 Rated
one of the Top 10 Books of this decade
 Beginning discussion
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What responsibilities do parents have toward
their children?
What obligations o children have in a family?
What differences do you see in how families
operate?
Which things should children NOT have to do in a
family?
 Simon
& Shuster Author video:
 Here (3:00)
 What do you expect from this type of book,
given its description?
 Recent,
1950-today
 Characteristics:
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Diversity—people, places
Changing values—technology, family, materialism
Themes:
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Identity—Jeannette trying to understand herself
Truth—Jeannette trying to understand her dad
Success—What makes a person happy? How does
success of individuals affect humanity?
Family—What is it?
 In
the preface:
Dark is a way and light is a place,
Heaven that never was
Nor will be ever is always true
Dylan Thomas, “Poem on His Birthday”

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In a reflective essay, examine what this
poem means to you in terms of family
relationships and functionality.
Completion credit—graded on depth of
thought ONLY, 20 points
The places they’ve seen
1.
pp. 1-5: Recent past, New York City
2.
pp. 9-14: 3 years old, trailer home in southern Arizona
3.
pp. 15-16: Days after leaving hospital
4.
pp. 17-18: Leaving the trailer park to go “Wherever we
end up” (18)
5.
pp. 19-25: In the desert (except p. 20 when they go to
Phoenix, AZ to stay with Grandma Smith)
6.
Pp. 26-28: On the move, still in the desert
7.
pp. 29-31: Jeannette is 4, in a car outside a bar in the
Nevada desert
8.
Pp. 32-24: Motel room in Las Vegas, then Tenderloin
Wharf in S.F. in a “flophouse”, beach in S.F.
9.
pp. 35-38: Mojave Desert to a rental home in Midland
10. Pp. 39-41: Still in Midland, Mojave Desert

Struggles with Walls’ identity in present—
materialism
 In her apartment there was…”turn-of-thecentury bronze-and-silver vases…old books with
worn leather spines…Georgian maps…Persian
rugs…leather armchair.” She turned her
apartment into “the sort of place where the
person [she] wanted to be would live.” (4)
 “ashamed of myself for wearing pearls and living
on Park Avenue while my parents were busy
keeping warm and finding something to eat” (4)
 Mom & values: Mom tells her, “You’re way too
easily embarrassed. Your father and I are who
we are. Accept it.” (5)
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 Mom?
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Constantly optimistic
Artistic, not very maternal
 Dad?
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Intelligent alcoholic
 Do
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they care about their children?
Yes?
No?
 How
does she develop the satirical tone?
Find passages and explain exactly how the
words interact to make it satirical.
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Childlike innocence to her writing quality
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Ex. “What do your lizards eat?” I asked. (65)
Ex. “Mom said it was a cathouse, but I never saw any
cats there” (62)
In moments of discomfort, she finds a redeeming
quality in her parents..
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Ex. Mom doesn’t cook, but when she does, it is a
family affair of counting and separating beans (56)
Ex. When Dad is finished hanging Mom out the window,
there’s a moment of calmness with “Everything’s okay
now” (72)
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Though she is pointed in telling us about the
moments of neglect, she finds redemption as
well
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Ex. U-Haul incident. Dad looks “maybe even more
scared than angry” (50)
Kids are eating margarine, which drives Mom to get a
job teaching
What comes across as sarcasm to us (b/c we’re
older), is truth to a child
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Ex. “Lori, Brian, Maureen, and I were in for a treat:
We got to ride in the back [of the U-Haul]”
 Pp.
42-47: Blythe
 48-72: Battle Mountain
 Kinds
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of homes…
Car
LBJ Apartments—Hispanic migrant workers
Rental houses, apartments
Old, converted train depot
 Look
at “Children should not…” list. Which
of these ideas is violated in the text?
 What can you determine about Jeannette as
an adult based on this?
 How
is Jeannette’s relationship with her dad?
What information does she give us that allow
us to see her dad as she saw him as a child
(vs. how the rest of the world might have
seen him)?
 What
does Jeannette think about school? If
she were a student here, how would she be
perceived by other students? By teachers?

