Welcome to our class discussion board. I hope to create a forum for meaningful discussion of our reading. Please be sure that you write and respond in a way that is courteous and respectful of our community. When writing or responding, be sure to review your written posts and responses to ensure that you’ve conveyed exactly what you intended. Please read everything in the discussion thread before replying. This will help you avoid repeating something someone else has already contributed. Acknowledge the points made with which you agree and suggest alternatives for those with which you don’t.
While reading this book there have been many things that are shocking and disturbing but the one thing that really stood out to me was the author's trust in her parents. Jeannette Walls’s childhood is filled with a lot of terrifying experiences for any person to go through let alone a young child. One of the first examples of this unbreakable trust between the author and her parents was in the first chapter of a second part of the book where she's in the hospital and her dad Holmes and just takes her out, she tells her they “are going to check out, Rex walls- Style.” Her father physically took her and carried her out of the hospital when she had not yet been cleared for check out and this toddler just blindly had faith in her father. Another main example what's the author having blind faith in her parents, no matter some of the events that have occurred, is on page 49 where all for kids including a newborn baby are sitting in the back of a U-Haul bouncing around, and then the door of the U-Haul opens and her brother flyes out and hanging on for dear life. When another car finally comes and the truck stops she still has faith in her father and does not say anything about the danger of the situation that she has been in. In the first part of the book, when she's all grown up, it seems as if she is a different person than the little girl who had full and complete trust in her parents and was proud of her parents, she's now embarrassed and does not know how to explain who her parents are to her peers. The thing that really interests me and I want to find out in this book is where that change happens and how that change happens.
ReplyDeleteBecca, your last sentence is a great way to sum up what makes the book so compelling to read. It reminds me what they say about what people watching a fire...they just can't look away.
DeleteI agree with you, Becca, that it's intriguing how Jeannette changes from a daughter who had stars in her eyes whenever she is with her parents to a girl who's completely ashamed of them. Considering the environment she spent her childhood in, it's clear that the only social life she had was with her family. It's actually impressive that she managed to break away from her parents since she really idolized them despite all their shortcomings and they were the only role models in her childhood. I believe her future change may stem from her own independence that was shaped by her parents, who taught her about how suffering can bring growth and how she must be able to take care of herself. I'm curious to find out her snapping point. Another thing I'm curious about is how her parents moved to New York because they loved the desert and dislike urban cities. They seem a little too free-spirited to be convinced by someone to go to the city.
DeleteThis is Sheyla's response to Becca's post:
DeleteBecca, I find it as surprising as you that anyone would so blindly follow such an unreliable authority, one that has proven time and time again to lead her into trouble. A clear example we as readers see early on, was how her parents didn't appreciate leaving Jeannette in the hospital to fully recover, while on the flip side, the little 3-year old girl already wasn't in agreement with her parents, and had wanted to stay. However, although she didn't fully agree with everything her parents wanted her to do, we must appreciate that as a toddler, it is very hard for her to not have faith in parents, as they're some of the only leaders she has in her life, thus far. Moreover, considering Jeannette and her family are so far removed from civilization, it makes it even harder for the young girl to find anyone else to place her trust in
I completely agree that the author’s trust in her parents is concerning. Another thing that I thought was concerning was her parents’ relationship. The author’s father has a clear drinking problem, which helps to create an abusive relationship. When the author’s father tells the story of meeting the author’s mother, he says he immediately told her that “he was going to marry her.” The author’s mother says that she only said yes to marriage because the author’s father “wouldn’t take no for an answer,” and she wanted to get away from her helicopter mother. However, the author’s mother admits that her husband is even more controlling than her mother, which is a clear red flag. I found the trip to Blythe a particularly disturbing passage because of how the author’s father treats his pregnant wife. Driving recklessly towards her and yelling insults as she tried to run away shows how abusive the father can be. Like many abusive relationships, the authors’ parents make up and keep going in the cycle of abuse. The fact that the mother won’t leave the father (even when her mother tells her to) because he is her husband and she can’t do anything really doesn’t sit well with me. I would like to have the mother be able to get out of that cycle of abuse, but given that the mother is still with the author’s father when the author is grown up, that seems unlikely.
ReplyDeleteI hear you, Lilli. And while it is tempting to look at Rose Mary as a victim -- and she is -- she also does enable Rex's drinking. I like how you described RM's mother as a "helicopter parent, BTW!
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ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right, Min Lin! Is it possible that his tendency to live in a fantasy world and his alcoholism are intertwined? After all, they say that people drink because they cannot "deal with life on life's terms." Sounds like Rex to me!
DeleteMin Lin, you make a wonderful point about how Rex could have helped his family without his big dreams (and Luke also talked about this idea of empty promises!!!) I think it’s really immoral how Rex didn't provide for his family, but instead laid their faith in far-off plans. Although, I was conflicted. Dreams have always been how people coped with dire situations, and escaped the cycle of poverty in this country. It's, well, human, how much hope he has. To quote one of my favorite musicals, "a dream is a soft place to land." It seemed like Rex fully believed in the Glass Castle, that they would become rich. Jeannette talked about him working on the prospector and blueprints. But it seemed like he was giving his little kids something barely graspable to hang on to. All he was giving them was hope, and a small inkling in their minds, and is that what loving should be? I'm sure he realized what his words meant to Jeannette, who was small and trusting. If one says that to a little kid, they'll hang on to it, slip it under their pillows and into their hearts. It clearly affected Jeannette, as a dream repeated at many points in the story (and ultimately the title of her memoir!!!). It was this symbol of a glimmer and hope in her childhood, and of abuse and hard times coated in magic by her parents, like a fantastical journey. And, maybe Rex thought if he gave her this dream, that could be more than shelter and food and clothes, more than something normal to wake to each day. But it's heartbreaking to have to pawn his wife's wedding ring, and see his kids without toys, and sleeping in cardboard boxes. Showing love can mean dreaming; but it can also mean putting one’s dreams on hold to keep someone warm. Broken promises can damage relationships. Maybe it's part of how Jeannette lost faith in her parents as the years swam along.
DeleteThis response made me tear up a little, Caitlin. Beautifully written!
