Sunday, May 27, 2012

The Glass Castle, digging deeper into childhood

I am reading a fantastic book for my coming of age unit. The glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a sad memoir. Childhood is really important to your life. It plays a big role in who you are and who you're becoming to be. Jeannette Walls had a rough childhood, from digging in the garbage, to sleeping in a cardboard box, life was pretty hard to deal with. Even though her young ages were horrible, she still found a way to deal with everything and to get past those cold winter nights.

Not only was she poor growing up, but she never settled down in a place for too long, her family was on the run 24/7. She had her brother and sisters to talk to though, which made everything all fine for a moment. Her family wasn't that bad. Except her father gambling and spending money on alcohol which could of went to funding for foods if he didn't use the money all up. Some nights, they would eat popcorn for dinner, some nights they wouldn't eat anything at all, and If they were lucky rice and beans helped them survive. Her father wasn't bad all the time, when he sobered up everything made life easier and more pleasant for everyone. Jeannette and her father had a special connection, they thought the same (when he was sober), the laughed at each others jokes, and they also called each other nicknames, for example; her dad called her mountain goat.

Being part of a bad family, you need to raise yourself. You need to understand the struggles your going through and, you need to get past it and make the best of what happens. Jeannette and her siblings tried to accomplish that.

1 comment:

  1. Great post! I like how you gave background on all of the problems and characters in the book. The father in your novel, relates a lot to the father in Tales of the Madman Underground. From what I gather, they both seem strongly influenced by alcohol and other things. I really feel alcohol can have such a strong effect on someone, and even more their family. Looking forward to reading more!

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