My Last Responses

I loved the way this book ended. It wasn't one of those books that leaves you hanging, it left you thinking. Although the whole family wasn't all together, they still were very happy with where they all were in their lives.

I ended up really liking this book. At first I didn't like it because I felt like I was just reading about someones life. But by the end I could not put it down. I still can't believe that this is a true story. Jeannette became so successful from pretty much nothing. I was surprised because most people in poverty continue to live in poverty, but three out of the four kids made it out with great accomplishments. I still don't know why their mom chose to live in poverty when she very well could have gotten her self out because she was a good teacher. Even though their dad wasn't always able to provide for him, he was an amazing dad. He always wanted the best for his kids, and taught them things that were very valuable. If it wasn't for him I don't think that his kids would have come this far.



This is an interview of Jeannette Walls. It answered some of my questions that i had throughout the book and tells you a little bit more about her.
http://gothamist.com/2005/05/27/jeannette_walls_author_the_glass_castle_gossip_columnist_msnbccom.php

Thanksgiving

It was five years after their Dad had died now, Jeannette was remarried to a man named John, and she rarely saw her mom. She and her husband wanted to invite her mom, Lori and Brian to their farm house that they had just gotten for Thanksgiving. They had a great time together. There mom wanted to make a toast to their father, she said, "Life with your father was never boring."

page 258-288

Dad's Death

Four years after Jeannette moved into the apartment with Eric they got married. Lori was an artist and working on illustrating calendars, game boards and books. Brian joined the police force. Maureen graduated from high school and enrolled into one of the city collages. She ended up living with their parents. She hung out with the wrong people, drank and smoke. She would fight with her parents and she told Jeannette that she wanted to kidnap people. Jeanette tried to get her help, but she refused. Six months later Maureen had stabbed their mom. Their mom wasn't mad at her, but Maureen had gotten arrested. The judge sent Maureen to an upstate hospital. After a year she was released and she moved to California.

After that all the kids had become distant with their parents. They rarely talked, but one day Jeannette got a call from her dad to come see him. She did and when she got there she found that her dad looked very sick.  He said that he had contracted a rare tropical disease from getting in a fight with a Nigerian drug dealer. The doctors said the disease was incurable. After that they talked about to Glass Castle, and how they had fun planning it.

Two weeks later he had a heart attack. When Jeannette got to the hospital she found out that only machines were keeping him alive. An hour later Jeannette took his hand and they shut the machines off.

Jeannette felt like she always wanted to be somewhere else other than where she was. A year after her dads death she left Eric. She moved to the West Side and got a small apartment. She would look up at the sky at night and see the star that her dad gave her, Venus.

page 272-281

A house

Finally their parents had found a home. It was an abandoned building with some other squatters living there. They were so excited to move in. They managed to high jack the electricity. They were so proud to be off the streets and living in a house.

Jeannette graduated from Bernard that spring. The magazine that she had been working for had offered her a full time job. She agreed to move in with her boy friend, Eric, who she had been seeing for a few years. He was very wealthy and had a very nice apartment. She felt like everything was clicking in. Her parents had found a place to live, and she was very happy as well. Her parents supported her in any way they could. Her dad always read her articles and her mom was always there to talk with her.

Jeannette never told anyone about her parents. She was scarred she was going to loose her job. She told lies that her parents still live in West Virginia. That her mom is an artist and her dad in an entrepreneur.

page 266-272

Dad

The Dad got Tuberculosis. He was in the hospital and the family would come and visit him regularly. He was in the hospital for six weeks. He had got over the TB, but this also meant that he had been sober for six weeks. One of the hospital workers got him a job as a maintenance man at an upstate resort, room and board included. He worked for a while, but he soon quit it so he could be with his wife.

By summer their parents had lived on the streets for three years. Jeanette talked to her dad and she told him that she was considering dropping out of school because she couldn't afford to pay the two thousand dollars they need, she only had one thousand. The dad came over with a paper bag and dumped out hundreds of dollar bills. He had $950 dollars. She told him that she will not accept it. But he insisted. he had gotten it from gambling and he really wanted her to have it. With that she enrolled in her final year at Bernard.

page 258-266

Homeless

Three years after Jeanette had moved to New York she got a phone call, it was her mom. She told them that her and her dad have moved to New York. The next day they all went to Lori's to see them. Lori moved into an apartment in the same building as her brother, and she let her parents come stay with her and Maureen. They said that they were only going to stay for one month but four months later and they were still there. The Dad had not found a job and he still would go out late and drink. Jeannette and Lori finally had to tell them that they couldn't live in the apartment any more. They moved into their van. But it got towed. That night they slept on a park bench. They were homeless.