Evaluative question—Do you think a student like
Jeannette would have the same ability and
opportunities to go to college as other students?
 Make
an argument—Does Jeannette receive a
good education from her parents? Is she a
well-rounded student?
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Evaluative question—Do you think homeschooling
in contemporary America is a good alternative to
public schools?
 Mom’s
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parenting style—What is it?
Expects kids to use “common sense”
Evaluative question—do you think this is a good
way to raise children? Why or why not?
 Describe
the train depot where they live in
Battle Mountain.
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Do you think this is an appropriate home for
children?
How does Jeannette relay to us that her house
was out of the ordinary even for her area?
 What
were you thinking as you read the
account about the kids eating margarine?
How did you feel for them?
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Why would Jeannette choose to tell us this
memory?
 We
have all seen our parents fight…what
makes the fight between Jeannette’s mom
and dad at the end of the reading different
than the fights we have seen?
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Why does she choose to tell us this?
 Memoir
= person reflecting on lessons
learned to develop as a person
 Lessons Jeannette has learned & how she has
learned them
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Things she wants to do/be as adult
Things she does not want to do/be
Intellectual
Lessons she’s learned through her own
failures/mistakes
 American
values (different types)
 Contemporary America
 Jeannette’s
most impressionable years
(Teenager)
 Change in tone in Welch, West Virginia
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Can’t find redeeming qualities (Fishing in The
Tug, Only sees the negatives in Welch, Special Ed
classes, Erma, 93 Little Hobart, her own dad &
the Glass Castle)
Noticing her poverty more (lack of buttons on her
coat, “We were also always dirty” p. 140—
They’ve always been dirty, 93 Little Hobart &
trying to paint it, dumping trash in Glass Castle
foundation)
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Increasing materialism (missing home in Phoenix,
painting the house— “we now had a weirdlooking half-finished patch job—one that
announced to the world that the people inside
the house wanted to fix it up but lacked the
gumption to get the work done” p. 158)
Paying more attention to how others view them
and the way they are perceived
Relationship with father is changing—filling in the
GC hole with trash is symbolic, growing up and
seeing her father for who he is
“Children begin by loving their parents. After a time they
judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.”

Oscar Wilde
 Ginnie
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160— “I’d long since figured out what they did
[at the Green Lantern]” reminds us of age
Judgmental?
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Sue Pastor
“But now I’d get an up-close look at a genuine
prostitute” (161)
“I made the days we had spent there seem like
years, and the showgirls I’d seen from a distance
seem like close friends and neighbors” (162)—
What is she (adult Jeannette) implying about her
memoir?
Change in tone by end? What does Jeannette
want us to think about prostitutes?
 Her
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“maybe I wasn’t a complete fool for believing in
mine. Or trying to believe in him. It was getting
harder.” (169)
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dad…
Thoughts? What should she do? What would you do?
What do you recommend?
“For the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big
plans…I meant it as a compliment” (183)
 What might this mean for Jeannette’s relationship
with him?
Erma’s death (180)—Why do you think it affects
him?
 Jeannette’s
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Psyche…
Staying in the bathroom during lunch (173)
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How do you feel for/about her? Can you relate? If the
other kids knew, what would they do? What should
they do?
 Jeannette’s
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Mom
Stealing chocolate (174)
What do you think? Should the kids forgive her
like they do their father? If they don’t, what
does that imply? Why would Rose Mary use this
as her excuse?
“Just remember…what doesn’t kill you will make
you stronger” (179) to Lori
What do you think?
 Ok….
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Homes like this exist. Families like this exist.
What can children in homes like this do???
What can people who knows homes like this exist
do…?
 Defining
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What are some of the life-altering defining
moments for Jeannette in this section?
Children’s Services (193)
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She can’t just leave her family
The summer she becomes “mom”
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moments
Learns what her mom has dealt with
Being totally responsible for the welfare of siblings
Her dad gives her a lot of credit (dealing w/drunk
man)
No sympathy for mom
Jeannette Bivens
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Instills a love of journalism
Gives Jeannette a way to connect to others
 Defining
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Bivens, continued
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Finding out the whole story for the first time
Her mom
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moments, continued
Standing up to her for not working (219)
Telling her she’s a bad mom
Defiance
Says dad needed a strong woman, Mom is not strong
woman…true?
Her dad
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Spanks her…breaks her faith in him. Why?
Steals the escape money. Result?