Glass Castle-Grace Grainger by Grace Grainger-147004715

Personal Reflection

147004715 — 2024-01-23 18:41:25 UTC

In the section of the Glass Castle, I discovered that I see a reflection of my father in Rex Walls in the sense of his "survival skills". My dad is always teaching me things that wouldn't cross my mind, yet he is always prepared for any situation. In this book I've noticed how different my life is from the characters, specifically in the way of independence. The main characters parents believed by the age of three, the child should be able to take care of themselves. My parents were the exact opposite and would teach me how to be independent, just at an older age. From this section of the book I've learned that Rex and Rosemary used to have good careers prior to their poverty, which is something that I have never experienced in my family.

Social Issue

147004715 — 2024-01-23 18:41:25 UTC

In the Glass Castle, the Walls family has a very low social class. The main character's father, Rex Walls, demonstrates this social force well. Due to their financial state, they cannot pay rent, as a result they do "the skedaddle", where the family packs up everything they own and they find a new spot to plant themselves for the time being. To the Walls family, this is their normal since they have done this a multitude of times. At times Rex gains money for the family, yet he spends it irresponsibly on things like: liquor, gambling, or on extravagant meals for the family. This gives the reader an understanding of how the Walls family remains stuck in a low social class.

Quote

147004715 — 2024-01-23 18:41:25 UTC

In the Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls mother had a passion for painting, specifically painting Joshua Trees. When Jeanette noticed a sapling growing, she wanted to replant it in a more protected area to result in it growing straight, but Rosemary told her, "You'd be destroying what makes it special. . . It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it, it's beauty"(Walls 38). The Walls family are constantly going through obstacles due to their financial state. Despite the struggles they face, they always do what they can to make the best of a situation. When Rosemary talks about the struggles of the Joshua tree, she is really symbolizing her own life. In a way, it helps her appreciate the small things, just like the way they celebrate Christmas. Although they cannot afford a lavish Christmas morning, they still celebrate and give things, but things outside of the box, like the stars. They make the best of what they have, and they make it beautiful to them.

Formalist Lens

147004715 — 2024-01-23 18:41:25 UTC

Throughout this book, "The Glass Castle", the motif of the "Glass Castle" has reoccurred. Jeanette's father promises his children that once they find gold they will live in a glass castle. The reader is reminded about this throughout the story and it gives the reader and the characters a sense of hope. I can relate this to "The Great Gatsby" because Gatsby is reaching for a sense of hope to rekindle his love through the motif of the green light. Anytime that Jeanette would feel doubtful, she would remind herself about the glass castle. As the story plays out, the tone that the author uses changes. At times, the author's use of tone can make the reader want to root for the characters, specifically the father. Then at times the authors tone can bring out anger towards some of the characters. When Walls would talk about all the great things her father would do, like telling them fun stories, teaching them fascinating things, and making the best of bad situations, personally it made me root for the family and feel empathetic towards their situation. Then, the author would shift the tone of the father by showing the dark sides of their situation. She would set the scene of her father drinking and driving, getting out of control when he would drink hard liquor, and be neglectful towards his children. The tone that she uses would make the reader feel conflicted about the characters and ultimately just wanting their situation to improve. As I read, I was a little confused on the timeline of the events that took place. I had wished there was a label on the age that everyone was as the story progressed.

Reader Response

2024-02-05 18:25:22 UTC

When the author wrote this book, her intent was to demonstrate what living in poverty was like. I feel that she wrote this to bring awareness to her situation and have a place for people with a similar situation to relate to. I am very different from her intended audience because I have never grown up in poverty, but I can still empathize with the text. I share a completely different perspective than what the text demonstrates because of the way that the children were raised. This family's parenting style is "natural selection" with their goal being to teach them independence. Jeanette's sister, Lori, had terrible vision and needed glasses, but when this was brought to Rosemary's attention, she didn't approve and she thought that, They needed exercise to get strong. . . They prevented people with feeble eyes from seeing the world on their own" (Walls 96). Rosemary thinks that if you have a problem you need to work it out on your own without assistance. From the way I was raised, at times I will view things that the Walls family does as "wrong" like: her father drinking while driving, leaving their children to take care of themselves at age 3, and many other things. Personally I believe that it is important to teach independence, but not to the level that the Walls parents do. From this story I can view similarities to things I have seen in my own life like peer pressure. One of the characters, Billy, was constantly trying to pressure Jeanette into becoming his girlfriend. Jeanette was not comfortable with that idea, yet he would continue to pressure her into things she wasn't interested in. I've seen similar situations with people I know being pressured into things they don't want to do.

