The Glass Castle Introduction Some people say our society has gone overboard with safety precautions. Playgrounds are coated in rubber, and every corner is a soft, rounded edge. Kids practically have to wear helmets just to go outside. Jeannette arrives in New York City, mesmerized by its size and scope. After only a day, she gets a job in a hamburger shop and, soon, she and Lori move out of the women's hostel and into their own apartment in the South Bronx. In the fall, Jeannette begins her senior year at a public high school that offers internships instead of classes. ONLINE SUMMARY FOR THE GLASS CASTLE BY JEANETTE WALLS PART THREE - WELCH SECTION TEN (Pages 168-170) Summary. When the weather becomes warmer, Welch begins to bloom with a particular kind of beauty. All the flowers and the growing grass soon hide the abandoned cars and refrigerators and the shells of broken down houses. The Glass Castle A Memoir Jeannette Walls SCRIBNER New York London Toronto Sydney Acknowledgments I'd like to thank my brother, Brian, for standing by me when we were growing up and while I wrote this. I'm also grateful to my mother for believing in art and truth and for supporting the idea of the book; to. The Glass Castle Summary and Study Guide. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics.
I
A women on the street
Ch. 1 pg. 3-5
Jeannette was sitting in a taxi, questioning her wardrobe choice for the evening, when she saw her mom digging through the trash for food. She then offered to contribute money towards giving her mom a better life. But her mom refused and claimed Jeannette had her values confused.
II
The Desert
Ch. 2 pg. 9-14
Jeannette tells us about her earliest memory, the time she caught on fire cooking hot dogs. After a few weeks in the hospital her dad decided it was time to check out “Rex Walls’ style”. In other words; without asking.
Ch. 3 pg. 15-16
After returning home from the hospital Jeannette became fascinated with fire.
Ch. 4 pg. 17-18
A few months later Jeannette’s father woke the Walls family up in the middle of the night and said it was time to leave town.
Ch. 5 pg. 19-25
In this chapter we find out that they were always doing what Jeannette’s father called the skedaddle; moving in the middle of the night in order to avoid debt collectors. Sometimes when times were extra rough they would stay with their mom’s mom until they had to leave due to fighting between their grandma and their dad. But even though they might have gone to bed hungry they never went to bed without a story. Their dad was always telling them about all the amazing things he would make them one day, specifically the glass castle.
Ch. 6 pg. 26-28
Jeannette recalls how her parents first met and the time dad found her sister Mary Charlene dead in her crib at nine months. According to Jeannette’s mom this is the reason her dad started drinking.
Ch. 7 pg. 29-31
While on the road Jeannette fell out of the car and into the gravel of some train tracks. She experienced a bit of a scare when her parents didn’t come back for her right away.
Ch. 8 pg. 32-34
The Walls family lived in a motel in Las Vegas for about a month until they had to skedaddle due to a poorly played blackjack game.
Ch. 9 pg. 35-38
After locating a new place for rent in San Francisco Jeannette’s parents presented good news. Jeannette’s mom was pregnant.
Ch. 10 pg. 39-41
In this chapter Jeannette talks about how her and her siblings never believed in Santa Claus because they were never “brainwashed into believing silly myths”. That Christmas their dad took them each out into the desert to pick their own star. Jeannette chose Venus, and since it was Christmas her father decided she could keep it even if it was a planet.
Ch. 11 pg. 42-47
After a few months in San Francisco the Walls family moved to Blythe where Jeannette started going to school instead of being homeschooled. Blythe was also where Jeannette’s little sister Maureen was born. The first time Jeannette held her she promised she would always look after her.
Ch. 12 pg. 48-50
A few months after Maureen was born problems arose in Blythe and Jeannette’s father decided it was time to skedaddle again.
Ch. 13 pg. 51-53
The Walls family moved into an old train station with huge wooden spools for tables and smaller ones for chairs. Jeannette’s mom decided what they really needed was a piano although due to complications it ended up in their back yard. But Jeannette’s mom said now the whole neighbourhood could hear her play.
Ch. 14 pg. 54-57
The Walls family settled into their new home. Jeannette’s father got a job as an electrician, and every night they would all read and then discuss the words they didn’t understand. They would then look them up in the dictionary and if they didn’t agree with the definition they would write letters to the publishers of the dictionaries.
Ch. 15 pg. 58-61
Jeannette started a rock collection and tried to sell them to their neighbours. When she wasn’t busy with her new business or her school work, she would play games with the other kids in the neighbourhood.
