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.