DeleteOne scene from chapter 2 that stood out to me was when Jeannette tells her mom that she wants to dig up a Joshua tree sapling and plant it near their house to nurture it and protect it from the elements so that it may grow “nice and tall and straight.” Her mother responds, “You’d be destroying what makes it special. . . It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty” (page 38). This quote holds significance because it symbolizes Jeannette’s struggle as a child and how her hardships will affect her growth as an individual. Jeannette goes through several events during her youth that both scar her and teach her important lessons about life. For example, from a young age, her mother raised her to be self-sufficient by letting her experiment with things that could harm her (such as when she’s cooking hot dogs at the age of 3 and accidentally sets her dress on fire, severely burning herself). After this experience, Jeannette not only goes right back to cooking hot dogs, but she ends up developing an obsession with fire. Her mother says, “Good for you. . . You can’t live in fear of something as basic as fire” (page 15). Learning through experience is a good way to learn something, but the way Jeannette’s parents seem to lack any concern for their children’s general safety (for example, not taking Brian to the hospital after he fell and had a bleeding head injury on page 13) shows that bad parenting would be something that plagues Jeannette’s youth. Furthermore, by living a life on the road, Jeannette inevitably learns not to become too close to anyone outside of her parents and siblings. Her father also taught her not to become attached to material goods, which is shown during one Christmas where instead of getting his kids toys, he lets each of his kids “pick a star” from the sky and says, “Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten. . . you’ll still have your stars” (page 41). This is a nice lesson to teach, but it has to be taken into consideration that at the time, her parents were broke because her father had “lost his job at the gypsum mine after getting into an argument with the foreman.” Essentially, powerful lessons taught under bad conditions and through poor methods. All of these events in Jeannette’s life will accumulate to shape who she becomes as a person; although the foundation for her childhood may be unstable, this struggle in life is what will push her to become her own individual as she learns to grow and adapt to these situations on her own.
ReplyDeleteWhat interests me the most at this point in the story is to see how the next few chapters will bridge the gap between Jeannette’s established childhood and adult life. In chapter 1, a glimpse is given into her life as an adult, and it shows her as being married and living a good, stable life in NYC. It also shows that her unwavering trust in her parents has now vanished; instead, she feels embarrassed by them and no longer sees them as the role models she once did. I’m curious to see what makes her break apart from her family and start her own life.
I really admire your interpretation of the Joshua tree's significance, Alfred! And your statement that "Jeannette goes through several events during her youth that both scar her and teach her important lessons about life" is astute. Maybe the mistakes our parents make shape us more than we can ever know...
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DeleteAlfred and I share similar perspectives on how Jeanette’s upbringing will affect her when she gets older. I also believe that Mary and Rex’s parenting style is dangerous and irresponsible, but it will factor into Jeanette’s character growth. A brushed over example of this is when Rex put recently born kittens in a burlap sack and threw them into a river. When Jeannette said that she didn’t think it was right to kill the cats after rescuing them her mom replied “We gave them a little extra time on the planet.”(page 37) This action seems heartless and cruel but the core lesson is something Jeannette can learn from. She can learn that giving anything you can, even if it’s very little, matters despite the eventual outcome. Jeanette and her family gave away as many kittens as they could, but there were just too many and killing them would have been better than allowing them to suffer. Despite this, watching Rex throw a bag of kittens into a pond must have been as traumatizing as watching him throw Quixote (their past cat) out the window. While the next lesson wasn’t taught directly by Mary and Rex, their inaction allowed Jeannette to learn how to fight her own battles and that she has people she can rely on. When the mexican girls were bullying Jeanette and she came home with a bruised face her father just encouraged her when he believed she had been fighting. The following day Jeannette is forced to face her bullies again, but her brother “jumped out from behind a clump of sagebrush, waving a yucca branch.”(page 45) Jeannette deciding to face her bullies alone showed that she learned how to be independent. Brian attempting to help her also shows that she doesn’t have to face everything alone and she has people she can depend on. Neither of these lessons were taught in the best circumstances nor were they executed in an appropriate fashion. However, these lessons will most likely contribute to why she will decide to break away from her family and who Jeanette will grow into in the future.
Delete“Mom frowned at me. “You’d be destroying what makes it special,” she said. “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty.”
ReplyDeleteThe Joshua tree is a powerful symbol in The Glass Castle. It has grown in the direction of the wind rather than skyward, which mom believes makes it unusually beautiful. The Joshua Tree, moreover, symbolizes the beauty that can stem from suffering and adversity. This symbol can be applied to the struggles that Jeanette faces during her unconventional childhood. Despite her nomadic lifestyle, wildly irresponsible parents, and unfortunate accidents, Jeanette manages to find beauty in the most dire situations, which can be attributed both to her strong will and to her childish optimism.
"If you spend one night in some town, did you live there? What about two nights? Or a whole week?"
This quote demonstrates how Jeanette struggles to define the concept of home at an early age. Her family lives a nomadic lifestyle, traveling from town to town and never staying put for more than a few months. For many, home represents consistency and comfort, but Jeanette is constantly uprooted from the places she lives and the security they provide. She never allows herself to feel truly settled in any place because she knows that everything in her life is temporary. This lack of security and belonging shapes Jeanette’s childhood and will surely affect her identity and her search for home as she grows up. She already idealizes her grandmother’s house in Phoenix and her father’s plans for the Glass Castle because they embody permanence and comfort.
Rosiness was woven through the story, like rose petal tea splashed over the memories. I don't think anyone could write about the people they loved, the people who promised them the stars, without fondness. It's clear that this was the case as Walls lived these moments, a bandage on each scrape of gravel and rock. One touching passage was, “In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a bit of a drinking situation" (Walls, 23). Walls was unaware of alcoholism; she didn't have the words to make sense of it. Her Dad was a cowboy, a man of the mountains and galaxies, a man who could give her family gold, a man who loved them. He was not, in her small eyes, a drink spilled too many times. As much as this is a telling story of coping with abuse at such a young age, what kept tugging at me was the small hands, the marbles, the stargazing and mischief-- childhood. Maybe it's more of a reflection of me, that I'm reaching for a little girl I used to be. I kept being reminded of what it was like to be small and untouched and brave. One of the first memories recalled in the story was Walls as a toddler, in the hospital for burns. She remembered, "The hospital was clean and shiny. Everything was white. . . I wasn't used to quiet and order, and I liked it" (Walls, 11). She was so little that hospitals were not yet painted in fear. She appreciated jello, and kind nurses, and cleanness. It was a simpler way to see things.
