Mountain Goat

In San Francisco, when the Walls are living in a house they rented, Jeannette is having trouble going to sleep because she is scared of a monster that might be under her bed. While helping her “monster hunt”, Rex calls her mountain goat, and this shows us that Jeannette just might be his favourite child since he only gave her a nickname and not the rest of the kids. The nickname symbolizes Jeannette’s endurance in the face of trouble; like a mountain goat, she is good at climbing mountains without losing her footing. She has the motivation to keep going and never give up.

Reality Comes with Responsibility.

One major theme in The Glass Castle is that in life, reality comes with responsibility and fantasy comes with no responsibility therefore one must be realistic in order to have a stable life. The picture of the car speeding down the road resembles Rex speeding because he thinks he is running away from the FBI, when in reality he is just running away from federal tax collectors. Rex has a tendency to block out reality, and live in fantasy because he thinks it is more adventurous and it just makes life more interesting. And since Rosemary is quite immature, she doesn't think of stopping him, instead she just goes along with it and decides to have fun with it.

Rose Mary Walls

Rose Mary is a free spirit, who also values self-sufficiency. She believes that people have the power to make their lives whatever they want it to be. Rose Mary is an artist and spends much of her spare time painting or sketching. She went to college to be a teacher, but resents teaching because she sees it as an indication that she is not a talented artist and feels that her mother pushed her into teaching. Rose Mary sometimes resents her children because she sees them as a blockage between her and her dream of being a famous artist, while also cherishing them for their companionship, particularly Lori, who shares her

 interest in art. Overall Rose Mary is a strange and

 confusing character in the Glass Castle.

Not so Normal Christmas

Jeannette and her siblings grow up without the childhood magic of believing in Santa Claus, with both parents telling them that the stories are foolish to make up for the fact that they cannot afford to buy their children gifts. Instead, each year, the Walls family waits to have Christmas a week after December 25, scavenging Christmas decorations from the garbage and getting cheap/broken leftover toys on sale in stores. The year Jeannette is five, Rex loses his job at the town’s gypsum mine, so instead of store-bought presents, he takes each child separately out to the desert at night where they look at the stars and Rex tell them to choose one as their own. Jeannette selects Venus, after Rex explains that it’s not a star, she still wants it, and so she ends up with a planet instead.

Forgiveness

 I believe forgiveness is the most important theme. Throughout the unfolding of The Glass Castle, each character must come to grips with the concept of forgiving each other. Rose Mary and Rex neglect their children in so many ways and should be punished, but the kids always forgive them and they never get in trouble for their actions. Rose Mary forgives Rex when he cheats on and abuses her, but because he never gets punished he will continue to do what he pleases. As forgiveness is usually a good thing to do it also seems to be what will eventually ruin the family. No person (not even a member of the Walls family) can mentally handle being hurt repeatedly by the same person forever.

The Owl Club.

" The Owl Club had a bar where groups of men with sunburned necks huddled together over beers and cigarettes. They all knew dad." I chose The Owl Club because it reminded me of a diner we used to go to when we lived in Dundalk. I was a large room with about 15 tables, and a long counter where people placed their orders.The food was amazing, the burgers were thick and juicy, the steaks cooked the way you wanted, and their breakfasts were perfect. If you went into the washrooms you would usually find a small group of scantly clad women smoking cigarettes. My dad usually wouldn't allow me into those washrooms unless it was an emergency. I recently found in a newspaper that they place had been shut down due to "health and safety risks".

Joshua Tree

A Joshua tree

"I thought the Joshua tree was ugly. It looked scraggly and freakish, permanently stuck in its twisted, tortured position, and it made me think of how some adults tell you not to make weird faces because your features could freeze. Mom, however, thought it was one of the most beautiful trees she had ever seen." Page35. I remembered the Joshua tree because I have seen one before. When I was young my grandmother took to me a garden to see unique plants from all over the world. The Joshua tree or yucca brevifolia was there, I remember it had to be in a special dry room, and we were told the tree was blasted by a strong fan for 24 hours to make it look you would see in the desert.