TED Talk

Above is a Ted Talk about how people in different parts of the country live. It discusses how many children often say that they are poor when they are actually living with many luxuries. The speaker, Anna Rosling Rönnlund talks about how people around the work aren’t so different after all. In The Glass Castle, the walls family is also living in poverty, similar to some of the pictures in the Ted Talk. The video is interesting because it talks about if everyone in the world lived on one street, the rich living on the right and the poor on the left. It also provides pictures from around the world of people’s living situations. Jeannette Walls and her family, based on the way she described them, would live on the left because there were often times when they didn’t have any money for food to eat and went hungry. This video is very well made and it gives you a perspective on how people live around the world. The speaker, Anna Rosling Rönnlund, is reliable because she is speaking about a project that was her idea.

The author Jeannette Wall’s purpose was most likely to entertain readers. This can be for many reasons, but one is how the book is described. “The Glass Castle is truly astonishing- a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar but loyal family.” This quote was written by the author herself and is clearly meant to entertain the reader and draw them into the story. Her reason for witting The Glass Castle was to share her story and the impact she wants people to know that they should also share their stories. In the dedication of her book, she says “To John, for convincing me that everyone who is interesting has a past.” This quote is to her husband, who convinced her to write the book in the first place, to share her past. In the back of The Glass Castle, Walls also has a section titled “Jeannette Walls on her new book Half Broke Horses.” The first sentence of this section says “This book is about my grandmother, Lily Casey Smith.” In Half Broke Horses, not only continues to explore her past, but also her grandmother’s. This is clearly her way of encouraging others to share their past.

Now the question we have all been waiting for, is Jeannette Walls a credible author? Towards the middle of the book, she often mentions the city she lives in, called Battle Mountain. However, on page 81 she mentions a specific newspaper article. “A big newspaper out east once held a contest to find the ugliest, most forlorn, most godforsaken town in the whole country, and it declared Battle Mountain the winner.” Battle Mountain is a real city in Nevada, and does have a reputation for the dullest place in America, but does the article she is referencing actually exist? The answer is yes. It was written by Gene Weingarten for the Washington Post. The only problem, the article was written on December 2, 2001. That would make Jeannette 41 years old when the article came out. Now, in the book, she doesn’t say when the article came out. She makes it sound like it came out when she was young, but she uses the word “once” which could mean it came out four years before the book was written. She also often times mentions the Owl Club, specifically on page 55. “The Owl Club was ‘World Famous’ according to the sign where a hoot owl wearing a chef’s hat pointed the way to the entrance.” The Owl Club is, in fact, a real place (with an owl wearing a chef’s hat) and is pictured above. It is currently located at 72 E Front St, Battle Mountain, NV, and is open every day of the week, 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. All of the facts and evidence point to the fact te Jeannette Walls is a credible author, and her book The Glass Castle is a true story.

Armpit of America article

There are many claims present in the memoir The Glass Castle that can be supported with solid evidence. For example, on page 69, a claim about gold is made by the author Jeannette Walls. “There was a lot of gold in Battle Mountain, but it was trapped in the ore.” She believes this for many reasons, “It’s not like there are gold nuggets lying around for The Prospector to sort through.” Though there could be gold in the mountain, it is unlikely that her father is going to use a machine he built, The Prospector, and remove the gold himself is unlikely. There another claim on page 73 about her mother, Rose Mary (pictured above), and how she taught. “Her students really like her.” Jeanette then goes on to explain how her mother teaches. “She thought the rules and discipline held people back and felt the best way to let children fulfill their potential was by providing freedom…” This evidence clearly shows us the type of teacher that Tose Mary was, and compared to the other teachers at her school, who would bring guns to class to motivate kids to do their homework or just not show up at all, she was an improvement for sure.

In The Glass Castle, a lot of events have taken place within the first 50 pages that I’ve read. In the begging of the book, we are introduced to the main character and author, Jeanette Walls. We also meet her parents, which she shows a strong dislike towards. In the next chapters, we experience Jeanette in her childhood. In this book, young Jeannette is put in dangerous- and often times life-threatening- situations due to the choices of her parents. However, Jeannette is very intelligent due to the teachings of her mom and dad, who teach her to think for herself. This book is interesting because it gives some much-needed perspective of the 1960’s, and it reads like the fiction books that I may be more inclined to read. This book is a memoir, meaning it is full of true accounts from the author, Jeannette Walls. Because of this, the book is very relatable. The feelings that she has as a child in school and when she is with her family make this book entertaining and fun to read.