The Glass Castle: Symbols, Quotes Explained, Characters, Themes, Author Information

OLD AP QUESTION:

In some works of literature, childhood and adolescence are portrayed as times graced by innocence and a sense of wonder; in other works, they are depicted as times of tribulation and terror. Focusing on a single novel or play, explain how its representation of childhood or adolescence shapes the meaning of the work as a whole.

Historical background:
Was written in 2005. She got her inspiration from her childhood, this story was fiction.

Symbols:

Fire:

Jeanette's first encounter with fire was when she was burned whilecooking hot dogs at the age of three. Though she suffers extreme injuries, firebecomes a fixation for Jeannette, who cannot keep herself from playing with itand watching it. It is the inability to let go of this obsession with fire thathelps and hurts Jeanette. All of her problems begin with fire, butare solved with fire as well. It is as though fire is barrier, it lets Jeanettegain things, but takes away things. At the ed of the novel you realize theimportance of fire throughout the entire novel. 

Mountain Goat:

Mountain Goat is what Jeanette's father nicknamed her,due to her endurance in the face of trouble. No matter how hard the struggleis, Jeanette always overcomes it exceptional. Jeanette is the favorite child ofRex and because of it, the reader is able to distinguished a closeknit relationship with her father for Jeanette. No other child was able to havesuch a trust and love for each other like they did. Due to Jeanette' strongcharacter, she is the sibling willing to fight for her other siblingslivelihood. Although it breaks the heart of the parentsto watch their children leave, they know it must be doneand under the wing of Jeanette they expect great things. The nicknamemountain does not only help describe Jeanette as what she is on the outside,but personality wise as well. She is rough and stubborn like a mountaingoat which is why she is able to achieve so much and fightfor what she believes to be true.

Characters:

Jeanette Walls She is the narrator and maincharacter of the story. She is the one who explains the dailytroubles and happening of her life. Although her parents arequite neglectful, they have always given Jeanettethe love she deserves andso Jeanette feels obligation to mouth them as wonderfulparents. Jeanette feels no guilt , rather she feels sympathy andguilt, because she left them out there with nothing, when she couldhave helped. Jeanette is the rebel child in the family, even Lori who is theoldest respects what Jeanette has to say or follow her wishes. 

Rex Walls He is Jeannette’s alcoholicfather who manipulates and uses his wife and his children for his own needs andyet never stops loving them and hoping they love him. he is the reason why theWall's family is unable to stay in one place. His inability to keep a jobforces bis family to flee alongside with him in search of another job. Whatis interesting is that even though he is the one to make the mostmistakes, the rest of the family all follow.

Rose Mary Walls She is the selfish mother ofthe family who brings her own needs first before anyone else and is aburden to have while traveling  She may love her family, but heraction exemplify otherwise. Rose May feels the best way to run a  householdis to be able to maned around everything the way she wantsor plans it to go out. She is the type of person that thins must bedone her way or no way at all. She has a firm character, but is neglectfuland even influences her children to steal. 

Lori Walls She is the oldest child ofthe family, but isn't the one who dominates. She is smart and loving,but without Jeannette, hasn't the courage to escape the life shehates. Lori is the one who should be willing to maketough decisions for the betterment of the family, however, Jeanetteis the one who is willing to stick up for what she believes in, so she is able to give a little bit of calm mentality to ensure no angersessions and concealment of emotions at all times. 

Brian Walls He is the boy of the Wallssiblings and learns very young how to protect his sisters. He grows up to be aprotector as well when he becomes a police officer. Even though Brian is one ofthe younger siblings  he is the one that matures the fastest, due tohis experiences as a child. Witnessing the atrocities of a unstable home cancause someone to react. In the end Brian ends up beinga successful police officer and is able to fulfill hisneed to protect people.

Maureen Walls She is the most fragile ofthe children and spends all her life looking for someone to take care of her.Maureen is the siblings who is unable to succeed in life and becauseof it has to stay with her mother and father, but goes insane becauseof it and ends up in a mental hospital. She was institutionalized afterhaving stabbed her mother several times. Maureen seemed to be the child mostaffected by her childhood experiences. 

Themes:

"Boundary Between Turbulence and Order:"

Rex describes this pyshics idea to his children that there is noboundaries between turbulance and order, or if there is, no one understandthem, so they have not need to accept them. Rex explains this to them afterthey were playing with toxic waste and almost died in a fire caused by thattoxic waste. He gives them this limit to where there is no limit to what theycan do. After Rex continues to drink, this"boundary" disappears  However, at the end of the novelit reappears  fire acts a the boundary between turbulance anddisorder, a flame is able to cause destruction  but alsoable to keep order depending on where it is placed.   So in the end of thenovel, the reader realizes that fire is the control and chaos of the novel.When bad things happens, it is due to the fire, but when good thingshappen, like a fire of succession, we also give credit to fire. It is an oddidea to think of fire as a good thing. 

