Week 5: Post 1

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

pg 197-220

Summary:
This section of the book starts off with Mrs. Walls becoming a teacher in Davy (a town just north of Welch). She was one of the only legit qualified teachers in the area. She taught reading in the elementary students. Jeannette shares her memories of going to the bank on her mom's paydays. Jeannette becomes concerned about her orthedontia and the look of her teeth. She takes a trip to the library to check out a book about orthedontia. Jeanette attempts to make her own set of braces. She uses a wire hanger and rubber band to close the gap in her teeth while she sleeps at night. Also Jeannette starts working at her school newspaper, The Maroon Wave. Miss Bivins was one of the teachers that ran the school newspaper and was also one of Rex's favorite teachers from when he was a student at the school aswell. Rex's cigarette and alcohol addiction gets worse and he is lowering down to asking his children for money to buy cigarettes and booze. Jeannette goes to a bar and meets Robbie. Jeannette and Robbie dance for a while and develope some chemistry. Robbie told Jeanette he had an apartment above the bar and invited her to come up. She knew he was a creep and decided to leave with her father who had won some money at the bar. Rex disappeared for a while after that incident. He came back a later and invited Jeanette to go to a bar with him but she said no. Jeannette had a fetish with getting a watch. Mr. Becker was the owner of a jewelry store. Jeannette visited him often and knew that she would never be able to afford anything so she resorted to stealing. She felt so horrible that she felt she had to return it to the store but without anyone noticing.

Reaction:
I think this story so far has been like really entertaining and super fun to read. Its totally thrilling to watch Jeannette grow up into such a lovely young woman. She has so many qualities that are so great. I think that this story is still kind of boring at points because sometimes it’s like ‘BAM!’ exciting but sometimes its out of this world boring and I fall asleep, but right when you least expect it the story flips and it gets entertaining. As I indulge myself further into deeper analysis of this memoir I come believe that it is more a story of personal relationships and understanding of life’s deepest hardships. Jeannette has suffered so much and gone through so many tough obstacles in her life that I admire he strong personality for dealing with such issues. She is so brave to bear with her alcoholic father and be there for him even though it is not mutual he is not always there for her. This book is difficult for me to read occasionally because it is real and I can relate to Jeanette is so many ways and it’s hard to believe that she went though so many hard times. I predict that Jeannette will become frustrated with her father and leave him and go on to college on scholarship.