ReplyDeleteI read the passage about her Dad telling stories to her at night, and was reminded of how my Dad would sing to my brother and I at night. Now if I have trouble falling asleep, have to search for good moments in my day, since my parents don't sing me to sleep. Maybe, as sad as the memories are, there is some solace in being small.
- Caitlin :)
Caitlin I think your point about the rosiness woven throughout the story is a wonderful point. Though the parents are dysfunctional and abusive, the way the story is written truly puts them in a gray area. I think a lot of people forget about how not everything is bad with abusers, which is why domestic abuse victims often stay so long. Most things are rosy and lovely and that period makes the bad, not seem so bad. The narrator does an excellent job of telling the story through the child eyes, exhibiting the red flags in their lifestyle but showing the reader how from her perspective, things weren't "that bad".
DeleteSo far, The Glass Castle has succeeded in developing three-dimensional characters who fall on the moral gray area while being from a child’s point of view. Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, is a great example of a flawed person who still had redeemable qualities. The memoir describes Rex’s high intellect, creativity, and his genuine love of his family. On page 23, Jeannette spoke about her father’s love of math, physics and electricity and how he believed “numbers unlock the secrets of the universe.” Jeannette described an invention her father created to identify gold by its weight as well. These descriptions make it seem as if Rex was possessing a wealth of knowledge and that he was an innovator in his own right. Rex’s fondness for his daughter was apparent in small moments like when he helped Jeannette hunt the “old Demon” that was keeping her from going to sleep on page 36. It’s comparable to having a parent check under the bed for monsters. He was also shown to be a hopeful dreamer who is misguided in his attempts to give his family the life they deserve. He wasn’t without his faults, however, because Rex was a dangerous alcoholic, slightly unstable, and encouraged Jeanette’s destructive behaviors. On page 23, Jeannette spoke about her father being dangerous when he drank hard liquor because he “turned into an angry-eyed monster who threw around furniture and threatened to beat up Mom or anyone else” before he would eventually pass out. I’d argue this is very accurate in depicting a child’s struggle to understand the very adult issues happening around them. To a child it may seem like a violent inebriated parent is a completely different person. There was also the part where Rex chased her pregnant mother in a car while in the desert on page 43. The following day everything was back to normal between the parents. Jeannette’s confusion but acceptance of these incidents feel very accurate because most young children aren’t able to fully comprehend these dangerous situations. Rex also encouraged Jeannette’s fascination with fire and instilled an apathetic attitude towards her own health from a young age. Rex was by no means a good person but he definitely wasn’t pure evil either. I appreciate the character building and how it was presented from a child’s perspective because it allows the reader to question their own morals and draw their own conclusions about the characters.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Skye that the author has done a good job developing the characters in this story from the perspective of young Jeannette. For example, Rex Wells is a very complex character with both positive and negative traits. He teaches Jeannette some important life lessons, such as teaching her not to become attached to material goods (which is shown during one Christmas where instead of getting his kids toys, he lets each of his kids “pick a star” from the sky and says on page 41, “Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten. . . you’ll still have your stars”). However, he is also shown to be abusive/reckless (for example, when he swerved his car around a bend in the road and Jeannette fell out of the car and got injured on page 30. Not only does he not realize she fell out of the car until a while later, when he does come back for her, he brushes off the incident as if it were nothing by making a cheap joke). Overall, his character is well-written and his significance to the main character's life and development as a whole is something that the author has done a good job of doing.
DeleteSkye, I would like to comment on this part of your post:
Delete" On page 23, Jeannette spoke about her father being dangerous when he drank hard liquor because he “turned into an angry-eyed monster who threw around furniture and threatened to beat up Mom or anyone else” before he would eventually pass out. I’d argue this is very accurate in depicting a child’s struggle to understand the very adult issues happening around them. To a child it may seem like a violent inebriated parent is a completely different person."
If memory serves me correctly, this is similar to a psychological process known as "splitting". Small children cannot reconcile the gentle parent who holds them with the angry parent who scolds them, so they "split" the parent into two beings, good and bad. I think Walls did a good job depicting this behavior, and you are quite astute to pick up on it. :)
I am posting Emma's response, since this website seems to have it out for her.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Jeannette used a lot of dramatic irony to show her character’s innocence as a young child. She created dark, almost ominous references to serious things that Jeannette took lightly, thought were funny, or just did not understand. Jeannette’s obliviousness was both funny and upsetting. When Brian fell and hit his head, his and Jeannette’s parents treated it as they did so much else in Jeannette’s life; her mom said, “one kid in the hospital at a time is enough,” and her dad joked that the floor was hurt more than Brian. Jeannette comments that “Brian thought that was hilarious and just laughed and laughed.” The author subtly slid in this reference to a concussion symptom, highlighting how totally unaware Jeannette was of the severity of Brian’s injury. When Jeannette and Brian are playing in the lettuce field and pesticides are sprayed on them, she describes it like pretty snow has no idea how dangerous it is. Her mom repeats throughout the story that she feels trapped in her abusive marriage with Jeannette’s father. When Jeannette’s dad told the kids how they met, Jeannette thought it “the most romantic story [she’d] ever heard;” Jeannette’s mom, however, says she had no other choice. Jeannette thinks of life as a beautiful fairytale. Because she is so young, she idealizes things that are complicated and harmful, like her parents’ relationship.
I was fascinated by Jeannette’s parents’ ability to turn their unusual, inconsistent lifestyle into an adventure and by their genuine belief in it. they convinced the kids that they were better off than most other kids who did have the modern comforts we do, and they truly believed it. Jeannette’s mom’s philosophy is to live roughly in harmony with nature. She often says that modern comforts, including clean water and toothpaste, are for “namby-pambies,” to make her kids feel tough and to prevent them from missing the luxuries they might have had. The way her mom was connected to nature and knew how to live off the land sounded so exhilarating that it made me wish I could experience that despite all of the obvious hardship it caused, and her description of the raw, desert lifestyle made me feel like a city namby-pamby. Jeannette’s parents made their kids feel special instead of allowing them to envy other people for having things like Santa Claus or fancy Christmas presents. It was sweet when the dad gave them stars
as Christmas presents, and Jeannette and her siblings “laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa myth and got nothing for Christmas but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. ‘Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten,’ Dad said, ‘you’ll still have your stars.’”
