The Glass Castle Blog Post 1/8/20- Pages 145-148

JOURNAL: Do you think the father was right to act so harshly towards the children? Why?


SUMMARY:
On page 145, in the late winter, Jeanette’s parents drove the Oldsmobile back to Phoenix, after moving to Welch, West Virginia, to pick up stuff they had left behind like bikes and their school records. Their parents left them with their grandma, even though Jeanette and her siblings were missing Phoenix.

The book continues on the next page by describing Lori as a teenager and Jeannette and Brian not far behind. Because of this problem, their parents leave them with Erma (Rex’s Mom). Jeannette believes that their parents will come to get them soon and that makes her very hopeful for a better life. The book then leads into how strict Erma was and her childhood. After about a week of the parents being gone Erma decided that Brains britches needed mending. She took him into her room and told him to leave his clothes on. Jeannette head Brian weakly protest so she decided to check it out. Jeannette walked in on Brian crying and holding his hands protectively over his pants. Jeannette who was obviously disturbed told Erma to leave him alone.

When Jeanette tells the others what Erma has done, Erma denies it and says she was just fixing his pants. But when Jeanette yells at Erma, this angered Erma, and she tries to hit Jeanette. Lori had to step into the situation to calm it down, which causes Erma to hit Lori. Then, Lori hits Erma back and they get into a physical fight until Uncle Stanley woke up and pushed them apart. After the fight, Erma keeps the kids in the basement and doesn’t let them go upstairs, not even to the bathroom. When Jeanette’s parents came back home, Erma told them her side of the story and Rex was very angry. When they tried to tell him the real story their father didn’t believe them and didn’t care.

Page 148 continues with Rex’s harsh comments towards the children. After insulting Brian’s manhood he shakes his head to make the sound of Jeannette’s voice disappear. After Rex goes back upstairs with Erma the children began to wonder if the same thing happened to him. They conclude that it would explain why he drank so much and his anger problems. It would be the reason for not visiting Welch and his childhood home earlier.