Flashcards for The Glass Castle

Billy Deel

Billy Deel is a minor yet significant antagonist in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, appearing during the family's tumultuous time in Midland, Texas.

character

Brian Walls

Brian Walls is the second-youngest of the four Walls children and Jeannette's closest childhood friend in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle.

character

David (Jeannette's Husband)

David (mentioned by his first name in the memoir, though Jeannette Walls later publicly identified him as David Finkel) is Jeannette's first husband in The Glass Castle.

character

Dinitia Hewitt

Dinitia Hewitt is a Black girl from Welch, West Virginia, who represents one of Jeannette Walls's few authentic childhood friendships and serves as a lens for exploring race, class, and social boundaries in a heavily segregated Appalachian town.

character

Erma Walls

Erma Walls is Rex's mother and the paternal grandmother of the Walls children, who are introduced when the family moves to Welch, West Virginia, to live in her cramped, rundown home.

character

Grandma Smith

Grandma Smith is Rose Mary Walls's mother and plays a minor yet symbolically important role in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle.

character

Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls narrates and embodies the journey in The Glass Castle, a memoir that explores her tumultuous childhood with nomadic and neglectful parents, leading to her resilient emergence into adulthood.

character

John Walls (Uncle John)

Uncle John is Rex Walls's younger brother and one of the few extended family members featured in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle.

character

Lori Walls

Lori Walls is the oldest of the four Walls children in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle.

character

Maureen Walls

Maureen Walls is the youngest of the four Walls children in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, and her story is arguably the most tragic among the siblings.

character

Rex Walls

Rex Walls is the captivating, intelligent, and deeply self-destructive father of the Walls family in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle.

character

Rose Mary Walls

Rose Mary Walls is Jeannette's mother and one of the memoir's most complex and frustrating characters.

character

“We were always doing the skedaddle.”

This line is spoken by Jeannette Walls, the narrator and author of The Glass Castle (2005), a memoir about her unconventional and often chaotic childhood.

Jeannette Walls (narrator) · Part Two: The Desert

“Have I ever let you down? The question was so ludicrous that I almost laughed.”

This line appears in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle (2005), spoken by her father, Rex Walls, to Jeannette herself.

Rex Walls (with Jeannette Walls narrating)

“Things usually work out in the end. What if they don't? Well, you just have to look at them from a different angle.”

This quote comes from Rex Walls, the charming yet deeply flawed father in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle (2005).

Rex Walls

“The most important thing in life is to be able to look back and know you did your best.”

This quote comes from Rex Walls, the charming yet deeply flawed father in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle (2005).

Rex Walls

“I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.”

This quote is from Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle (2005), spoken by Jeannette as she reflects on her reasons for writing the book.

Jeannette Walls (narrator)

“You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them.”

This line is spoken by Rose Mary Walls, Jeannette's mother, in Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle.

Rose Mary Walls

“One time I saw her take a bite out of a candy bar she'd found in a garbage can. I was mortified. 'Mom,' I said, 'people can see you.'”

This moment arises from Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle (2005), told by Jeannette as an adult in New York City.

Jeannette Walls · Prologue / Opening frame

“Dad was really smart, I knew, but he didn't like to work for other people.”

This line comes from Jeannette Walls, the author and main character of the memoir, as she reflects on her father, Rex Walls, during her childhood.

Jeannette Walls (narrator) · The Desert / Early Childhood Sections (Part II)

“Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy. You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.”

This line is spoken by Rex Walls, the charming yet deeply flawed father, to his daughter Jeannette during one of the many chaotic moments of their unconventional, nomadic childhood.

Rex Walls

“I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.”

This is the opening line of Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle (2005), delivered by Jeannette as the adult narrator.

Jeannette Walls (narrator) · Opening / Prologue

Fire

In Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, fire captures the complex reality of the Walls family's chaotic life: it brings both destruction and intrigue, danger and attraction.

The Geode

In Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, the geode represents the hidden beauty found within a rough, unpolished surface — much like the Walls family itself.

The Glass Castle

In Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, the glass castle symbolizes Rex Walls's lofty dreams and their eventual emptiness.

The Joshua Tree

In Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, the Joshua tree represents the resilience that comes from hardship and the complex beauty of an unconventional upbringing.

The Stars / Venus

In Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, the stars and the planet Venus reflect Rex Walls's endless idealism and his ability to offer real, though ultimately unreliable, love.

Juxtaposition

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls uses juxtaposition as both a structural and emotional tool throughout her memoir.

