While reading the book The Glass Castle, I tried to focus on how our author, Jeannette Walls’ tone changed throughout the book. I thought that it was very interesting to read and I really enjoyed it because the memoir was very visual, making it easier for me to follow.
I noticed that Jeannette’s tone changed towards her father the most throughout the book. Even though he wasn’t the best father to his kids, she looked up to him a lot as a little girl, he was her hero. She talked about wanting to go on more ‘adventures’ and how she wanted to live the way they were living forever. But as she was growing up she began to realize that that wasn’t the way other people lived and she needed to make a change. As soon as she realizes this, her tone changes from a young, adventure-hungry girl to gloomy and sad. She understood that her family was in poverty, they were always hungry and looking for work. I think a big part of her realizing this was the fact that her dad began to drink more and more, affecting the way her parented his children.
In my opinion, Jeannette’s tone towards her mom stays pretty constant throughout the memoir. The book opens with present-day Jeannette looking out of her window and seeing her mother but being too ashamed to say anything. She always understood that her mom didn’t want to take on all the work of raising a family. They didn’t end up having the normal mother/daughter relationship that is portrayed everywhere today.
In conclusion, I think that this book did a great job of teaching people about poverty and family dysfunction. I noticed that Jeannette’s tone changed at the same time she matured, also making this a ‘coming of age’ story.
February 22, 2018 at 7:25 pm
I really enjoyed how you discussed tones within your blog post regarding the parents in The Glass Castle. I agree with both of your assumptions. Do you believe that as a little girl, and as many of us too, we tend to feel the same about our parents even though our childhood experience may have been completely different? For me personally, I thought my dad was my hero as well when I was younger, and then when I got older I started to fade away from that and found myself closer to my mom when it came to guidance. Especially for girls, I feel that something about the concept of “Daddy’s Little girl” can be true in that retrospect. What do you believe?
-Amanda
March 6, 2018 at 7:35 am
I agree that Jeannette’s tone altered with her father throughout the memoir and how she began to become depressed with her living standards and her desire to gain a new lifestyle. I like how you included an image of the novel to prove visuals into the blog post.
March 19, 2018 at 9:29 pm
I really enjoyed your analysis of The Glass Castle and I have to agree with a lot of what you said in your post. I think Jeannette’s tone really does change quite dramatically as she ages into a young woman and begins to realize that her family is not “typical” and instead is quite dysfunctional and troubled. I also think the book did a good job of visually describing Jeannette’s family situation, and through Walls’ use of pathos it allowed me (and I think most other readers would agree) to connect to what she was saying and trying to communicate on a deeper level; her writing style makes the reader empathetical.
February 6, 2019 at 10:52 pm
I agree with you on how this memoir was very visual. It basically took you with wherever Jeannette went. Her tone really did change as she realized the effects as she grew older.