Ch. 16 pg. 62-63
Jeannette and Brian were always spying on a house they called the “green lantern”, because it was always glowing green.
Ch. 17 pg. 64-66
In this chapter Jeannette’s father taught her how to swim at the Hot Pot, a natural spring on the north side of town. It was tough at first but eventually she caught on.
Ch. 18 pg. 67-72
After six months in Battle Mountain Jeannette’s father lost his job. The kids ate less and less and at one point were forced to have margarine and sugar for dinner. This caused their parents to fight more.
Ch. 19 pg. 73-75
The morning after Jeannette’s family had a huge fight over money, Rose Mary, Jeannette’s mom, applied for a teaching job at Jeannette’s elementary school. Although Rose Mary was miserable working there, the job paid the bills.
Ch. 20 pg. 76-80
Jeannette and her siblings were soon going to school hungry despite the extra money their mom was bringing in. It seemed that no matter how hard they tried to hide the money their dad always found it and spent it on alcohol.
Ch. 21 pg. 81-90
Just after Jeannette’s eighth birthday a new boy name Billy moved in down the street. He developed a crush on her and when she didn’t share the same feelings he got angry. He stopped by their house when Jeannette and her siblings were alone and started shooting at them with his bebe gun. Because of the possibility of unwanted police interaction the Walls family skedaddled once again.
Ch. 22 pg. 91-93
Jeannette’s grandmother passed away leaving her mom with a house and money waiting for them in Phoenix so that is where they went.
Ch. 23 pg. 94-101
In this chapter Jeannette’s family settled into their new home. Her dad found work, odd jobs here and there, and Jeannette’s older sister Lori got glasses as a condition of the kids new school. Lori also decided she wanted to be an artist like her mom.
Ch. 24 pg. 102-105
Jeannette recalls an incident where she woke up to one of her neighbours drunk in her bed. Brian and Lori helped her ward him off when their parents didn’t seem to be able to help.
Ch. 25 pg. 106-109
In this chapter Jeannette’s father took her on an adventure at the zoo where they pet a cheetah, until they got kicked out of the zoo….
Ch. 26 pg. 110-115
It was around this time that Jeannette’s father lost his job, and because they were so short on money they began to go to lengths they didn’t before. For example, they started stealing dresses from the local clothing store so that Maureen would have something decent to wear. But despite their money shortage they still found the time to prepare for Christmas. Unfortunately the weeks they spent preparing were washed down the drain when their dad showed up drunk and set the tree along with all the presents on fire.
Ch. 27 pg. 116-121
Jeannette turned ten that spring and for her birthday present her dad said she could have anything she wanted, all she had to do was ask. So she asked him to stop drinking and he did.
Ch. 28 pg. 122-125
Jeannette’s dad started drinking again and with no job bringing in money the kids convinced their dad to go live with his parents in West Virginia.
The Glass Castle Sparknotes
III
Welch
Ch. 29 pg. 129-132
In chapter 29 the Walls family arrived in Welch where Jeannette met her dad’s family for the first time.
Ch. 30 pg. 133-135
Jeannette’s parents took her and her siblings on a tour of Welch.
Ch. 31 pg. 136-139
Problems arose at Jeannette’s new school, specifically with a bully name Dinitia.
Ch. 32 pg. 140-144
Dinitia and Jeannette’s relationship shifted from enemies to friends when Dinitia stopped picking on Jeannette and asked Jeannette for help with her English homework.
Ch. 33 pg. 145-148
Jeannette’s parents drove the Oldsmobile back to Phoenix to copy school records and pick up other stuff they left behind. While they were gone the kids got into a huge fight with their grandmother, Erma, when Jeannette found her touching Brian in place she shouldn’t be.
Ch. 34 pg. 149-154
The Walls family found their own place to call home in Welch because they were no longer welcome in their grandmother’s.
Ch. 35 pg. 155-158
Jeannette and her siblings saw a rat in the kitchen that Maureen later found in her bed. Because she was trying to sleep at the time, she was pretty freaked out and found any excuse to sleep at a friends house.
Ch. 36 pg. 159-163
Jeannette befriended the daughter of a well gossiped lady.
Ch. 37 pg. 164-167
Jeannette and Brian got into a fight with a kid named Ernie and his friends.
Ch. 38 pg. 168-170
Jeannette had to stitch up her father’s arm when he came home drunk one night because no one else was up. The next day he was gone again.
Ch. 39 pg. 171-174
Jeannette’s dad took to disappearing for days at time, and lying about what he was doing when he was gone. They became so short on food they started “hunting”.
