I have just started reading the memoir The Glass Castle
by Jeannette Walls. In the first
section of the memoir, entitled “A Woman on the Street”, Jeannette is riding in
a taxi to a party in the East Village.
She is stopped at a red light were she sees a woman digging through a
dumpster. While observing the
certain habits of the woman, Jeanette realizes that the woman is her
mother. Nervous that she might
recognize her and that other people will find out that Jeannette’s parents are
homeless, she requests to be taken home.
At home, guilt sinks in as she looks at her furniture and jewelry and
she decides to meet her mother at her favorite Chinese restaurant. At lunch the mother refuses help from
her daughter telling her that her values are confused and that she shouldn’t be
afraid of her past, almost setting up the memoir.
During lunch, the mother says to Jeannette, “‘You’re way too
easily embarrassed. Your father
and I are who we are. Accept it.’” Before even getting into the stories
from Jeannette’s childhood, this anecdote is used. This quote from the mother shows some foreshadowing about
Jeannette and her family’s lifestyle from when she younger. It seems that they led an obscure
lifestyle and that they were proud of it.
You can also tell that it was a lifestyle that Jeanette wanted to remove
her self from, being that she was embarrassed to be seen with her mother and
that the news that her parents were homeless might threaten Jeannette normal
lifestyle now. Already, we know a
lot about how this story might go.
Also this altercation between the mother and Jeannette seems incite the
memoir being written by the mother telling her to be proud of her past and to
“‘Just tell the truth.’”
So far one sort of message that can be taken away from this
memoir is not being ashamed from where you came from or of who you are. People always have many insecurities
about their life. People sometimes
are afraid to share certain details about themselves or their past and
upbringing with the fear of judgment from their peers. This first section shows that telling
the truth won’t harm you. This is
show by the author because in that anecdote, Jeannette was insecure about being
seen with her mother and people she knows finding out about her past, however
she ends up writing a whole memoir on the subject.
Good post! I read this book a little while back, and what you're saying is definitely true. I was always a little confused by the whole "telling the truth" part of it. This girl is ashamed of her past and never speaks of it to anybody...then turns around and writes a memoir about it? I never really understood why she wrote it, but maybe I'll go back into the book or ask you when you're done.
ReplyDeleteWell after reading this post and Amandas comment I had an inference on why she might have written the memoir. Like Amanda said she talks about how much she hid here true identity and her past from everyone around her. Well in the beginning, like Nils said, she talks about seeing her mother and feeling ashamed about who they are and then later on feeling ashamed about be judgmental about her own parents. She feels so bad that she takes her mother to eat at a chinese restaurant which when there her mother gives her a lesson and then the memoir begins. i think that this memoir who never have been written if she didn't get that last lesson from her mother which i believed inspired her to wrote this piece.
ReplyDeleteI read this book, and I completely forgot about this beginning sequence in the book. This beginning part probably would have enhanced the end of the book. It also shows a new perspective on what it's like to be homeless and still attached to your family. It makes a little more sense once Jeannette explains how her parents lived. This memoir was very good and I hope you enjoy it.
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