theimportance of individualism:

Although the parents of the Wall's siblings suffered from anunstable childhood, their parents always supported their every decision. Theparents always encourage originality and rebellion  They believedthat being different is how someone got to achieve great thingsand so became upset when their son joined the Air Force,because they believed he did not display individuality. The parentsof the Wall's could be considered all sorts of bad things, but they did havesome positive effects int he lives of Maureen  Lori, Brianand Jeanette, they wanted to ensure that their children would never end uplike they had. Individualism helps create a sense of self identity, inorder to describe yourself, you must first know who you are andindividualism helps answer this.Without individualism  everyone would think the same and bethe same which would mean no advancements in anything. Individualismis what separates those willingto achieve it all to those who do nothing in life. 

Quotes:

“I lived ina world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledgethat kept you on your toes.” (Walls 145)

The chaotic lifestyle of Jeanette caused her to find theunexpected normal. Her life was continuous chaos, so to consider somethingnew and unbearable in her life would be abnormal. She uses sarcasm to expressthat knowing that at any moment anything could happen would keep moston their toes, but not her because she was so accustomed to it in herlife. It would have to be something extremely intense for her to evenhave a second thought about what to do or how to react. The never endingfeeling of destruction was embedded into the life of Jeanette.  

“Life's too short to care about what otherpeople think. Besides, they should accept us for who we are” (Walls 95)

This quote is universal, the author intended it not to apply to her own life,but all her readers. The norms that society call "cool" or"beautiful" are completely biased opinions on what others judge in.Life is not perfect and neither are people, so imagining perfection onlycreates a need to be as teenagers call it now a days "fake" ornot yourself. The author wants to connect with her readers by adding aquote by which all people can relate too. The reason why some many peoplesuffer from psychological problems are due to the fact they aren't evensure who they are, because they never let themselves be true totheir person which in time creates an internal problem.

“Why spend the afternoon making a meal that willbe gone in an hour," she'd ask us, "when in the same amount of time,I can do a painting that will last forever?” (Walls 45)

The importance of time is displayed in this quote. Why spend valuabletime doing something that is gone in a few minutes when you could do somethingor make something meaningful worth a lifetime? The mother wants tomake life a little easier on the kids by helping them understand that food isnot the most important thing in life if they have love. The mother realizes howbad the situation is but uses this quote to lighten the mood, she could doanything else for her children that they would remembered forever, soshe felt that was more important. To spend time on useful things could helpgain success in the future. 

"Things usually work out in the end."

"What if they don't?"

" That just means you haven't come to the end yet"(Walls 259). 

This quotesillustrates hope. The ability to imagine there is no end in anythingyou set your mind to. If someone is willing to dream, they arewilling to succeed, there is no such thing as failure. Jeanette Wallsused this quote to help create a emotional connection to her audience. Ifreaders feel good about themselves when reading the book, it will helpthem throughout their lives. I believe Jeanette did not write thisquote to explain her life story, but to help explain that of many teachersconfused about the possibilities of life. Why stop a dream that is worthfighting for? o have a book relate with you not in a specific state of mindset, but a universal mindset where everyone stresses outabout the future, helps connect with the audience in a more personalmanner which helps create a close knit relationship with the book, which gainsthe attention of most readers and therefore more profit. 

 "You know, it's really not that hard to put food on thetable if that's what you decide to do" (Walls 288).

Brian uses this quote to specific antagonize his parents. He is all grown upnow and does not understand why his parents did not provide for him as wellas they should have. He believes if you really care about something, youare willing to make sure to put your entire effort into making sureit turns out perfect, but apparently his parents had other things as prioritiesover their children which deeply upsets him. Brian can't seem to graspwhy is it that to his parents theirchildren were not important  when he cannot help but neverwant to disappoint his own children. He wishes to be explained withan answer.

Author Information:

JeanetteWalls was born in Phoenix, Arizona on January 1,1960. She wasone of four siblings and during her childhood, shemoved constantly from place to place due tot he lack ofstability her father had to keep up with a  job ,considering he had adrinking problem. She moved from Nevada,San Francisco, Phoenix,   West Virginia and New York City. She never had astable home growing up and usually moved very year or so, which madeit difficult for her to maintain friendships or a closerelationship with her parents. Her dream was to move to NewYork City with her sister Lori after she graduated high school. Hesister was the first to leave and she followed, along with them, Walls broughther younger brother and sister. She attended Barnard College andgraduated with honors, which is affiliated with Columbia University and then she decided to pursue a career in English; writer and journalist.She grew up separated from her family after the age of 17 and made manymistakes in her life that include leaving her past behind. As she got older sherealized she had to accept her roots and started over her life from the trueways of her life. He best seller is The Glass Castle and in 2005, wasmade into a film by Paramount. She currently lives in Virginia and ismarried to a man by the name of John Taylor.