Emma, I really like the way you are framing these incidents as dramatic Irony. It definitely jumped out to me as interesting that she shines a seemingly good light on a lot of her struggles growing up and particularly her mom and dads parenting. You pointed out that her parents have persuaded her in the adventure in her life, but she comes across as unaware of the accompanying hardships. She states, "In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a bit of a drinking situation." She sees her dad purely as the adventurer who will strike gold with his fantastical inventions but overlooks the severity of what she doesn't seem to grasp as alcoholism. For me this raised a whole set of questions. Whether it was a stylistic choice like dramatic irony, or a painting of her vision as a child, blindly following the declarations of her parents. Maybe as she grows older and more aware she will become tired of this chaotic adventure. Maybe it was a coping mechanism for what she was going through and it was hard for her to look the harsh reality strait on. Maybe recounting it with rose color glasses was to capture this or because she doesn't remember it another way. Or maybe she really does see her parents as perfect, and doesn't reproach them for any trauma brought into her and her siblings childhood.
DeleteLife throughout the chapter seems to be pleasant. The close knit structure of the family as they moved through the American Southwest was a source of happiness for Jeanette and her siblings. This presents the theme of familial love which brings people together. One instance of this love being demonstrated was when Brian risked his own well being to try and protect his older sister. Brian threatened the older girls, saying “‘just back off now, and everyone can walk away with all their limbs still attached,’” on page 45, one of his father’s threats. Brian did not stand a chance, but wanted to protect his sister, even if it meant getting beat up himself.
ReplyDeleteHowever, there are moments during the section of the reading in which this familial love is challenged, always caused by Jeanette’s father. Jeanette’s father had a drinking problem, instead referred to as a “drinking situation” by Jeanette’s mom on page 23. He would threaten assault, as well as endangering his entire family like on page 43 when he lunged at Jeanette’s mom while chasing her in their car.
As I read through the section I found myself growing increasingly frustrated with Jeanette’s father. He made too empty promises to his children and wife as well as having abusive tendencies. These promises included those of the Prospector and the Glass Castle. Although they loved him, as a father he is a very questionable figure. While he has certain precious moments with his family, his actions are inexcusable. On top of this, the irresponsibility of both Jeanette’s mother and father is also frustrating. They endangered their children in the U-Haul, as well as sacrificing their experience as children and having friends in order to avoid law enforcement.
Wholeheartedly, I agree with the points you make about the irresponsible parenting tactics that Jeanette's family had, and I also agree with your point that the family does truly love each other very much. Familial love can go a long way, even to the extent of making excuses for inexcusable actions. The father does have many faults, however you failed to address how much he loved his family, while you focused on explaining how much his family loves him. Making empty promises is not a good trait, however, it is not his entire personality. Grabbing Jeanette out of the hospital, for example, was his (irresponsible) way of showing his love and devotion for his family, and desire to keep it intact. In literature, there seem to be two troupes when it comes to abusive, drunken fathers or father figures; one being that he is consistently mean, drunk, abusive, and a bad person, and the other being that he has moments of drunken actions that impact the family, but that for the most part he is a loving, caring, and a flawed but good person in general. Jeanette's father falls into the second category to me, and his love for the family is just as evident as his family's devotion and love for him.
DeleteWhat I found strange was how Jeanette's father was both smart and a fool. On the one hand, he is resourceful. He fixes the broken TV using a noodle (Page 33). He repurposes things that people throw out. He reads books on science and math, and teaches them astronomy and geology. He manages to become an electrician and an engineer. He teaches his kids to not get too attached to material things, when he tells them that they can have a star for Christmas (page 56). He thinks about energy and that it is folly to burn fossil fuels. He is clearly not an idiot.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, he is a fool. He spurns civilization and modern technology. He says disinfected water "was for city namby-pambies" and has his children drink possibly contaminated water. He pulls his severely burned daughter out of the hospital before she is fully healed. He has his family live in the desert. He also makes foolish decisions, gambling much of his money, and occasionally binge-drinking hard liquor, which makes him furious and want to destroy things and hurt people for no reason. He also spends much of his time working on the Prospector, an contraption to help him find gold that will almost certainly not work (You can pan for gold, but not nearly efficiently enough to actually make a living) and will probably never be built anyway. He has these dreams of building a Glass Castle which he will never be able to do, and so he constantly moves about, never being able to really create a stable life. Why does a scientifically learned man despise civilization and focus on impossible dreams?
Robert
I'm posting Emma's response to Robert:
DeleteRobert, you make a great point that Rex seems brilliant with mathematical equations and mechanics, but he has made many poor life choices. Throughout the story, I kept trying to define Jeannette’s parents as good or bad, and I kept getting confused. Her father is smart and teaches his kids to be brilliant, but he also is abusive of his family and puts them in danger. His mother shows her kids independence and self-sufficiency, but also irresponsibly allows them to get hurt and is herself trapped in an abusive marriage. I assumed that Jeannette’s parents were uneducated because of their inability to hold a job; learning that they are very smart, at least in some ways, made me question my own assumptions and realize that I couldn’t confine Jeannette’s parents into such a rigid stereotype. Rex is very intelligent, but he carelessly and stupidly prioritizes his own longing for adventure over his family’s safety. Maybe Rex has book smarts, but he doesn’t have street smarts.