Ch. 40 pg. 175-179
Winter came very cold that year and it turned out that they had no installation. But Jeannette did a good job looking at the bright side.
Ch. 41 pg. 180-185
Erma died, and when Jeannette’s dad didn’t come home for a few days her mom told her she needed to find her. Although going to the bar shook her up a little, what really scared her was when her Uncle Stanley touched her in an inappropriate place.
Ch. 42 pg. 186-188
Jeannette and Brian found an expensive ring that could have bought them a lot of food but when they showed their mom she took it because she said it would help her self-esteem. Jeannette figured in her head that the only way to upgrade the lifestyle they were living was for her mom to leave her dad, but when she told her mom her plan her mom refused.
Ch. 43 pg. 189-192
Jeannette’s father never found out about her proposition to her mom, and still thought Jeannette was his biggest supporter that summer. One afternoon that summer she went swimming with Dinitia when the African Americans swam because Jeannette wasn’t welcome otherwise.
Ch. 44 pg. 193-195
When Jeannette was alone a person from child services came by claiming a neighbour had called saying her parents were neglecting her and her siblings. He left promising to come back later, but he never did, and Jeannette’s mom resolved to get a job.
Ch. 45 pg. 196-198
Jeannette’s mother got a job as a teacher, and Jeannette and Lori made a budget so that they would have enough for food, so their mom would still have a generous allowance, and so that in time they could install insulation. But their mom never handed over the money so they continued living as they had before Jeannette’s mom got a job.
Ch. 46 pg. 197-202
Jeannette started grade seven (high school) that fall, and found out Dinitia was pregnant. She tried to visit her, but Dinitia’s mother’s boyfriend, who Dinitia later stabbed to death, opened the door and refused to let Jeannette in. Jeannette herself wanted a guy to show interest in her, but knew that her buck teeth wasn’t one of her most attractive features so she made herself braces.
Ch. 47 pg. 203-205
Jeannette started working for the school newspaper with the teacher for which she was named after. She had her first real sense of what was going on in the world, instead of the warped version her parents often gave her, and decided she wanted to be a reporter.
Ch. 48 pg. 206-213
Jeannette felt like she was failing her promise to Maureen and started to try harder. She enlisted the help of Brian and Lori to buy a present for Maureen’s birthday, and that summer when their mom went to college to renew her teaching diploma and Lori went to summer camp Jeannette got the chance to keep her dad in line. This was something she had been wanting to do for a long time, but in the end she broke down and gave her dad money for alcohol.
Ch. 49 pg. 214-217
When Jeannette’s father stole the pay check from the mailman and spent it Jeannette was forced to get a job selling jewelry to support her family.
Ch. 50 pg. 218-221
Lori got home from summer camp and realized she could have a normal life outside of Welch, and Jeannette’s mother also came home with a plan; to do more for herself and less for her kids. When Jeannette got mad at her for quitting her job and refused to apologize her dad whipped her. She sat up on the hill for a few hours and decided the sooner her and Lori got out of Welch the better, so she started an escape fund.
Ch. 51 pg. 222-225
That year two men, Ken Fink and Bob Gross, showed up from New York City and unknowingly convinced Lori and Jeannette to move there with their constant speeches about how it attracted people who were “different”. Lori told Jeannette about her escape fund and Lori started drawing posters and selling them to kids at the school to contribute to the fund. They decided that Lori would move to New York City when she graduated at the end of that year, and Jeannette would follow her soon after she settled in.
Ch. 52 pg. 226-230
A few problems arose with the manhattan plan, their dad stole their escape fund, and sabotaged Lori’s submission for an art school. In the end Jeannette started saving again, and Lori went to Iowa with a family in exchange for a bus ticket to New York City at the end of the summer. Despite their quick recovery Jeannette agreed with her dad when he sat on the porch and claimed their family was falling apart.
Ch. 53 pg. 231-234
In tenth grade Jeannette became the editor of the school newspaper, she went to every extracurricular event the school had, wrote half of the articles, and edited the other half. When Chuck Yeager came to town Jeannette’s dad helped her come up with a bunch of questions to ask him.
Ch. 54 pg. 235-238
Jeannette and her family received many letters from Lori, and Jeannette couldn’t have been more anxious to go to college in the city. But due to the fact that it was easier to go to college in-state Jeannette decided to attend grade twelve in a high school somewhere in manhattan. Despite the pleading from her dad to stay for another year, and his desperate promises to build the glass castle, she had made up her mind.
