ABCs

ABCs

A- airplane flights
B- biking
C- Car
D- Denver
E- elephants swimming
F- Friday nights
G- Gram
H- highlands primary school
I- iPhones
J- jumping off Victoria Falls bridge
K- King- DM
L- learning Nyanja
M- managing FC volleyball
N- North Carolina
O- on top of the Rockies
P- Photography
Q- Quotes
R- Run For The Roses
S- Steve, Gift, & Hachibamba
T- teaching 2nd grade
U- underground sipling
V- volleyball - fury
W- winning volleyball games
X- Xmas
Y-
Z- Zoey & Casey

The Glass Castle, pp. 214-288

August 8, 2014

#5

Jeannette was able to get a job at a local jewelry store when her parents were still jobless.  Having this job, making money, it made Jeannette realize that she had hope to get out of the poverty she was currently living in.  She realized that if she saved up enough money she could buy food, clothes, and even move to become successful and live a happy life.  She also had an interest in journalism.  This interest allowed her to become independent in that she could succeed in something she really loved while being able to express herself in ways she never had living at home. 

For Jeannette, moving up to New York was a turning point in her life.  This move allowed her to get away from her parents who were always dragging her down, to have a steady job, while living in a bustling city.  Another reason that this is a turning point in her life is because she decided to make this move:  this wasn’t another one of her dad’s “skedaddle” moves.   Jeannette had the mindset to move to a big city and start journalism career, where she could be successful; as she did.

Jeannette’s parents continue to live on the streets, even when their children are grown because they don’t want to change their way of life.   Their parents are used to living in poverty and they don’t want to change it.  Also, Rosemary, Jeannette’s mother tells her that living on the streets is an adventure.  “You just can’t live like this,” I said.  “Why not?” Mom said.  “Being homeless is an adventure” (225).  I also think that her parents are lazy.  They never wanted to work, and even if they did, all of the money would go to alcohol or art supplies, never food or anything beneficial for the family. 

Maureen stabs her mother because she feels like she got the short end of the stick.  She is the youngest of the family and doesn’t have the options that her siblings had.  Maureen knows that her siblings got out of the house because of their parents but she isn’t able to, so she has built up a lot of anger.  Rosemary decides to kick Maureen out of the house when Maureen’s attempts to leave did not work out.  This occurrence sends Maureen past her breaking point and this is when she snabs her mother.  Jeannette apologizes in her head “for everything” (276) because at a young age she promised Maureen that she would take care of her and not let anything happen to her, but Jeannette left for New York, leaving Maureen back home with her parents.  Jeannette feels that if her and Maureen would’ve stayed together that nothing would’ve happened. 

The Glass Castle, pp.155-213

August 7, 2014

#4

Whenever the Walls family moved to Little Hobart Street they had many struggles and quickly descended into impoverished living conditions.  Jeannette had to cope with many deficiencies living here, and one specific example was when the Walls family was living with hunger.  In order for Jeannette to satisfy her hunger she would stay in the bathroom during lunch and would wait for someone to throw away anything they didn’t eat.  Jeannette always thought it was wrong that kids would waste food like this, so she was glad to not let it go to waste.

Jeannette and her siblings tolerate abuse very well.  Their way of tolerating with it is not talking about it.  They try to just let it go, because they feel like there is nothing they can do about it.  The kids were taught to be polite and mature so they think they shouldn’t say anything and leave it alone.  I do sympathize for Jeannette’s situation; I wouldn’t know how to handle it correctly.  It is extremely hard for Jeannette to corporate and even talk to her parents.  Her parents seem to not care about their children to a certain extent; and that’s incredibly hard for the kids to live with.   Jeannette has been taught to believe that her parents actions are okay and normal, but as she grows and learns she realizes that her father has a serious drinking problem and her mother is very lazy, since she has a teaching degree but is not working at all, causing them to live in extreme poverty.

The Glass Castle, pp. 91-154

August 6, 2014

#3

The Walls siblings, even though they don't have the best of things, and live a rough life they always show loyalty to each other.  One specific event when the Walls children unite is when they get their dad's pistol and defend themselves from Billy who was shooting at them with a BB gun because he is mad over Jeannette and his current relationship.  This event occurs on page 88 from the text.  It was nice to see the siblings come together to protect one another, despite everything that is happening within their lives.  Jeannette has felt lonely before, putting aside her family's support and loyalty.  When Jeannette first entered Welch Elementary School she felt lonely due to the fact that her siblings weren't there to accompany her, and also the fact that she was getting bullied and harassed by a group of girls.  The instances when Jeannette is separated from her family members at a young age is when she seems to feel the loneliness.

The event that occurs on Christmas with Jeannette's dad really changed the way she thought of him.  Now that Jeannette was older, and could really see and understand her dad in a way she never has before she realized that he was getting way out-of-hand.  She realizes how bad her dad's alcohol problem has gotten, and that he couldn't even hold off on it for the special day of Christmas.  This incident changes the way she thinks and feels about her father greatly.