I find the parents' avant-garde method of parenting shocking and a little disturbing. 3 year olds should not be cooking at all, let alone unsupervised no matter how "mature" they are. It can end dangerously, and in this case it did. And they obviously have a history of not taking care their children don't get hurt. We're told that the main character's older sister was stung by a scorpion and their parents took her to a glorified witch doctor. In addition to this Jeanette's father takes her out of the hospital as she is healing Because he believes that the doctors are doing something wrong or that she is going to end up scarred for the rest of her life. While I'm not a fan of extremely strict parents, I don't think that Jeanette's parents are very good ones. Their lifestyle is unstable with no consistent income or schooling or social life. All of this is quite obvious. Yet, it seems like Jeanette's parents truly think that they are doing what's best for their children. Or maybe they're not thinking about what's really best for their children but rather what they think is best for them. It's clear that Jeanette's parents truly care about their three children. But they're not living the lifestyle that's best for them and it seems that no one is interfering with this. All of the kids have a history of injuries and I'm sure people have noticed and it's not a good thing there's no check on the "independence" they have.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that having young kids cooking practically unattended is wrong no matter what the case is and that taking a child out of the hospital would most certainly be looked down upon. However, even though the parents do not do what is best for the family, I would argue that they are good parents if you can take a moment to look through Rex's eyes and see his perspective. From an outside look, these parents are destroying their children's lives and are taking down a dangerous path that could get both the parents and the children arrested by the government or even killed. However, you can see that Rex is doing everything in his power to keep his family together and to do what is best for them is his mind. And yes, I do agree with you that what Rex does to his family is horrible and should not be tolerated. However, you can see how much he cares about his kids and wants the best for them. Yes taking a child out of a hospital can be dangerous, but in Rex's eyes he was saving his child from the uselessness of western medicine. In Rex's perspective, everything he does is to toughen up his children so they can face the harshness of the outside world when they grow up. So is Rex a horrible parent? According to his actions, absolutely. They demonstrate that he cannot effectively raise his children. However, in a sort of twisted way, a father's job is to love and protect his family, and to Rex, he is doing everything he can to do exactly that.
DeleteA small bit of the story that was more amusing then the other aspects of the story was on pg 21, where Jeanette talks about being a sharpshooter. The mental image of a young girl using a six-shot pistol to shoot beer cans in the middle of the desert is amusing on one level, but going deeper it reminds me of a cartoon sketch from a parody show. Doubling down on that point, picture this for a moment -- pick any four year old that you know and imagine them weilding a pistol, much less being somewhat responsible and good at shooting. It's absurd to most of us, id assume, however to Jeanette and the family it's completely normal.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that say about society? It says two things, one is that people are constantly underestimating themselves and relying on outside pressure to define who they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to act like (i.e. four year old girls should be playing with dolls, not guns) and secondly that those preconceived notions are far fetched to someone else. What I mean by that is what we learn in Pre-K at the age of four has nothing to do with guns, and in my experience had a lot to do with hebrew, but to someone in a Jeanette-like situation, their Pre-K experience was different, and i'm sure in some ways better than my own. What kids learn at that young, formative age really shapes what they know and how they act in the future, so if Jeanette leaped past reading and basic arithmetic to shooting and knife throwing more power to that style of learning, because she is probably more prepared as a four year old then many of us can ever hope to be.
You make an interesting point in saying that people underestimate themselves and find things alien to them to be completely absurd while to someone else they are normal. I agree with that. Too often in our society do we write off those different from us when instead we could be embracing them and learning from them. Also too often do we limit ourselves based on what we think we cannot do and what others think we cannot do. However, I disagree with the crediting of the way Jeanette learned. While she did learn to read and basic arithmetic, she was endangered by her parents. I may be proving your point here, but the way Jeanette learned was irresponsible on the part of her parents, several times ending up with the children in danger and even in the hospital. Although the current system of education is in need of change, I do not think that children so young should be doing such activities that could end so poorly. To your point that the early years of childhood are so important to who those children will become, I also agree. However, with what Jeanette has been exposed to, it may not shape her in a good way. The consistent danger that she is in due to her parents irresponsibility and her lack of having any sort of normalcy may affect her in an undesirable way.
DeleteThis is Lilli's response to Matan's post:
DeleteMatan, you make a good point about how Jeanette’s parents shape their children, even if their methods are unconventional. The weapons training is a twisted show of care and affection. Jeanette certainly has the training at a young age to survive in a very harsh world. That harsh world would be the reality of her parent’s lifestyle, constantly running from the law and switching jobs and homes often. This is echoed when her father tells her that her marksmanship will be useful if they are ever caught. Turning your children into soldiers at such a young age is universally agreed to be a bad thing, but for Jeanette’s parents it is just a fact of life. For her parents to take time to teach their young children how to properly handle a gun, they must care about them as that would take lots of time and practice. In that way something so dangerous becomes a twisted show of trust and affection.
While Jeanette’s parents see firearms training as a needed skill given their lifestyle, society would say that they are crazy. However, especially when it comes to toddlers with guns, I think society has learned from previous mistakes. A six year old brandishing a gun is downright terrifying. They could easily injure themselves or someone else. Just because Jeanette is a capable toddler with a capacity to shoot a gun doesn’t mean she should. In that way Jeanette’s firearms training shows both the care that she received as a child as well as how irresponsible her parents' child rearing methods were.
Matan, while I understand and even sympathize with the sentiment that society sometimes can force people to reject their true selves in order to stay "safe", I also, regrettably, have to express that in the vast majority of cases, those unspoken "rules" are in place for a reason - and often quite a good one. While, on a surface level, it makes sense for Jeanette to learn to defend herself in the tumultuous and often dangerous lifestyle she and her family lead, and, like Lilli said, their teaching Jeanette how to protect herself surely is a demonstration of genuine affection and care for their daughter, a six-year old should, under no circumstances be trusted to brandish a firearm, as she could be a great danger to herself or others - jeanette has also already shown the tendency to be irresponsible with dangerous equipment, hence the hot dog incident earlier in the book.
Delete“Suffering when you’re young is good for you, she said. It immunized your body and your soul, and that was why she ignored us kids when we cried”
ReplyDeleteThis quote is significant because it explains the mom and dad’s view on parenting. Though their methods are very untraditional, they claim to believe that they’re doing what is best for their children. Rather than protecting their kids from pain, they allow them to feel it and learn from it. This philosophy does have some truth in it, but the author’s parents take it to an extreme. Her father killed their cat right in front of them, they never got a proper Christmas, and their parents didn’t even allow them to receive proper medical care. I feel that part of the reason that the parents believe in this is out of necessity. They are unable to shelter and protect their children as much as many parents are, so they are forced to let their kids suffer. They tell themselves that this is what is best because they know it is the only option. Though this may help their kids survive in the future, it could also have detrimental effects on them because they were forced to grow up so quickly, and could never truly be kids.
