Outside Reading-Week 4, Post A

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

Vocab

Berth (204): The distance maintained between a vessel and the shore, another vessel, or any object.

Pokeweed (172): A tall herb, Phytolacca americana, of North America, having juicy purple berries and a purple root used in medicine, and young edible shoots resembling asparagus.

Appeals

1. “The flames had scorched her thighs” (179). This is an emotional appeal because “scorched” is a loaded word. It makes you feel Lori’s pain and know just how horrible the burns were. It doesn’t just say burned, it says scorched emphasizing that it was probably a third degree burn.
2. “So even though she had a steady job, we were pretty much living like we had before.” (198) This is an emotional appeal because you feel anger towards the mom as she wonder what she could possibly be spending money on while her kids are nearly freezing and starving to death.
3. “I had never hated anyone more than I hated the child welfare man” (194). This is an emotional appeal because it really makes you think about why Jeannette would hate someone so much after they just wanted to help her. It shows how much she loves her parents, no matter how much they have hurt her. Hate is such a strong word; you think she would hate her parents, and all the people who have assaulted or hurt her.

Quote

“‘A caryatid wouldn’t be strong enough for Dad’
‘What’s that?’
‘Pillars shaped like women,’ Lori said. ‘The ones holding up those Greek temples with their heads. I was looking at picture of some the other day, thinking, Those women have the second toughest job in the world.’” (pg 208)

When I read this quote, I really liked it. It made me think about if that was the second toughest job, what is the first? I think this is Lori’s way of describing how tough her mom’s job is. I think that this is saying that her mom has the first hardest job, which is taking care of dad, the town alcoholic, while trying to keep a job and take care of her kids. Though I do agree that this would be an extremely hard job, and I may not be able to do it, I think that she is doing a horrible job. I believe that she is barely even trying. Lastly even though she is doing a bad job at this, her kids still love her and believe in her which is important too.

Theme

I think that a theme in the book is to take pride in what you have, and not be discouraged by what you don’t. Jeannette is not brought down by her shabby house, and even tries to fix it by cleaning and painting. Also Jeannette and Brian stand up to the kids bullying them about how wrecked up their house is.