Margret’s Reviews > The Glass Castle > Status Update

One theme is that religion takes over people. Jeanette's mother wants to leave her husband but will not, due to her religion. "'I can't leave your father,' she said. 'It's against the Catholic faith.' Then she sighed,"(1880.

I think the Walls children are starting to finally understand how poor they are. One theme of this section is don't take what you have for granted. Referring to their new home, Jeannette said "the house was a dinky thing" (150). Her mother explained to Jeannette and her siblings that they should "'count your blessings,' Mom said. 'There are people in Ethiopia who would kill for a place like this.'" (151).

"Sometimes the river flooded and the water rose as high as the treetops," (130). I think this quote shows a simile. I think so because it's comparing two things (water and treetops) using the word "like". This is the part where the Walls children visit their father's parents and they realize that instead of having a sewage system,after someone does their business in the bathroom, it goes to this river.

Lori's mother is a bad influence on all of the Walls kids. "Mom decided Maureen needed to enroll in preschool, but she said she didn't want her youngest daughter dressed in the thrift-store clothes the rest of us wore. Mom told us we would have to go shoplifting," (111).

Rex Walls is a bad influence on his daughter, Jeanette. "We climbed under the chain fence and knelt around Dad while he petted the cheetah. By then a few people had begun to gather. One man was calling to us to get behind the chain fence. We ignored him," (108).

In my opinion, I think Rex and Rose Mary Walls should have been more honest to the fact that Rose Mary's mom is dead. Jeannette had been "looking forward to eating Cream of Wheat and having her comb my hair and cuss, all along she's be dead, (92).

Jeanette needs to be careful around boys. A guy who liked her "stuck his tongue in my mouth. It was slimy and disgusting, but when I tried to pull away, he pushed in toward me," (86).

I feel bad for Brian, being such a young child with his parents barely being able to put food on the table. Rex is so ignorant and he won't find a real job so that he can give his kids money of his own. I don't think Brian should have to deal with that. "none of us kids got allowances. When we wanted money, we walked along the roadside picking up beer cans and bottles that we redeemed for two cents each," (62),