Ch. 55 pg. 239-241
The Glass Castle Summary Cliff Notes
Jeannette left for New York City after saying goodbye to her teacher, brother, mom, and most of all her dad. He gave her a knife right before she left and said he would be there if she wanted to come home, but Jeannette knew that Welch had never been her home.
IV
New York City
Ch. 56 pg. 245-251
Jeannette settled into life with her sister. She finished high school and was begged by her boss at The Phoenix to go to college, so she did. Eventually Brian moved in, and after a year all three of them were living on their own. Maureen ended up moving in with Lori, at twelve, after they found out she cracked her head open when the old porch collapsed.
Ch. 57 pg. 252-254
Three years after Jeannette moved to New York City her parents followed her so they could “be a family again”. However one thing led to another and they ended up on the streets.
Ch. 58 pg. 255-257
Jeannette’s parents called a couple of times a month, and they would all get together. Her parents agreed that being homeless was an adventure, but Jeannette struggled with their decision. She found it a subject that came up with her friends more than she wanted, and when it did she couldn’t justify her opinions without giving up her parents identities.
Ch. 60 pg. 258-259
Winter was ridiculously cold that year and Jeannette insisted that her parents couldn’t go one living the way they had been. She met with her mom at a coffee shop to discuss her options, but they ended up talking about movies.
Ch. 61 pg. 260-261
Glass Castle Cliffsnotes
Jeannette’s dad got tuberculosis and ended up in the hospital for several weeks. He promised Jeannette that he wouldn’t do the skedaddle, but rest until he was better.
Ch. 62 pg. 262-263
Rex made a full recovery and went back to living with his wife, Jeannette stayed in college, Lori was the illustrator of a comic book, Brian was a cop, and Maureen was in high school. But despite their busy and very different lives they still managed to get together for Christmas.
Ch. 63 pg. 264-265
That January marked the third year Jeannette’s parents had been homeless and Jeannette finally accepted that was how it would be. She also accepted that she wouldn’t be completing her final year in college due to her inability to pay the last thousand dollars of her tuition. But when her dad found out that she was dropping out he met her at Lori’s apartment with nine hundred and fifty dollars and a fur coat worth fifty dollars claiming there was nothing more valuable then a good education.
Ch. 64 pg. 266-268
Jeannette’s parents got a new place, and Jeannette graduated from Barnard. Brian was the only person that came to the ceremony as Maureen and Lori had to work, her mom didn’t like long speeches, and she didn’t wasn’t to risk her dad showing up drunk. Jeannette got a full time job at the magazine she had been working at for the past few weeks and moved in with the boyfriend she’d been with for the past couple years.
Ch. 65 pg. 269-271
Jeannette’s mom came over to Jeannette’s apartment every now and then, but her dad took rain check after rain check claiming he’d feel out of place. When Jeannette leapt at the chance to have her own weekly column her mom insisted that Jeannette had all the wrong values. Her dad on the other hand became her biggest fan.
Ch. 66 pg. 272-273
It was four years later, shortly after Jeannette married Eric, her boyfriend, that Rose Mary’s brother passed away. Jeannette’s mom begged for Jeannette to ask Eric for a million dollars to buy her uncle’s property. But Jeannette refused to ask this of her husband.
Ch. 67 pg. 274-276
Although Jeannette, Brian, and Lori’s lives had turned out pretty good Maureen was struggling. She never kept jobs for more than a few weeks, went through her boyfriends even faster and Brian and Jeannette suspected she was doing drugs. Maureen ended up stabbing their mom, and as a result she went to a hospital for a year. After she was released she bought a one way ticket to California without saying goodbye.
Ch. 68 pg. 277-279
Jeannette hadn’t talked to her parents since the Maureen incident but one day out of the blue her father asked her to come over. She agreed reluctantly, and when she arrived it was to find her father had a beard. He said that every man should grow one once in their life, and because he was dying it was now or never.
The Glass Castle Synopsis
Ch. 69 pg. 280-281
Two weeks after Jeannette went to her parents apartment her dad had a heart attack and passed away in the hospital. Jeannette mourned, started figure skating morning and night, and always had the need to be on the move. A year after her dad passed she left Eric, he wasn’t the right guy for her.
V
Thanksgiving
Ch. 70 pg. 285-288
The Glass Castle Cliff Notes
Jeannette invited her sister Lori, her mother, and her brother Brian and his eight year old daughter over to her new house for thanksgiving. She had remarried a man named John and lived with him and his fourteen year old daughter. Brian said that Maureen was thinking of visiting them and they ended the evening by toasting to their father and all the fun times they has with him.