Once a month they would call them. They were still homeless but they were able to find the soup kitchens and shelters. Once Jeannette saw her mom and said, "You can't just live like this." The Mom replied, "Why not? Being homeless in an adventure." This made me sad, and i couldn't imagine seeing my parents homeless. But at the same time, I don't think I could deal with them living in my apartment and having to feed them and pay for them when they don't put effort into finding a job.

page 253-257 

Success

Life for the walls was still going down hill back in Welch. Lori and Jeannette asked Brian if he would like to come live in New York with them. He replied, "When's the soonest I can come?" After his Junior year he came to live with them. He found a job at an ice cream shop.

Jeannette didn't see any point into going to collage but people were telling her that she should. She applied to Barnard, and she was accepted. She went to school and lived in an apartment by her school in exchange for watching a lady's kids. She was soon hired as the editorial assistant for one of the biggest magazines in the whole city.

The stories of home back at Welch made Jeanette sad and she wanted Maureen to come live with them. But she was only twelve. She was so excited when she herd about the idea. Lori said that she can live with her. She arrived in early winter. She was enrolled into a public school in Manhattan. On weekends of four of them would meet at Lori's place and made dinners and laughed until they cried.

I am shocked that all the kids are now living in New York. They care so much for each other and they support one another in everything they do. They encourage each other and they are all very successful. In a way I feel bad that the parents are still back in Welch, but it is their decision to not work and take care of their kids properly. I just can't believe that they stuck with their plan, and now are so happy.

page 249-252

Life in New York

Jeanette was now a junior and had decided that she was going to to move to New York for her senior year. Her parents were upset with her because they thought it was unfair that they had to be stuck in West Virginia.

Jeanette made it to New York. She met her sister that and she took her to the women's hostel that she had been living. The next day she got a got at a hamburger joint. She was taking home over eighty dollars a week.

In the middle of the summer Lori had gotten them an apartment. It was way nicer and fancier than their house in Welch. Jeannette enrolled into a school where you didn't go to classes. Instead, you would sign up for internships all over the city. She singed up for a news paper called The Phoenix. She soon quit her job at the hamburger joint and became a full time reporter for the newspaper. She loved her job. Her phone was ringing off the hook and she always was busy with interviews.

I was so surprised the Jeannette actually made it to New York. She is so ambitious and i could never imagine moving and pretty much living on my own at seventeen. She is so successful already and i think she has a great future. She defiantly mad the right move. She got herself out of the hole that she was living in.

page 231-249

New York

Two film makers from New York city came to Welch and showed a film at their school. Lori and Jeannette has decided that this is where they wanted to live as soon as they were able to. They came up with a plan. a                   Lori would leave for New York in June, after she graduates. She would settle in a find a place and Jeannette would fallow her as soon as she could. They put their money together so that they could save up. They did odd jobs to earn money.

Eventually their dad finds out about the plans for New York and ruins it. He steals their money and ruined Lori's chance at getting a scholarship to collage their. But finally she earns enough money to buy a ticket, and moved to New York. Lori loved it and Jeannette knew she would love it too.


page 222-230

Jobs

Jeanette was going into the seventh grade which ment that that she would go to school at the high school. Her friend that she had met that summer had stopped going to school because she thought she was pregnant. Jeanette started to become very self conciouse about her teeth so she made her own head gear to wear at night. They actuly worked and her dad thought she was a geniouse.

Soon Jeannette gets a job of her own editing news papers. It made her feel better about herself that she could work and make money. She got another job at a Jewlery store. She loved that job because she liked to watch peoples faces light up when they baught new jewelery. There was a watch that she had really wanted and one day she took it while the boss was a lunch. But she couldn't live with the thought that she stole something so the next day she put it back in the display case.

page 199-217

Summer

As time went on, nothing has been happening to the Glass Castle. They had been using the hole that they built to out their trash in. The Dad spent most of his time drinking. The summers were getting hotter and hotter. It wasn't the heat that they were used to in the dessert. It was muggy and wet. Finally Jeanette had made one friends and she was able to go swimming with her at the public pool. When she came back from the pool she was alone. A man came to the door saying he was from child welfare and wanted to speak with her parents. She took his card and told him to come back another time. She told her mom about what happened and she seemed to be upset. She said that she was going to get a job. Jeanette was scarred that she was going to be separated from her family. I would be so scarred if I was in Jeanette's situation. She has a lot to deal with already, and now on top of it she has to worry about being split up.

Soon her mom got a job as a teacher and they were able to keep up better with their bills. They were able to get an electric heater and a refrigerator. But by the end of the month they would find themselves hungry and out of food. The dad was spending a lot of it on alcohol.