“A little while after we’d moved into the depot, we heard Mom and Dad talking about buying us kids real beds, and we said they shouldn’t do it. We liked our boxes. They made going to bed seem like an adventure”
This quote demonstrates how the author and her siblings were molded by the way they were raised. They had so little growing up, and suffered through many difficult situations. However through it all, they were able to find joy in small things like picking stars as their Christmas presents or reading. Their parents taught them that wealthier people had lives much worse than theirs, and said they should never envy these people. So, even when their parents are considering getting them something as simple as real beds, they decline the offer. They were happy with what they had, and were able to make the most of even the toughest situations. This also shows the maturity these kids have at such a young age, because most young children are somewhat greedy, and always want more of everything. Usually it is not until much later in life that people learn to be appreciative for what they have. However the difficult circumstances that these kids endured early on in their life led them to learn this lesson very early on.
Talia, I'd like to question your claim that the Walls parents "are unable to shelter and protect their children as much as many parents are, so they are forced to let their kids suffer." Are they unable to provide for their kids? Are they forced to let their kids suffer? Or do the choices they make point to some very serious defects they refuse to face in themselves?
DeleteJeannette’s parents shock me, because their way of parenting completely endangers their children, and also harms their chances to become a fully functioning member of society. Early on in the reading, Jeannette’s clothes start burning, and as a result, she is badly burned to the point that a graft was necessary and she had to be hospitalized. The cause of this incident was that Jeannette was making hot dogs by boiling them. While this sounds normal, one has to keep in mind that she is only three years old, and should be nowhere close to any fire. The fact that her parents allow her to cook unsupervised at that age is the first red flag of many. Another red flag was when Jeannette’s parents refused to take Lori to an actual doctor, instead going to a Navajo witch doctor. The third and fourth red flags were when Brian literally (sorry, Joe) cracked his head open which, in the worst cases, requires surgery, yet they refused to take him to the doctor, instead wrapping a bandage around his head (which is also dirty, which is rather dangerous), and also take Jeannette from the hospital even though she wasn’t supposed to be leaving yet (which I’m pretty sure is kidnapping), and then let her cook again even though that was what caused her to be hospitalized. The fifth red flag was the result from all this, which was what seems to be very similar to pyromania, a literal mental disorder. Even after this, Jeannette’s parents continue to do many things that are not just illegal, but also endanger the children. For example, the parents left the children unsupervised in a casino, had three children and a baby ride in the back of a moving truck for fourteen hours which is not only extremely uncomfortable, but also extremely dangerous, and worst of all, extremely illegal, oh, and Jeannette’s pyromania went unsupervised as well. To put a cherry on top, half of the time, the children who were of school age didn’t even go to school, and although they did learn all sorts of interesting things such as astronomy, the lifestyle and “education” that the parents put their kids through is certainly not good for them.
ReplyDeleteI share your reaction Kai, Jeanette's parents have little regard for the consequences of the decisions they make for their kids. Not only do they endanger their kids, but they also make a bad impression on them. Especially Rex Walls who gives a bad impression for his kids, who already see him as some super heroic figure like they have an inflated interpretation of their father: Sure, he does bond and connect with them alot and tells stories of him being in the air force and teaches them astronomy and math, but also, he leaves a bad example for them when he puts them in danger, and shows rejection of authority and safety, like in the U-Haul truck incident where, while a baby was on board, the kids nearly flew out, and also, his wife says he has a clear drinking issue: anytime they had enough money, Rex would buy "the hard stuff" and threatened to beat up his wife. Also, he swears so much that his kids also repeat them, and in the book, in at a certain point that I apparently can no longer locate, curse words that Jeanette learned from him. There's a difference between a fifth grader cursing and a 5-6 year old cursing. Meanwhile, their mother has a disregard for toothpaste and other basic, modern hygienic products saying they're for "namby-pambies" and prefers to live in some desert survival type of way. She also encourages them to drink dirty water because it'll "increase their antibodies" and because animals drink from it as well, which is absolutely wrong since things like Cholera and Tuberculosis can be contracted from drinking dirty water. I also definitely agree that their lifestyle and "education" these kids are being exposed to is bad and can pose dangerous for when they grow up.
DeleteOwen McManamon HSAS
ReplyDelete3/26/2020 English HW
If any passage in the first 57 pages of the Glass castle shocks me with the sheer quality of its writing, it would undoubtedly be: “Dad always fought harder, flew faster, and gambled smarter than everyone else in his stories. Along the way, he rescued women and children and even men who weren't as strong and clever. Dad taught us the secrets of his heroics—he showed us how to straddle a wild dog and break his neck, and where to hit a man in the throat so you could kill him with one powerful jab. But he assured us that as long as he was around, we wouldn't have to defend ourselves, because, by God, anyone who so much as laid a finger on any of Rex Walls's children was going to get their butts kicked so hard that you could read Dad's shoe size on their ass cheeks.” I love this passage for a variety of reasons (Note: I’ve already read this book; its one of my favorites without a doubt) including: Its clear showing of Rex’s intense love for his kids, which is a trait that’s thoroughly explored and challenged throughout the book, a showing of Rex’s fanciful nature, which proves to be both his greatest advantage and disadvantage, as well as showcasing Rex’s joking side, hence “... read Dad’s shoe size on their ass cheeks.” Also, it showcases how much Jeanette adored her father by how fondly she speaks of him at this time, which is impactful to me personally because I find familial relations to be the most important relations someone can have. Overall, I think this passage has incredible writing because of how well it encapsulates Rex Walls, as well as his relationship to his kids, in a small paragraph.
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DeleteThis is Alex's response to Owen's post:
DeleteI disagree with this Owen. I do not truly believe that Rex loves his children as much as you said because of the blatant disregard for their safety he shows throughout the book. Some instances that show his disregard for his children's safety include: letting a three year old cook for herself with boiling water, breaking her out of a hospital, and later on not noticing at all when she falls out of a car for a period of time.