Quote

147004715 — 2024-02-14 03:53:08 UTC

As I was reading section two, one part of the story stood out to me. When the Walls family were struggling financially, they were very low on their food items, which would result in their children going hungry. Rex realized that his children were heading to school without food, he later brought them a bag of lunch and asked, "Have I ever let you down?" Brian replied quietly with "Yes"(Walls 78). This quote stood out to me because it shows the two different perspectives of the characters. In Rex's eyes, he views himself as a heroic person that is "saving the day" by bringing lunch to his kids, yet the reader is starting to recognize the countless disappointments that kids are facing. Personally, I feel conflicted on how to feel towards the parents because of times like this where the Dad is doing the best he can, yet doesn't understand the reality of their situation.

Social Issue

147004715 — 2024-02-14 04:11:17 UTC

During this reading chunk, the social issue that was present was: health and social class. In the Walls family, health was not the highest priority to them because they believed that it was something that could be fixed on their own or simply "brush it off". As Jeanette and her sister Lori attended school, they had to get their eye and ear exam. They discovered that Lori had significantly bad vision and she needed glasses. Her mother "did not believe in glasses" and believed it was something that would fix itself overtime, and her eyes just needed exercise. This ties into social class because once the school offered to pay for the glasses, she then decided to approve of them. Unfortunately, Lori had to struggle with her bad vision for her whole life because of her family's views on health and their social class.

Reflection

147004715 — 2024-02-14 04:26:12 UTC

In this part, I noticed many differences in my life compared to the memoir. One that stood out to me was when the reader was shown the different foods that the children had to eat in order to survive. They had to eat very weird food because that is what they had, and they did not have enough money to buy other foods. Fortunately, I have never had to worry about my next meal.

Psychological

147004715 — 2024-02-14 19:36:52 UTC

Throughout the story, the characters do the "skedaddle" which is when they pack up their belongings and move to a new place. One of the places they moved to was Rex's parents house. During their stay, the reader witnesses how the children are being sexually abused by Rex's mother. Later, the children confess what was happening to them and the parents decide it would be best to leave and find a new place to live. The father was very livid to hear this news, which surprised me because the parents tend to brush off serious issues. As I was reflecting I realized that maybe the reason he was so upset, was because he had experienced the same awful situation by his mother as well. If this were true, this can help the reader understand why the father acts the way he does, while it does not make his actions okay, it can give the reader some further background on Rex.

Quote

2024-02-21 21:54:59 UTC

During this section there were many sections that I found interesting, but there was one that I found very relevant to the entire memoir. Jeanette was explaining to the reader how her parents were very against people trying to help out their family by giving them clothing and food. Rosemary would tell her children, "We can take care of our own. . .We don't accept handouts from anyone"(Walls 159). Rex and Rosemary were too proud to be able to let their guard down and allow help from others. While it is good to have pride in oneself, it shouldn't be to the extent of others, which is what was happening to the Walls children. The simple act from others trying to help out could have helped out their family drastically, but Rex and Rosemary let their pride stand in the way which is a reoccurring idea through the memoir.

Personal Reflection

147004715 — 2024-02-27 06:47:50 UTC

As I reflected on this section of the memoir, I recognized the differences in my life compared to the father in the book. Throughout the entire book the reader can see how Rex leaves Jeanette to handle serious situations all by herself like: learning how to swim and having older men hit on her while she was still a minor. To Rex he thinks hes teaching her independence, but in reality he is not fulfilling his job as a parent. My father is a protective person when it comes to his family. He wants me to learn independence, yet in a safe way. Rex Walls and Chris Grainger are very different when it comes to teaching independence.