Short Story

Jeannette’s self-reliant behavior is frequently shown through her refusal of help from others. On one trip to retrieve her father from a bar, Jeannette’s father is so drunk that he can no longer walk. Another man offers to drive them home, and

Shortly after the incident, Jeannette turns ten years old. Her father asks her what she wants for her birthday and she tells him she is scared to tell him. Finally, she asks him if he could just promise her he would stop drinking as a gift for her birthday. Jeannette explains that “‘Mom would be a lot happier. Plus, we’d have the extra money’” (Walls 117) if he stops drinking. Her father then gets upset thinking Jeannette is ashamed of him. Although, he keeps her promise and stops drinking, but it did not last long.

Her awareness and curiosity show when she asks her father “Do you think you could maybe stop drinking?”(Walls, 116) . She is aware that his drinking is a problem that affects the whole family and she is curious by doing something about it. Even though changes through life lessons might be happening within Jeannette she is not yet at the level of maturity and consciousness. She is still naive because despite Rex intending to do well but doing wrong she still has false hopes and says “Don't worry dad will fix it” (Walls

Jeannette’s father was a heavy alcoholic. He would often claim he was researching information for the prospector leave the house and come back drunk. After he arrived home he would get into fights with Rose Mary, over simple things which involved name calling and sometimes violence. In one of the fights

As an innocent child, Jeannette greatly admired her father. She writes, “Everybody said Dad was a genius. … Dad was also inventing things, too. … In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a little bit of a drinking situation” (Walls 22-23). Although Jeannette admits that her father has a “drinking situation,” she takes great pride in having a father who was a respected inventor. Jeannette conveys a tone of great reverence towards her father; she does so in order to emphasize the change in her perspective of Rex as she matures. On her tenth birthday, Jeannette asked her father, “Do you think you could maybe stop drinking?” (Walls 116). This suggests that she admits that her father’s little drinking situation is, in fact, a big drinking situation. Jeannette’s perspective on her father only gets more negative as she admits that Rex is dragging the family down and she tells Rose Mary, “Mom, we can’t go on living like this. … Mom, you have to leave Dad” (Walls 187-188). Finally, Jeannette comes to accept that the Glass Castle, which symbolizes an ideal future, is nothing more than a mirage. She once again watches as “the hole for the Glass Castle’s foundation slowly filled with garbage” (Walls 155). Before leaving for New York, Jeannette tells her father, “Go ahead and build the Glass Castle, but don’t do it for me” (Walls 238). As

Jeannette is really disappointed in her family; however, the boy is happy and loves his family. Most of all Jeannette’s father is a major alcoholic and he constantly drinks. She thinks the drinking is destructive because when he does drink it causes a lot of bad fights with the family, for example, her father and mother will constantly fight about how they have no money to get food. In The Glass Castle Jeannette, said: “ It was the only thing to eat in the whole house. Why aren’t you helping?

Jeannette asks her dad for a favor on her 10th birthday, not for food, or clothes a new toy, but for him to stop drinking since she had realized that is what consumed the family’s wealth.

“I…” Nyame trailed off, taken aback by his reply. She watched wordlessly for a few moments as he guzzled down another glass of wine. That should have stopped her. Alex drinking so much was a sure sign that he was beyond the anger point. She could visibly see the change in his eyes, the way he spoke where biting in tempo. It was all downhill from here. There would be no reconciliation tonight and somewhere in her heart she regretted that but it was background noise to her enraged thoughts.

Drea, seated across from Joan at the Cup and Sword Tavern, grinned at her friend. Drea was thrilled to learn of Joan’s pregnancy and grateful for her friendship. It had been a lonely few years, raising Wallace without a father, but Drea’s new relationships with Alis, Carina, and Joan had drawn her out of isolation. This was the first time in years Drea had gone out for an evening meal with a friend, though she experienced a dull pang of guilt for leaving Wallace with the neighbor.

The party was at its fullest holler the moment Lucy Ames stepped into the house. The lurid sound of people bellowing filled the auricles of her ears, drowning every perspective of leaving as her best friend’s hand shot out, gripping her own as she dragged them forward. The gut-wrenching sight of two teenagers making out on the sofa awakened the bubbling of her stomach, threatening to gush out of her mouth if she did not look away any sooner.

Marinette sipped her drink nervously as she glanced around the room. It had been half an hour since Chloe’s grand Birthday gala had started and she hadn’t let her guard down yet. She took a shuttery breath as she gazed warily at the crowd of people trying to pick out anyone she thought could cause trouble. Plagg had put Nino on standby in case she needed him for a quick getaway but it did little to calm Marinette’s nerves.

She tried the sauce to check it was to Dr. Connor’s taste, making sure it was made with just the right combination of cheese and salt. Her hands trembled as she plated up the meal. To calm her nerves she took a bottle of already opened white wine out of the fridge and poured herself a large glass which she drank with haste. Although this didn’t settle her anxiety, she was ready to face him.

In a coffee shop, Abigail’s downward spiral began by meeting a friend. She entered the shop with excitement. Not expecting her friend to be evil, Abigail sipped her favorite refreshment,

He felt his voice suddenly disappear, as he just stared at her for awhile. Great, you moron! Speak she’s going to think your mentally challenged or something! his mind was now arguing with itself, telling him to speak, and as he tried to speak, his voice cracked. “H- Hi… Carmen…” he said exhaling as if he had been holding his breath, his face turned a bit red, as he gave her a grin. “I’m Kyle… You’re pretty…” his eyes went wide, did he really just say that! He did not just say that! He totally had just said that, and he mentally was slapping his head for that one. Way to go moron, going to scare her off already… it was an accident! Still a moron… yeah, I know his mind was again arguing, and he just wanted to yell at his thoughts to shut up, but that wouldn’t have been a very bright idea, he gave a chuckle, and took a breath, trying to calm himself down. “I mean, you are prettier then what I thought you were going to be… like from the chat” he told her.

“Salut,” the guests had repeated, clinking glasses and sharing smiles. I felt so happy, but as I looked over to Giovanna, my grin had disappeared. She typically is the life of the party and is extremely joyful, but she was just gloomily staring down at her glass with an ashamed look on her face.