And this is my response to Alex's post:
DeleteI have to disagree with what you said about Rex not loving his children. Rex is a raging alcoholic. Alcohol is like a monster that he must keep feeding. It will not allow Rex to love and care for his children or his wife Alcohol always comes first for Rex.
It looks like this website doesn't like Lila H. very much, either. Here's her post:
ReplyDeleteThe style of parenting that Jeannete’s parents have is intriguing. They live in a household where kids should not be coddled, but exposed to the elements in order to learn and develop a stronger character. Parental supervision is very loose and allows jeannete and her siblings to be independent, even from the age of three. At this age Jeannete was already cooking herself hotdogs, which led to her suffereing severe burns that landed her in the hospital. Her explanation to the nurses was “Mom says I’m mature for my age (...) she lets me cook for myself a lot.” (pg 24) Even after this incident her mom's view didn’t change and Jeannete was back to cooking herself hotdogs again. It is oftened expressed that her parents didn’t seem to worry about their children. They allowed them out in thunderstorms while other parents “worried their kids might get hit by lightning.” (pg 22) Her parents' philosophy seems to be that it is better to let a child discover what is dangerous through experience, even if it may jeapordize their safety somewhat. To them, whatever they may be harmed by is also part of the learning experience, and will teach them to grit their teath and to be brave.
Despite this rugged style of parenting, there is no lack of parental love shown by this book. With their dad in particular, many fond and touching memories are recounted. One shuch moment is when jeannete thinks she heard something near her bed and her dad goes hunting for it with her, calling out remarks like “come out and show your butt-ugly face.”(pg 36) It was interesting how her dad would make declarations about the importance of bravery, while at the same time comfort her when she truly was scared. I also found the story of her dad’s change after Mary Charlene cried touching. According to her mom “he stood there like he was in shock (...), cradeling her stiff little body in his arms and then he screamed like a wounded animal.” (pg 28) Even though he might raise his kids in a way that is different from many other parents and perhaps controversial, this doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about his kids safety and well being. It is shown that when Rex Walls says, “anyone who so much as laid a finger on Rex Walls’s children was going to get their butt kicks” (pg 24) he means it.
Nor does this website like Sheyla. Here is her post.
ReplyDeleteIt’s funny to me how the parents of the story seem like awful parents, and would be criticized by today’s standards, but the children seem to be turning out well. They’re very independent and most importantly, the kids seem very happy. From cooking her own hotdogs whenever she feels hungry to being able to strike up happy conversations with her sister, Lori, while in a hot, steamy car during the midday desert climate, Jeannette Wells seems to be barely surviving, while also thriving in her current situation. This, to me, is mindblowing. While reading, I was reminded of a semi-recent event in the news, when a father left his young children in a hot car and ended up killing them, for which he was scorned. However, in this story, this dad’s Rancho craziness helps to put her at ease again and feel good. Besides, leaving his kids often to fend for themselves, the father’s philosophy helps Jeannette one night when she is feeling scared from what she thinks is an animal in her room. By cursing and running around, while holding a sharp hunting knife, chasing the ‘Demon’ actually helps Jeannette to face her fears and say “We’re not scared of you! [page 36]” and make a fun time out of a scary situation (living in an area surrounded by scary animals). To sum up the parents’ philosophy, the mother says that struggle is what gives one beauty, in the context of the Joshua tree. This is how they’re raising the children, just like the way the Joshua tree grew- making them experience childhood away from civilization to grow up to be beautiful, prosperous people.
Sheyla, I agree that it is fascinating how the mother and father appear to be bad parents, yet their kids love them and seem generally happy. I feel that part of the reason for this may be that the kids are so young. Jeanette and her siblings have known nothing else then the life they live now, so they don’t have anything to compare it to. Though they are aware that some people are much wealthier than them, they have been told all their life to not be jealous of these people. Their parents knew that they wouldn’t be able to provide a lot for their kids, so from the beginning they decided to raise them this way so they would be happy with what they had. Even though this has caused some suffering for them, they appear to be okay with their lives, as you mentioned. The parents are doing what they feel is best for their kids under the circumstances they are in, and it seems to be working out in some ways.
DeleteSorry I sent this late: My internet was bad and didn't get the gmail somehow:
ReplyDeleteThis is just my own thing dissecting Rex Walls:
Rex Walls is a complicated person; he connects very well with his kids only as redemption for almost getting them killed. Like when the kids were stuffed at the back of the U-Haul truck and nearly flew out, with a baby on page 49 when “the back doors of the U-Haul flew open. . . we were afraid we were going to get sucked out, and we all shrank back against the Prospector. . . I was holding Maureen, who for some strange reason had stopped crying.” When a car got him to pull over, he secured the doors and double checked them. He then redeems himself after arriving at Battle Mountain where he gets a job as an electrician at the barite mines and actually is capable of bringing bags of food home instead of the usual. Page 54 says, “ Dad got a job as an electrician at the barite mines, he left early and came home early and in the afternoon, we all played cards. Dad taught us cards. He taught us to be steely-eyed poker players.” Page 56 says “At the beginning of each week, we went to the commissary and bought bags and bags of food home.”
He also seems to like to tell stories about himself, causing his kids to have an inflated view of him due to his exaggeration and glorifications of his stories. His daughter says on page 24 that, “ along the way, he rescued women and children and even men who weren’t as strong or clever . . . but he assured that as long as he was around, we wouldn’t need to defend ourselves, because, by God, anyone who laid as much as a finger on Rex Wall’s children were going to get their butts kicked so hard they could read his shoe size on their @ss cheeks.” I honestly couldn’t tell if he was being fully honest or not, but seeing how he told this to kids who are very impressionable, this was likely exaggerated. What can be taken away from this is that he is willing to protect his kids, as any father would.
Edit: For some reason, I didn't find in the book where Jeanette's name was mentioned so when I say narrator or daughter, i am referring to Jeannette. I think I might have just not spotted it or just forgot when I was reading.
