The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle
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The Glass Castle
Part 1: A Woman on the Street
Jeannette Walls commences her memoir with a scene from adulthood. While in contemporary New York City, Jeannette is riding a cab. She looks out of the window and sees her mother dumpster diving. It has been some time since Jeannette saw the mother. The reality of what has transpired for the woman who raised her strikes, Jeannette. She is torn between a mother who once played with her and read Shakespeare stories and the current reality where the same mother is homeless and survives by rooting through a dumpster. Ashamed to be identified with the mother, Jeannette ducks down the seat so that no one can recognize her. She tells the taxi driver to take her to Avenue Park. Jeannette feels a sense of hate towards her possessions and decides to do something (Walls, 2017). Jeannette gathers courage and invites her mother over for lunch at a Chinese restaurant despite the shame.
Jeannette tells the mother that she saw her picking through the trash in the meeting. The mother responds that individuals are wasteful, and her actions amounted to recycling. Jeannette asks the mother if she needs any assistance. The mother is shocked at the daughter's generosity and insists that she does not need help, only requesting electrolysis treatment. Jeannette openly admits that she is ashamed of the mother, which irritates the mom, who terms her values as "confused" (Walls, 2017). The mother maintains that Jeannette requires assistance because of such values. Jeannette wonders how she can deal with the guilt that her parents live a disapproving lifestyle. Instead of Jeannette being ashamed of her past and hiding it, the mother insists that she should instead accept reality.
Part 2: The Desert
Jeannette now goes back to her earliest memory. As a three-year-old, she would cook hot dogs on the stovetop. While cooking, the flames caught her dress and burned her torso one day. Desperate for help, Jeannette calls for help. The mother rushes to her rescue, wrapping Jeannette with a blanket. With the help of a neighbor, the mother rushes Jeannette to the hospital. At the hospital, Jeannette is happy to be in a new environment. Unlike in the home, she can have three meals a day. Jeannette gets the opportunity to watch cartoons via the TV at the ward. The nurses are concerned about the home environment (Walls, 2017). They are surprised to discover that a three-year-old can be allowed to cook hot dogs. The father is not happy that the daughter is in the hospital. One day, he comes to visit and narrates how Lori got stung by a scorpion and how he got healing from a Native American healer. Because of the father's distrust of hospitals, he sneaks Jeannette out of the hospital, leaving behind a huge unpaid bill.
After a few months, Jeannette's father tells the family to pack in the middle of the night for a journey to "Wherever [they] end up" (Walls, 2017). The journey takes them to the desert, where the father claims that FBI agents cannot find them. However, the mother indicates that their pilgrimage is to avoid debt collectors. While in the desert towns, the father does not keep jobs for a long time. The math and engineering generous i...