The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle states a real story, but it is often beyond imagination. The author uses humorous language to compose the story, and at the same time, there are so many touching things behind it. It always makes people think about the positive and negative aspects of the world, and the importance of people’s goal and dream.

The author Jeannette Walls writes the story about her real life experience. The story mainly states a story about the Walls family vagabondage around the United States to find better lives. A painter mother, an alcoholic father, and four clever children make up the walls family. The Walls family lives in a harsh life for the whole time, mostly because mother is Micawberism and father always spends money on alcohol and gambling, at the same time, he never wants to get a regular and stable job. Even though they live in a poor and hard life, they still enjoy the happiness during their vagabondage life. As they vagabondage around the country, their four children are gradually growing up. Finally, most of the children go to New York for their career, and their parents go to New York as well.

The favorite scene I like about this book is that it shows people’s real feelings in different situations. When Jeannette was hungry at the age of three, her mother did not cook for her, instead, she was drawing her painting and let her cook for herself. Subsequently, Jeannette fell down to the stairs and got burned. At that time she felt extremely fearful and helpless. Nevertheless, her parents still think it is safe for a three-year old girl to cook, they did not think the cause of Jeannette’s injury was their fault. This part of the content makes me think how helpless she would feel at that time. This detail makes me imagine, if I were Jeannette how would I react to this accident. This accident brings me into the story and feels the reality of the article.

Another scene that surprises me is that Jeannette’s mother owns lands which values million of dollars, but she still chooses to vagabondage with the people she loves. This act is pretty unusual, but at the same time it is special and meaningful. As suggested in the book that her husband is poor so they have to move frequently. All the places they live are rough, but she still feels happy and pleased about it. That’s because she does not care about the toughness of the life, but she does care about the happiness she feels with her family.

The main character impresses me a lot, mainly because of her strong mind. Jeannette was born and lived in a poor family, so her childhood life was rough. Her parents often did something, which was harmful for her, and for her future career. For example, her parents moved so frequently, so she did not have enough time to finish her elementary school, and middle school, which made Jeannette more difficult to be a journalist. In addition, when Jeannette had a job in newspaper, they did not act supportive, and interrupted her job from time to time. However, she did not give up chasing a dream, which was to be a successful journalist and went to a better class in the society. After she graduated from high school, she went to New York and through her hard working she finally became an excellent journalist.

In short, this book states a real and special story. It impressed and touched me from time to time. In my opinion, everyone who reads this book would have his or her own perspective, and feelings. I would recommend this book to others.

 

William Liu