Early on in The Glass Castle I’m finding inklings of a few recurring themes/ideas. Home, obviously, in the story about the girl who grows up in what she describes as a “nomadic” family. But also maybe of ownership, possessions, maybe broken things. Jeannette’s mother at one point refers to her digging in the trash as her way of recycling, and something about that idea of discarded items echoes in my head at the moment Jeannette leaves behind her melted Tinker Bell doll and hopes someone will find her. One bit of (unintentional?) irony that stands out to me is three-year-old Jeannette, who would grow up seemingly to be raised in poverty, saying she would happy in the hospital forever because “You never had to worry about running out of stuff like food or ice or even chewing gum.”
Jeannette’s upbringing is already setting a fluctuating foundation for what home could mean to her. As a child she moves place to place quite frequently, so the only constants for her are her parents and siblings, despite the odd relationship she has with her parents, one where she seems to know better as a child than the adults who are raising her.
Her father fights with a doctor about how to best care for his daughter and lashes out in a fit of rage, but when he comes again later to take Jeannette, she doesn’t show any hesitation or reluctance to go with him. She remarks on his scent of whiskey and cigarette smoke, that it reminds her of home.
In the opening glimpse we get at Jeannette’s life as an adult, she’s still living in proximity to her parents, now vagabonds apparently, roaming New York City. She lives in apartment but never refers to it as her home, and in fact explicitly says she tried to make a home there but can’t enjoy it without worrying about her parents on the streets. It seems to me like Jeannette’s home seems to be where the important people in her life are.
I completely agree that her sense of home is tied to the relationships she has with the important people in her life, and how through trial and adversity she can continue to trust and love them. I was wondering about where/what her sense of home was when she was able to move out to New York and get her own place with her then-husband. Are the relationships with her struggling parents still what’s most important to her?
Some good insight into Jeannette’s life despite just being the first part of the book. In fact, I think this post is particularly interesting because it’s the first part. To look back onto the beginning of the book with the knowledge of the entire thing is interesting, and it’s even more mesmerizing to look back at our initial thoughts.
Your moment of 3 year old Jeannette enjoying the hospital is a great moment, and I definitely missed out on its significance the first time through. That hospital is exactly the opposite of everything Jeannette would get – a safe place where things were regular. And sadly, that’s what she enjoyed most of all.
I would have to agree that Jeannette considers home where her family is, but it’s a hard question to ponder. Does she ever really have a home? Does she have a choice in choosing a “home” based on family, or is that her only real option? It’s hard to separate these abstract ideas about home to come up with any kind of answer, but there’s some insight that can be gathered through trying to piece it all together.
I agree with your view regarding Jeannette Walls’ concept of home and that her sense of home tends to be more relational. The description of the hospital scene revealed great insight into Walls’ struggle of family and desirable aspects of home. If Jeannetre’s sense of home is with her family, why did she decide to find a new home in New York?