Glass Castle

Glass Castle

The author Jeannette Walls does a great job of creating balance in the Glass Castle. She almost makes you pity her when tells of her impoverish upbringing but then manages to turn the tables and make her family seem noble, smart and loving. Her parents constantly remind her of their position but actually manage to turn it into a positive thing. She makes it seem like they have a very loving family even without material possessions. Her father explains why they are the lucky ones and not rich folk because they can’t fully appreciate nature and be happy.

“Rich city folks, he’d say, lived in fancy apartments, but their air was so polluted they couldn’t even see the stars. We’d have to be out of our minds to want to trade places with any of them. ”

Walls creates this symbol and feeling of hope when she writes about how her Dad said she can get a star for Christmas. It can also be interpreted that even though the rich might have Christmas trees with a star at the top, she gets the real thing and she can keep it forever which is much more significant. It also shows how knowledgeable her father is about constellations. All this makes you root for her as she seems like the underdog.

Walls’ choice of words helps add emotion and detail to her writing. The story about the rat is well written.

“This rat was not just eating the sugar. He was bathing in it, wallowing in it, positively luxuriating in it, his flickering tail hanging over the side of the bowl, flinging sugar across the table.”

Another passage with detailed writing is when she paints part of the house. I’m not sure if its because I painted a garage this summer but I can really imagine and go through the motions.

“Out on the porch, I opened the can and stirred the paint with a stick, blending in the oil that had risen to the surface until the paint, which was the colour of buttercups, had turned creamy. I dipped in a fat brush and spread the paint along the old clapboard siding in long, smooth strokes. It went on bright and glossy and looked even better than I had hoped.”