Alex Montvilas
Mrs. Stoynoff
English Composition I
October 1st, 2012
Glass Castle Summary
Pages 164-213
Summary:
In the beginning of the section, Jeanette had been living in Welch, West Virginia for a bit and
had moved out of Erma and Grandpa’s house and into their own home on 93 Little Hobart Street. Life
was a lot different in Welch then in Battle Mountain and Phoenix. In Welch, most of the time the kids
were being made fun of by other kids and their teachers, getting into fights, being dirty most of the time
and having little to no food. To preserve some of the sense of home that they had back in Phoenix, the
kids and Rose Mary started to spend time reading again during the summer. Some of the books that
they enjoyed were Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Flies, and The Grapes of Wraith.
Despite the togetherness that Rose Mary and the kids tried to share, Rex was constantly absent
during this time. While in Welch, Rex had gotten a job at the local mine there but was quickly fired after
only a few months. His excuse was that the United Miner’s Union was corrupt and run by the mob,
which had been the supposed reason why they left Phoenix in the first place. Because of this, Rex spent
most of his time doing “research” on the local corruption, which entailed hanging out at all the mob run
bars. Due to his “research” Rex ends up coming home most of the time drunk, and once even came
home gashed and bloody after a fight.
Throughout the section, it takes Jeanette and the rest of her siblings a while to get use to life in
Welch. Realizing as she grew older that her parents were not helpful, Jeanette started to become more
self-reliant. She and Brian started picking up coal along the street for their coal stove, she ate kid’s
uneaten lunch from the trash, and even suggested to her mom to leave Rex so they had more money for
food. Despite the change, Jeanette still had a strong connection with Rex. Typically, she was the one
who helped clean up after his drunken fights and was usually tasked with finding him after he had
vanished for a few days. Towards the end of the section, Jeanette and her dad were together at a bar
when a man gave Rex some money and took Jeanette upstairs with him. Jeanette follows him upstairs to
a tiny room. There the man tries to throw himself on her and rape her. Jeanette eventually fights him
off and gets away, with an immense hatred towards her dad. Rex tries to insure her that nothing bad
would have happened to her, but she simply ignores him on their way back to Little Hobart Street.
Themes:
Perseverance- Throughout this section, Jeanette and her family go through some of their worst
times by surviving a harsh winter without electricity, heat or insulation. They also have to deal with not
being able to wash or having barely any food to eat more then they are use to dealing with. I think
these, and the individual experiences of the kids, whether it was a fight or sexual abuse, take an
immense amount of perseverance to live through.
Togetherness- Despite the decline of the parent’s involvement in the kids’ life, Jeanette and her
siblings still stick together and try to protect each other through thick and thin. Some examples include
during the fight on Little Hobart Street and Jeanette going with Brian to pick up coal on the side of the
road for the stove.
Addiction- Addiction is a major theme throughout not just this section, but the entire novel.
Rex’s alcoholism seems to hit an all-time high while they are at Welch. Though, the mom’s own
addictions begin to have light shed on them during this time. In this section of the novel, it’s apparent
just how addicted she was to being selfish. Several times throughout this section, she shows how she is
starting to only care about herself. Some examples include when she hid the chocolate bar from the kids
when they were starving, when she would rather do her art projects instead of take care of the kids and
also how she won’t leave Rex because that’s all she knows even though it would benefit her family
immensely.
Composition Concepts:
Voice- In the beginning of the section, Jeanette seems to be more naïve about her parent’s
actions. As it progresses, she seems to be a lot more self-assured and willing to even give up her Dad just
so her and her siblings can have a better life.
Organizational Strategy- In this section of the novel, Jeanette details things as they happened
from season to season. First she discusses the first winter they had in Welch, followed by the summer,
and ending back to the next winter.
Language Choices- This section of the novel has several aspects of really good language choice.
First, the author does a fantastic job describing when she had to sew up her dad’s arm after a bar fight
by describing it as sewing up a piece of meat. Another fantastic choice of words was when the Jeanette
detailed how the principle at Welch talked, describing how she couldn’t understand his accent and how
Rose Mary had to translate all his questions to her and Brian.