Winter

Life in West Virginia was very hard for the Walls family. They rarely had decent food to eat. Jeanette and Brian did not have any friends and would always get mocked at school for how poor they were. They had to scavenge for food. Their house was very run down and hard to live in. The winters were very hard for them. They had never experienced such harsh conditions before. They couldn't even afford coal to heat their home. The kids had to collect wood to keep the house warm. They could always see their own breath inside, even when they got the biggest fire going. They had icicles hanging from their kitchen ceiling. They fought over who could sleep with the dogs because they kept them warm at night. When their water froze they had to get snow and melt it. I can't imagine living like this. I always complain about living in Michigan and how cold the weather is, but I don't live in anywhere near the conditions that the Walls family lived in. I know I take for granted everything I have, and I rarely take the time to think about the people who are living without heat and running water. The kids in the family felt like they were spoiled when their mom took them to the laundromat to clean their clothes. The kids always wanted to go to school because they knew that they would be warm. As the book goes deeper into detail about how they are living, I am realizing how much i really have. There is always a hot shower, a washing machine, food in our cabinets, and heat. I can't imagine what life would be like without these things, and yet the Walls always seem to make the best out of their situation.

page 154-178

West Virginia

Being sober was short lived, and so was the plan to move to the Grand Canyon. But their mom came up with another plan to move to West Virginia where their other grandparents lived. Once again they were only allowed to bring one thing, and Jeanette brought her rock. It took them a month to get across the country because their car only went twenty miles per hour. When they got there they were greeted by their grandparents but they weren't what they expected. They eventually learned to adapt to their lifestyle.

Soon after they were banished from their house because she thought that the kids were too misbehaved. They didn't have much money but they bought a very shabby house at the top of a mountain. There was no running water, and no running toilet. The only water they had was a spigot outside. It did have electricity but they didn't have the money a the moment to turn it on. They planned on building a new house on the land. He intended to fallow the blue prints of the Glass Castle.

page 129-155

A Special Present

This year the thought that Christmas was going to be extra special because they were in their new house. Their parents usually don't get them any presents, but this year they all got to buy presents for each other. They even went to buy a Christmas tree and decorated it with their grandmas old ordainments. But Christmas didn't turn out as well as they planned. Their dad had gotten really drunk on Christmas and by the time they were ready to go to midnight mass he could barely stand up. When they went he started to swear and yell in the middle of the service. The usher had to kick them out. When they got home he lit the Christmas tree on fire. After that Jeanette said, "When Dad went crazy, we all had out own ways of shutting down and closing off, and that was what we did that night". This was not their idea of an extra special Christmas. I can't imagine having to deal with a drunk father on Christmas. Even though Jeanette loves him so much, she also gets so frustrated with him. He seems to love his kids so much, but when he always drinks it makes me think he doesn't really care.

Jeannette turned ten that spring. Usually birthdays aren't a very big deal in their family and they only get small gift, but this year was different. Her dad took her out on their porch and told her that she can have anything that she wants. It was hard for her to tell him what she wanted but finally she took a deep breath and said, "Do you think that you could maybe stop drinking?" He said, "You must be awfully ashamed of you old man." She said, "No, it's just that mom would be a lot happier. Plus, we'd have extra money." Finally he made the decision to quit. He locked himself in his room for over a week. It was hard for him and took the whole summer to recuperate. Once he got better they decided that they were going to move again. But this time it was different, they were going to move into the Grand Canyon and camp. They were going to cook their meals on an open fire and they weren't going to go to school.

The Zoo

When they got to Phoenix they found that their grandma had left them with a very nice house and a good amount of money. They got enrolled into a good school and their mom got her art business going. Their dad joined the local electritions' union and landed a job pretty quick. He brought home the biggest pay check that he had ever earned and with that brand new bicycles for all his kids. The Walls family seemed to be off to a  pretty good new start.

Soon the city life was starting to effect the Dad. He herd a story about a woman who lived in Phoenix who shot a mountain lion that was in her back yard. This got him very upset. He got his kids in the car and said, "I'm going to show you, that no animal, no matter how big or wild, is dangerous as long as you know what you are doing." They pulled up to the zoo. Their dad found the biggest alligator out of all of them and told them that he was going to have a starring contest. He told them that if you let them know that you are not scarred of them, they will leave you alone. After just a minute of eye contact, the alligator thrashed its tail and went under water. He said, "See, you just have  to communicate your position." Soon after that he climbed over the chain linked fence to where the cheetah enclosure was. He stared at it in a nice way, and soon he put his hand up to the bars, the cheetah just looked at him. Then he put his hand in the cage and started to pet it. He soon had Jeannette petting it too. The cheetah even started licking her hand. Soon after that they had to be escorted out of the zoo. This is something that Jeanette is never going to forget. She likes that her dad is adventurous just like her. Jeanette and her dad have a very special relationship. They are so much a like, and once he even told her that she is his favorite out of all the kids (he told her not to tell anyone). I can relate to this because me and my dad are really a like. He also always try to get me to try new things and be adventurous like this. We both like to do the same things like ski, mountain bike and be outside in general. We have really similar personalities too.

