End Thoughts

     In the end of The Glass Castle, I finally realized that even though Jeanette's parents weren't the most responsible, trustworthy, good people, they truly loved their children with all their hearts - especially Rex.
     While the beginning and middle of the book made me feel angry and agitated, the last sixty pages or so really touched me. A specific part comes to mind, when Lori had moved away from Welch to New York City, and Jeannette was about to do the same, Rex called Jeannette into the living room and showed her the old plans for the Glass Castle. He told her that now that Lori was gone, he was going to adjust the plans so that her room was much bigger. Jeannette told him that he would never build the Glass Castle, and that she wanted to go to New York City; to which Rex replied, "What I was thinking was that you don't have to go right away." It was here that I really understood that Jeannette's father really, really loved her; and although he didn't do things in an orthodox way and made many mistakes over the years, he had tried for her.
     The day after the last day of her junior year of high school, Jeannette gets a bus ticket for New York City, and joins Lori in her apartment. She gets a job at a hamburger restaurant, and works there until she gets a job working for a newspaper called The Phoenix. Soon after she gets the job, her younger brother Brian joins them in New York. After being advised by her boss and sister, Jeannette applies and is accepted into Barnard University (the sister school to Columbia University) and starts working to pay her way through college.
     Only a short time after that, Lori invites Maureen to come and live with her in her apartment, leaving only Rose Mary and Rex behind in Welch. But this doesn't last for long, and soon all of the Walls family is living in New York. Jeannette's parents go from place to place, and after a few years end up living as squatters in an abandoned building after Jeannette's graduation from Barnard. Maureen, who started to drift away onto the wrong path over the years, ended up stabbing Rose Mary and was sentenced to a year in a hospital, and after her time moved to California.
     Only a short while later, Rex informed Jeannette that he was dying. After, "...smoking four packs of cigarettes a day since he was thirteen," and drinking heavily, Rex's time was running out. He told her that he loved her quickly and shortly, and after two weeks, he was dead.
     Years later, after having little contact with each other, the Walls family reconvenes at Jeannette's home, and they catch up and meet each other after a long time of being apart. Then, the book ends.
     I was really touched when Rex died, and although I know he brought his death upon himself with all his drinking and smoking, I wish he could have lived longer, for his sake and for the sake of his family. I was also really touched at the end when the Walls family met up and talked and laughed and saw each other after Rex's death.
     I think The Glass Castle was my favorite of the reading that I had to do for AC this summer. It really touched me; and it showed me how lucky I am to be where I am, and also how lucky I am to have the people I have.