit a match and held it close to Tinkerbell's face to show her how it felt. She looked even more beautiful in the flame's glow." and "Tinkerbell's once perfect little nose had completely disappeared, and her saucy red lips had been replaced with an ugly, lopsided smear." (Walls 16). The text that has been given is an example of how Walls uses her dialogue to better convey what she is trying to tell the reader.

1. How do economic conditions determine the characters' lives?

The economic conditions determine the characters' lives by showing if they are going to have to struggle more and become more creative to adapt to their environment which is seen is previous chapters. In more recent chapters, Rosemary inherits a house from her mom which ends up being a better environment for them which means less struggle. Jeannette and her siblings also end up going to a better school that cares for the health and well being of them; the nurse tells that Lori needs glasses and that the school would be willing to pay for them.

2. Does the work explicitly embrace or reject socialism?

   Socialism is not embraced nor is it rejected throughout Wall's memoir "The Glass Castle". Instead it just talks about her harsh upbringing that was shaped by her parents with their unconventional ways. The memoir does not serve as a political argument for or against socialism, but rather touches base on the complexities of poverty and resilience with her odd family dynamics.

3. Does the work criticize class structure?

   In Jeannette Wall's memoir "The Glass Castle", it criticizes class structure. It is primarily based off a personal narrative by demonstrating deep economic disparities that Jeannette and her family experienced. It doesn't criticize class structure by adding explicit social commentary, but goes based on what she endured throughout her childhood and growing up.