page 92-109

Billy Deel

Billy Deel moved into battle mountain about a year after Jeanette and her family had been living there. He was tall with a blond crew cut and blue eyes. He was also a juvenile delinquent and had been known to kill animals, vandalize and steal. Jeanette did not like him, but he would fallow her around and tell everyone that she was his girlfriend. He lived in a very small rundown shack, and his dad was an alcoholic. One day he gave Jeanette a turquoise ring. She accepted it but she told him that she wasn't going to wear it and that it doesn't mean that she is his girlfriend. He said that it used to be his mothers, but she didn't believe him. He would try to kiss he but she would fight back, and it worked. He was so mean to her and once tried to rape her. When she returned the ring it made him very angry. He came over to their house while their parents were gone, and he started shooting at them with a BB gun. The oldest, Lori, got her dads gun and tried to shoot him, but she missed. He got away. I can't imagine having to shoot at someone, but in this town it wasn't a big deal. You did what you had to do to defend yourself. People were that nice to each other. And in the newspaper Battle Mountain was considered the number one ugliest town in the country.

Soon the cops found out about the situation and they wanted everyone to go down to court the next morning. So that night they packed up and headed to Phoenix, they are going to move into their grandmothers house who recently passed away. They were only allowed to bring one thing. Brian brought a toy solider, Lori brought The Wizard of Oz and Jeanette brought her favorite rock. Battle Mountain was the longest place that they have ever lived. To them this wasn't anything new to be on the road again, but in some ways they were going to miss Battle Mountain. 

The Owl Club is an actual bar in Battle Mountain and its a place that is referenced a lot in the book. This is were their dad would gamble and drink, and its where their parents were when Billy Deel came with the BB gun.


page 73-91 

The Next Meal

The dad lost his job. He lost it on purpose so that he could find more gold. But for a while they were very tight on money. One thing that they had to do was cut back on what they ate. To me this would be very scary. They even ran out of food. I have never experienced this, and it makes me think how fortunate I am. The only time they were able to eat is when their dad won money gambling. The kids had to find food on their own, and often having to steal it. They would sneak in for recess and take things out of other kids lunches. And when they went over to friends houses they would sneak their food. I can't imagine having to worry about where your next meal would come from.

62-73

Dads Grace

In there new town everybody was tight on money. All the kids were "scrawny", and they all played together. What was most important to them was who ran the fastest, and who's dad wasn't a wimp. To me this is a little weird, me and my friends don't really care who can run the fastest or if our dads are wimps. But these kids didn't have a lot, so they had to figure out their own ways of having fun. Jeannette's dad was the most popular. He would always come out and play with the kids, and the kids would ask, "Can your dad come out and play?" The dad cares so much about his kids, he wants them to do the best in school and he takes the time to play with them. Even though when he is drunk he becomes angry at them, they are still the most important thing to him.

I am still amazed that these kids find joy in the simplest things. Jeannette especially seems to always find something fun to do. She collects rocks, and even finds very valuable ones. Jeannette and her brother Brian like to look for treasure in the dump. They collected hazardous materials to do "experiments". Just like every kid, they are very curious. Sometimes kids curiosity gets them in trouble and in this case it did. They decided to test the flammability of the materials. They dropped matches into one of the hazardous cans and it all went bad from there. Their shack was engulfed by flames. They stood there with their dad and watched it fall to the ground. I'm not sure how my parents would react to this, but i know that they would not be happy at all. Well, their dad wasn't one bit mad. While he was explaining that zone was known as the boundary between turbulence and order he said, "It's a place where no rules apply, or at least they haven't figured 'em out yet. You-all got a little too close to it today."

58-61

Christmas Stars

My favorite part of the book so far is when the dad gave his kids starts for Christmas. They aren't able to afford Christmas gifts, so the dad took them outside to choose a start. Jeannette pick out the brightest star she could find. It happened to be Venus, but her dad told her that she could still have it. I like this part because they are able to find joy in the simplest things, like stars. Most kids want something that they can play with for Christmas, but these kids were so happy with the honor of having a star. The dad said, "Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten, you'll still have your stars."

After the mom had another baby, Maureen, they packed up and moved again. They headed out to a place called Battle Mountain in Nevada. I was shocked when they rented a U-Haul and let the kids ride in the back of it, even the baby. The trip was over fourteen hours and they were in complete darkness. One time they hit a huge pothole and the back door on the U-Haul opened. I would be terrified, but something like this wasn't as scary to them because crazy things like this happen to them all the time. Eventually they got the door shut, and made it to Battle Mountain safe. They moved into an old railroad depot. The dad got a job as an electrician in a mine. They improvised for furniture and soon it became their new home.

Things seemed to be going good for the family, and they seemed to be happy in their new home.

page 39-58