Life in Welch, and life in Battle Mountain and Phoenix were very different for the Walls family.  In Welch the children were for once, left alone with their grandmother Erma, while the parents went back to Phoenix to gather the rest of their belongings.  Also life in Welch is a little nicer compared to Battle Mountain.  Another thing Welch had that neither Battle Mountain nor Phoenix had was family to stay with; which, was a helpful as well as unfortunately, a bad experience.  Jeannette, living in Welch during her teenage years helped shape herself and her views from the experiences at her grandmother's house, as well as everything she learned from her relatives and constantly switching and experiencing new schools.

The Glass Castle, pp.42-90

August 5, 2014

The Walls family had a different lifestyle far from a 'normal' family. Also, Jeannette had a special tolerating and understanding way about her. The Walls' lifestyle seems to be set on the 'sink or swim' method, which is not always the best one for children to grow up with their whole childhood. On page 66,  Jeannette learns how to swim from her dad throwing her into the water, relying on her to keep herself from drowning.  She sinks at the beginning but learns as she keeps on getting thrown in.  By the end she can keep herself afloat, however with a traumatic experience.  Furthermore, throughout the book the Walls family was always encountering the 'sink or swim' experience, mostly all because of the father.  Rex Walls, the father would get a steady job, paying well, supporting his family finally; then he would blow it in some way or just quit because he didn't like it.  The family seemed to be swimming for some time, then in no time right back down to bare-bottom, sinking.  With this type of family children and mother have to be tough in every way, as was Jeannette.  Jeannette's tolerating characteristics are expressed also on page 66.  Jeannette has always grown up with the idea of her father always being there for her and him saying "have I ever let you down?", so it was embedded in her head that he was almost like her savior.  After being thrown in the water almost drowning several times, Jeannette was still on her dad's side thinking it was normal for this type of occurrence to happen; that her dad was always right and knew what he was doing.  This idea seemed to always come up when her father did something wrong or bad.

In the beginning of the memoir, when Jeanette was three she burned herself cooking hotdogs on the stove.  This turned out to be a very bad incident and had to have plenty of medical attention.  This event is similar to Jeannette learning how to swim in that, her parents were not very cautious or beneficial towards the situation.  The events are also similar because they were both quite life-threatening for Jeannette.

Jeannette and her father have a special relationship.  Jeannette always trusted and had faith in her father, when everyone else did not.  Jeannette describes and sees her father as a person not to mess with, and someone who will always have her and her sibling's backs.  This information comes from page 24, "but he assured us that as long as he was around, we wouldn't have to defend ourselves..."   Jeannette is one of the only family members that has always trusted her father.  She always thought that because he was her dad that he was reliable and trustworthy.  An example of her expressing this trust is from page 66, "Once I got my breath back, I figured he must be right. There was no other way to explain it."  This passage is after Jeannette learns how to swim by the 'sink or swim' method.  She realizes that her father must have done this for a reason, and that it actually worked and she now knows how to swim so it has to be okay.

The Glass Castle, pp.3-41

August 4, 2014

#1- The Glass Castle, pp. 3-41

The impression I first got when I first read about Jeannette's mother in The Glass Castle is that she is poor, homeless, and somewhat hardheaded.  I saw her mom as poor and homeless because of Wall's description of her digging through the dumpster, her matted hair, and the tied rags around her shoulders.  The reason I got the image of her mom being hardheaded was her replies to Jeannette asking her if she could help her and the description she gives of America being wasteful, being the reason she was digging through the trash. 

I think it was very important that Jeannette Walls starts her memoir with the scene of her watching, from the seat of a taxi, her mom dig through the dumpster in New York City.  It is important because it makes the reader wonder why the daughter is going to a fancy party all dressed up, while the mother is homeless, digging through the trash, living on the streets of New York City. It also leaves the idea of how this happen, why is there such a difference between family members.  

In The Glass Castle Jeannette's parents Rex and Rose Mary always used the word "skedaddle".  Jeanette's father explains it as a way to keep safe, away from people trying to harm them; but, Jeannette's mother says it's a way to avoid the bill collector. The parents justified the moves from something either happening, forcing them to move, or they haven't paid their bills for some time, and the bill collectors are after them.  The Walls are always trying to stay somewhere for free, with someone they know, or somewhere for very cheap, just able to get by.  Jeannette and her siblings hated being nomadic, moving from place to place all the time. At first, changing schools and never having a permanent home.  But since they got so use to moving locations, it doesn't seem to bother them as much as it used to. 

The only memory I have about moving, is from middle school to high school.  Even though I was not moving districts, and I was with the same students, the move to a new and much bigger school was quite intimidating.  The move to a greater school with older people in it made me become more independent and confident, even though I was scared at first.  This was a beneficial move for me, providing me with the opportunity to gain more knowledge, grow as a person, and make many more friends.