Flashback

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls shapes the memoir largely as an extended flashback, which is sparked by a striking present-tense prologue: when she sees her homeless mother digging through a dumpster, Walls wonders, "I was getting on with my life.

Understatement

In Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, the narrator's voice is marked by understatement, and this effect is deeply impactful.

Motif

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls weaves the recurring motif of fire throughout her family's story of chaos, resilience, and self-destruction.

Imagery

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls uses vivid sensory imagery to immerse the reader in the conflicting feelings of poverty and wonder.

Unreliable Narrator

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls tells her own childhood story, and the memoir's impact relies on the gradual loss of her credibility as an admiring daughter.

Irony

In Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, irony serves as the book's subtle driving force, highlighting the disconnect between Rex Walls's inflated self-image and the chaos he actually creates.

Tone

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls maintains a tone of unsentimental tenderness that keeps the memoir from veering into bitterness or nostalgia.

Symbolism

In Jeannette Walls's memoir The Glass Castle, the titular structure serves as the memoir's most enduring symbol, capturing both Rex Walls's brilliance and his failures.

skittered

Moved quickly and lightly in an unsteady, darting way, like a small animal scurrying across a surface.

verb · Chapter 2

emaciated

Extremely thin and weak from lack of food or illness, to the point where bones are visibly prominent.

adjective · Chapter 2

teetotaler

A person who never drinks alcohol at all, choosing complete abstinence rather than moderation.

noun · Chapter 2

prospecting

Searching the ground in a specific area for valuable minerals, gold, or other natural resources, usually by digging or testing soil samples.

verb · Chapter 2

Joshua tree

A distinctive desert plant with spiky, twisted branches native to the American Southwest, used here to evoke the harsh, remote landscape of the family's early life.

noun · Chapter 2

squalor

A state of filthy, degraded, and extremely poor living conditions, often involving dirt, disorder, and neglect.

noun · Chapter 3

privation

The lack of basic necessities such as food, warmth, and shelter; a condition of serious hardship caused by poverty.

noun · Chapter 3

self-sufficient

Able to provide for one's own needs without relying on outside help or resources, a value Rex Walls strongly promoted for his family.

adjective · Chapter 2

turbulent

Marked by constant disorder, instability, and unpredictable upheaval, used to describe the chaotic nature of the Walls family's life.

adjective · Chapter 2

dilapidated

In a state of serious disrepair and decay from age or neglect, typically describing a building that is falling apart.

adjective · Chapter 3

scavenge

To search through discarded materials or waste in order to find something useful or edible, done out of necessity rather than choice.

verb · Chapter 4

rile

To irritate or anger someone, provoking an emotional reaction, often used in informal or regional American speech.

verb · Chapter 4

hooch

Informal term for cheap or homemade alcoholic liquor, especially the kind associated with heavy, problematic drinking.

noun · Chapter 6

bender

A prolonged period of heavy, uncontrolled drinking, typically lasting several days, used to describe Rex's alcoholic episodes.

noun · Chapter 6

panhandling

Begging for money from strangers in a public place, typically on the street, as a means of survival.

verb · Chapter 10

squatter

A person who occupies an abandoned or unoccupied building or land without legal permission or paying rent.

noun · Chapter 10

lien

A legal claim placed on a property by a creditor, giving them the right to take the property if a debt is not repaid.

noun · Chapter 4

reckoning

A moment of confronting the consequences of past actions or decisions; a settling of accounts, literal or moral.

noun · Chapter 11

dissolution

The gradual breakdown or disintegration of a person's health, character, or way of life, often through addiction or neglect.

noun · Chapter 6

admonish

To firmly warn or reprimand someone, urging them to correct their behavior, usually in a serious but not harshly punitive tone.

verb · Chapter 2

nomadic

Moving from place to place without a permanent home, used to describe the Walls family's constant relocating across the American Southwest.

adjective · Chapter 2

cynical

Distrustful of people's motives and skeptical that things will improve, often as a result of repeated disappointment or hardship.

adjective · Chapter 5

reconcile

To find a way to accept or make sense of two conflicting feelings or facts, such as loving a parent while also acknowledging their failures.

verb · Chapter 12

tenement

A run-down, overcrowded apartment building in a poor urban area, typically subdivided into many small, cheap units.

noun · Chapter 10

condescending

Behaving as though one is superior to others, treating them with a patronizing attitude that implies they are less intelligent or capable.

adjective · Chapter 8