This is the question I am choosing to answer.
Though it portrays an incredibly hard scrabble life, The Glass Castle is never sad or depressing. How do you think that the author achieved that effect?
I am going to answer this in the best way I know how and the way I perceived the book to come across to me.
The book never seemed sad or depressing mostly because Jeannette doesn't ever get sad or depressed. She was taught her whole life (that we can see from age 3) to get over things and move on. Emotion is mostly taught to children. They get hurt and we run to them, they cry and we comfort them, etc. Her parents didn't "teach" her to have those types of emotions. Well, when it was convenient for them. Obviously she was on her own early on if she was cooking at a stove at age 3. I can't picture any of my children ever even having the comprehension to do something like that, even if they were starving.
She was sexually abused on at least 2 occasions and watched her brother be sexually abused, yet it never registered to her that these acts were something that could have damaged her forever because she had no people that cared about the abuse. I think she knew that they were wrong--yet no one cared enough to help her through them, so she taught herself to tuck it away in her memory. We would feel sad for her if she ever talked about later how that may have affected her. The fact that she never brings them up again is one way we the reader don't get too sad about it.
I did cry in this book--for many reasons. I felt sad and depressed for her at times, but most of all I marvel at the way she got through these events in her life and decided to not let them destroy her. This type of childhood could very easily destroy someone.
One last thing--about the parents.
I would do the same thing she did with her parents. I have no sympathy for people that "choose" to live a certain way. They made their bed, let them lay in it. Her mother can choose to be in her life or not--but if I were Jeannette, I would just keep on living my life the best I could and remember that she got out to save her life and good for her!
3 comments:
I can relate to the crying. I did too. I was sad about everything that happened to her, Brian, Lori, and Maureen - but I was amazed at how the older 3 made it through with flying colors.
It must have been a hard job for her to get to the point where she could express her emotions. Being married to John, and the bits of detail we get, he must be her perfect match. It seems like he allows her to be the way she is while pushing her to accept it and deal with it instead of just living past it. I don't know if that makes any sense - but it does in my head:)
What a clear answer to the question! It really didn't occur to me that SHE never got sad or depressed. I mean she did, but before we knew it it was done and over and she was focused on the next thing.
I didn't cry, mostly because I had to tell myself NOT to. (Sometimes that'll set me off... haha I'll cry about the walls being pink instead of red if I'm not careful!) It was easy for me to tell myself not to cry long enough until I reached the next silly or sarcastic moment.
Also -- on what Melissa said about the older three making it through with flying colors -- I think the first few years of their lives, they just had family and it was all they new. It wasn't until they reached school-age when they recognized that the people around them were not going to just easily accept them they way they accepted each other. Maureen, however, was born right about that time -- so she didn't get those first few years of happy-family-solitude. I think that's the only difference I can come up w/. Oh, and that she left home at age 12 instead of 17, and her parent's LET her leave. Whew.
I can tell that you are a really strong person from the answers you gave. I admire that quality. You recognized the strength and her ability to overcome more than the sadness (not that you didn't recoginize that too) and that goes to show that you are a lot like Jeannette in the way she just gets through things. I think at least - and I don't know you very well - but still.
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