DeleteI agree with you, Jaim, that Rex is complicated. On the one hand, he says that he loves his children, and would defend them against any who threatened them. He threatens any wild animals (Demon) that might threaten them, and gives them support against the Mexican girls that jump them in the alleyway. On the other hand, he doesn't seem to care if his children get hurt by his actions, or by his negligence. He leaves them in the back of the U-haul, as you mentioned, and he also allows his daughter to cook and play with fire unattended, which gets her severely burned. He also doesn't come back to Jeanette for a while after she falls out of the car and gets severely injured. He has them move around constantly, which prevents his kids form having a real home. He loves his children and would defend them, but is either blind or indifferent to the harm that he causes them.
DeleteI agree with your point, Jaim. I think Rex knows about, and accepts some of his flaws, but not all of them. For example, he worked harder at Battle Hill after the back door of the moving truck had flown open, but I don't really think doing that can redeem him for what he has done to his kids and wife. It appears that they are so lax in their parenting that even them being supportive is somewhat dangerous - Letting Jeannette cook her own food and encouraging obsession with fire (which is quite obviously an obsession) are two different kinds of reckless endangerment. It's also obvious that some of what he views as good for Jeannette and her siblings is actually harming them. Things like teaching Jeannette how to shoot a gun at the age of four, and encouraging her to risk her life by drinking unfiltered water not only are dangerous to her, but also brings the risk of her personality and beliefs to end up similar to her father's. In addition, this kind of lifestyle is all that she has known all her life, which also is a partial reason as to why Jeannette is so fond of Rex and her mother. Because there is no one else to use as an example, her parents are her only role models. Consequently, she idolizes them. This is most likely because she is constantly on the move. If she didn't move around so much, she would probably notice that something was wrong with her parents.
DeleteBernard, this passage stood out to me as well. I agree that fire seems to be a recurring theme throughout the beginning of the novel, and I liked your interpretation of its significance. It’s true that Jeanette seems to be fascinated with fire after her first encounter with it. But as she matures, she becomes more and more afraid of it because she begins to understand its ability to bring about destruction. This is especially evident when she says, “I wondered if the fire had been out to get me.” I also agree that as Jeanette begins to understand the consequences of fire––and the consequences of her actions––she grows increasingly tired of her parent’s lifestyle. Jeanette’s parents crave the same adrenaline rush that Jeanette first felt at the sight of fire, yet they never come to understand how their actions affect others. Jeanette’s ability to understand how her actions can cause destruction increasingly sets her apart from her parents.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe style of parenting that Jeannete’s parents have is intriguing. They live in a household where kids should not be coddled, but exposed to the elements in order to learn and develop a stronger character. Parental supervision is very loose and allows jeannette and her siblings to be independent, even from the age of three. At this age Jeannete was already cooking herself hotdogs, which led to her suffering severe burns that landed her in the hospital. Her explanation to the nurses was “Mom says I’m mature for my age (...) she lets me cook for myself a lot.” (pg 24) Even after this incident her mom's view didn’t change and Jeannete was back to cooking herself hotdogs again. It is often expressed that her parents didn’t seem to worry about their children. They allowed them out in thunderstorms while other parents “worried their kids might get hit by lightning.” (pg 22) Her parents' philosophy seems to be that it is better to let a child discover what is dangerous through experience, even if it may jeopardize their safety somewhat. To them, whatever they may be harmed by is also part of the learning experience, and will teach them to grit their teeth and to be brave.
ReplyDeleteDespite this rugged style of parenting, there is no lack of parental love shown by this book. With their dad in particular, many fond and touching memories are recounted. One such moment is when jeannette thinks she heard something near her bed and her dad goes demon hunting with her, calling out remarks like “come out and show your butt-ugly face.”(pg 36) It was interesting how her dad would make declarations about the importance of bravery, while at the same time know just how to comfort her when she truly was scared. I also found the story of her dad’s change after Mary Charlene died touching. According to her mom “he stood there like he was in shock (...), cradling her stiff little body in his arms and then he screamed like a wounded animal.” (pg 28) Even though he might raise his kids in a way that is different from many other parents and perhaps controversial, this doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about his kids safety and well being. It is shown that when Rex Walls says, “anyone who so much as lays a finger on Rex Walls’s children is going to get their butts kicked” (pg 24) he means it.
This is Alex's post: A good handful of parts in the book evoked a feeling of anger for me. The horrible mistreatment of the entire family, not just the Jeanette, is disgusting. The book starts with the Jeanette boiling water at 3 years old, which is far too young to be cooking, and burning herself while doing so. If there was a responsible adult in the household this could have been completely avoided which proves to be a common theme throughout the portion of the book I read. Another horrible thing the parents do later on is on page 18, when Rex throws the cat, Quixote, out the window of a moving car and justifies it by saying that wild cats have more fun. Another case that shows Rex’s lack of responsibility is on page 21, where Jeanette brags about how good of a shot she was with his pistol at the age of four. A part that sheds a light on how irresponsible Rose Mary along with Rex is on page 27, when she describes what deformities her children had when they were born and later on says that all of them were incredibly postmature. Although I believe everyone should have the joy a child gives them, it is very cruel to put children in the world as many times as she and Rex did while knowing that there was a large possibility they could be deformed or even die like Mary Charlene. One of the worst examples of both parent’s ineptitudes is when Jeanette falls out of the car, she is about 4 years old and could have easily died from this fall and the lack of responsibility the parents show for this angers me.
ReplyDeleteI agree where Bernard says “Her parents are excited by the chaos and the instability in their lives”. The Wall’s life is one of moving from town to town and putting their children in a dangerous lifestyle and it appears they like to continue down this path. For example, when the Wall’s moved to Las Vegas Rex wins lots of money card counting in the casino (pg. 32). The passage observes “while dad was winning money at the blackjack table” and at the “end of the day, his pockets came full money” (pg.32). As an indication of their reckless life, they take much-needed money and instead of saving it go restaurants (pg. 32) and get such indulgences as flaming ice cream cake (pg.32). This is just the life the Wall’s have chosen. I do agree also that Barnard notes “Jeanette is growing tired of this” I think we see this in in the prologue of the book where Jeannette sees her homeless mother going through trash and when she brings her mother to meet with her mother says she likes life but Jeannette is not happy with her response.
ReplyDelete