The Glass Castle Padlet Test by

Disappointment

5krx4gbn2h — 2023-12-05 20:03:53 UTC

A passage that shows Jeannette's disappointment towards her father is, "One evening in May when we'd been saving our money for almost nine months, I came home with a couple of dollars I'd made babysitting and went into the bedroom to stack them in Oz. The pig was not on the old sewing machine. I began looking through all the junk in the bedroom and finally found Oz on the floor. Someone had slashed him apart with a knife and stolen all the money. I knew it was Dad, but at the same time, I couldn't believe he's stoop this low." Her father would rather spend their money on alcohol instead of buying them food.

Selfishness

5krx4gbn2h — 2023-12-05 20:12:12 UTC

The theme of selfishness is shown after Rose Mary comes back home from the university saying, "It's time I did something for myself, it's time I start living my life for me!" Being away from home took away Rose Mary's responsibility of caring for her family. For once in her life she only had to worry about herself and she enjoyed it. However, it was her responsibility to care for her children and look after their wellbeing.

Chaos and Order

5krx4gbn2h — 2023-12-05 20:25:37 UTC

Throughout the book, the Walls have always been moving from place to place not creating any type of structure or stability for their children. The lack of parenting has pushed the children to become independent and look after one another. It has even gotten to a point where the children are more responsible than their parents. There was an instance where Jeannette and her mother had a confrontation and she said, "If you want to be treated like a mother, you should act like one." The children were tired of how they were treated by their parents and were no longer accepted for being maltreated.

Selfless

5krx4gbn2h — 2023-12-05 20:30:22 UTC

A remarkable time that defines being selfless is the time when Jeannette was offered a bus trip to New York City by Mrs. Sanders but she instead selflessly proposed the idea to Lori. “Take Lori instead of me,” I said. “And at the end of the summer, buy her a bus ticket to New York City.” Lori always read and painted late into the night and Jeannette believed that she could be a successful artist but only if she made it to New York City. Once Lori was settled in the new city, Jeannette would follow her a year later.

Broken Promises

5krx4gbn2h — 2023-12-07 01:23:02 UTC

The Glass Castle is a symbol of hope for the Walls family. For Jeannette's dad, The Glass Castle creates the illusion of what things could be like if he were able to provide for his family. For Jeannette, The Glass Castle is a dream of seeing her family succeed and live a more prosperous life. However, that dream comes crashing down when the foundation of The Glass Castle gets filled with trash. This was because her family wasn't able to pay the trash-collection fee. "He explained that he was going to hire a truck to cart the garbage to the dump all at once. But he never got around to that, either, and as Brian and I watched, the hole for The Glass Castle's foundation slowly filled with garbage." This is an example of broken promises because it was at this moment that Jeannette realized that her family situation was not going to change.

Self-sufficency

5krx4gbn2h — 2023-12-07 03:07:43 UTC

When Jeannette was three years old, she had an accident and burned herself while cooking on the stove. When her father found out he told her, "You can't live in fear of something as basic as fire." From an early age, Jeannette learned to not let fear stop her from reaching her goals. She was determined to keep her family together and survive no matter the circumstances. Her parents were unreliable so it was up to her to look out for the good of the family from a very young age. These are a few examples of how Jeannette is self-sufficient throughout the story.