The Glass Castle Response #3

“I hate Erma,” I told Mom… “You have to show compassion for her…” She added that you should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. “Everyone has something good about them,” she said. “You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.” “Oh yeah?” I said. “How about Hitler? What was his redeeming quality?” “Hitler loved dogs,” Mom said without hesitation.”

-Jeannette Walls (pg. 144)

The quote above shows how Jeannette’s mom is trying to teach her that channeling anger or hate towards people does no good. Rather you must “come to terms with the need for compromise and empathy in situations”.

In the last few chapters of this section, Jeanette is introduced to extended family on her dad’s side including her grandmother, grandfather and uncle. Meeting her grandma for the first time was a very pivotal moment in her childhood because for the first time she is confronted with racism. Jeannette being the innocent ten year old that she is, believes that all people are equal. In fact she even expresses her disapproval towards her grumpy old grandma for being racist and using the “N word”, almost resulting in being kicked out of her house. I believe that experience such as this one where Jeannette must stand up for what she believes will eventually allow her to start thinking for herself and not allow herself to be brainwashed by whatever her parents or other people tell her.

Meeting her father’s family also provided a whole lot of background about her dads character. I could clearly recognize from how grumpy and rude his mom is, that he was probably abused either verbally or physically as a child. Which is probably why he shows his children so much love, but also why he snaps sometimes going on rampages like a tornado. I could also see why he drinks a whole bunch, because it was a bad habit picked up from his drunk parents.

Jeannette is also bullied during this section. She recently moved in with her grandparents and is now attending school in a poverty struck town. Teachers and kids pick on her for being gifted and for being from Phoenix. Being from a big city automatically made them believe that Jeannette thought she was better than everyone else. Not true. They call her ugly, poor, dirty and the list goes on. This is merely a learning experience for Jeannette though. She usually makes the best out of every situation and this time she ends up overcoming this big obstacle and becomes “friends” with the “baddest bully of the school”, a girl named Dinitia.