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Bear with me...
Hey Everyone!
This is the first time I've actually committed to doing this whole blog-thing, so bear with me. :-) I've created this site for us to use as a place of discussion for the texts we will read for the rest of the school year. Since this class is supposed to ready you for college, and much of education is now online, you need to be exposed to online discussions of texts, (if you haven't been already). What's great about this is it can help spark class discussions over what we are reading and just keep communication open about different texts. College professors won't just assign you reading, they will also assume you can have an intelligent conversation about what you've read. So dive in and give this a shot!!! :-)
This is the first time I've actually committed to doing this whole blog-thing, so bear with me. :-) I've created this site for us to use as a place of discussion for the texts we will read for the rest of the school year. Since this class is supposed to ready you for college, and much of education is now online, you need to be exposed to online discussions of texts, (if you haven't been already). What's great about this is it can help spark class discussions over what we are reading and just keep communication open about different texts. College professors won't just assign you reading, they will also assume you can have an intelligent conversation about what you've read. So dive in and give this a shot!!! :-)
Expectations
Choose a quote you have encountered during your reading and respond to it in at least one decent sized paragraph. You should also be continuously reading in your choice non-fiction book. In addition to the reading responses, I would also like you to comment once a week on someone else's post. Whether you agree or disagree, it doesn't matter. You also do not have to be reading the same nonfiction choice as that other person. Maybe you have a question about the novel, or maybe you have read it before and have a comment about their response. All totaled, I would like you to complete three posts a week. Two of those can be your own posts about the text you are reading, but at least one of the three posts needs to be in response to someone else's post.
This is a major part of your grade and will effect not only participation, but will go in the grade book as separate reading response grades. Feel free to email me with any questions you might have regarding this. My email is: mtinkham@msad9.org
This is a major part of your grade and will effect not only participation, but will go in the grade book as separate reading response grades. Feel free to email me with any questions you might have regarding this. My email is: mtinkham@msad9.org
hello
ReplyDeleteLB
I'm reading this book. Azriel.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading The Glass Castle.
ReplyDeleteI cant get into this book but I am gonna try.
ReplyDeleteLoralai
"Mom and Dad rented a great big U-Haul truck. Mom explained that since only she and Dad could fit in the front of the U-Haul, Lori, Brian, Maureen, and I were in for a treat: We got to ride in the back. It would be fun, she said, a real adventure, but there wouldn't be any light, so we would have to use all our resources to entertain one another. Plus we were not allowed to talk. Since it was illegal to ride in the back, anyone who heard us might call the cops. Mom told us the trip would be about fourteen hours if we took the highway, but we should tack on another couple of hours because we might make some scenic detours." (48).
ReplyDeleteThis paragraph really frustrates me. Up to a point I'm okay with the children riding in the back of the U-Haul. I understand that there isn't enough room up front for everybody. The part that really bothers me though, is that the parents are sticking their kids in the back of an unlit, damp, dusty, dirty U-Haul for fourteen hours. And maybe even longer because they want to take some "scenic detours." Ahh. That is not acceptable. If you've got your kids stuck in the back of a U-Haul, you don't take "scenic detours!"
I agree with your comment. Although this is not the worst thing that can happen to the children....keep reading because the parents get more frustrating for the reader as Jeanette becomes older and more aware of how childlike her parents are. When she turns 14 there is a true roll reversal and she becomes a parent in some ways.
ReplyDeleteI think that riding a U-Haul for that long isn't bad, but I would absolutely make lots and lots of stops to make sure that the kids were alright. And I certainly wouldn't want them in there any longer than necessary, so "scenic detours" definitely out. But these parents aren't taking responsibility for their kids and just sticking them in the back for a really long time. That certainly isn't right. Also, the dad got super mad at the kids that the back door of the U-Haul was open. It wasn't even the kids fault! And it's his own fault that he didn't rig up some sort of communication system between the parents and the kids for any sort of emergency.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading the Glass Castle...Wow!! What a gripping story!
ReplyDelete"Rose Mary, you're one hell of a woman," Dad said. Mom told him he was a stinking rotten drunk. "Yeah, but you love this old drunk don't you?" Dad said. Mom at first said no, she didn't, but Dad kept asking her again and again, and when she finally said yes, the fight disappeared form both of them. Vanished as if it had never existed. Dad started laughing and hugging Mom, who was laughing and hugging him. It was if they were so happy they hadn't killed each other that they had fallen in love all over again.
ReplyDeleteIt is so frustrating to read how terrible these two parents act in front of their young children. What is more frustrating to me is that Rose Mary knows how abusive her husband is when he drinks, but she does nothing to protect her children from him...as the quote shows above, they laugh of what could have been a deadly fight as their young children looked on!!
When we all got home that afternoon, Mom and Dad were eager to hear about our first day. "It was good," I said. I didn't want to tell Mom the truth. I was in no mood to hear one of her lectures about the power of positive thinking. "See?" she said. "I told you you'd fit right in."
ReplyDeleteHow sad that Jeannette can't feel comfortable enough to tell her mom what is really going on at school. To fear that she will get a lecture by simply confiding that she is getting bullied by both the students and in many ways the teachers also is terrible!! How different her life might have been if only she had a mother who cared more about her children's lives then her career as an "artist".
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete"'How did this become my problem?' she shouted. 'Why aren't you helping? You spend your whole day at the Owl Club. You act like it's not your responsibility.'" (69)
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that Rex doesn't take enough responsibility for his kids, but she's not taking any either. She's being hypocritical because she's not trying to provide for her family either. Both parents think that the other should take responsibility while they kick back and relax. They don't think about the kids' needs enough and they don't take the initiative enough (or in Rose Mary's case, at all)to meet those needs.
I agree with Azriel about both parents assuming it is the other's job to take responsibility for supporting the family. How strange and bizarre are these people that either one of them feels entitled to just pass the duty off on the other. I mean, sure everyone would like to strike it rich and I'm sure any artist's deep down dream is to just do their art for a living....BUT COME ON PEOPLE?!?!?!? Your kid are eating BUTTER!!! It just makes me want to scream! :-(
ReplyDeleteand out of the trash can at lunch
ReplyDeleteIf your daughter is molested in the middle of the night because you leave your doors wide open, wouldn't you want to start closing your doors? Not these parents...
ReplyDeleteSO FRUSTRATING!!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"I've got bills piling up," I said. I heard my voice growing shrill, but I couldn't control it. "I've got kids to feed."
ReplyDelete"Don't worry about food and bills," Dad said. "That's for me to worry about. Okay?"
"Have I ever let you down?" Dad asked
Well, duh!! Of course he has! How about making you 13 year old daughter work all summer to feed 4 kids and make sure all the bill are paid. How about taking her to the bars, letting men take advantage of her just to make a few extra drinking bucks. How about stealing all the money she, Lori, and Brian had saved all summer to get away from Welsh and have a fresh start. Yeah...he'd disappointed her plenty of times, but he also had such a strong hold over her that she regretfully gave him money. Money that kept food on the table and a roof (however shabby) over their heads. Jeanette, at 13, was more of a responsible adult then both of her parents combined!
I really don't like the parents. Their values and priorities are so mixed up, and the dad is a drunk. I did like that he tried to stop drinking when Jeannette asked him to though. I can see that he gets a lot of his behavior and personality from his mother, Erma, who I also don't like.
ReplyDeleteI think that Erma is such a disgusting character because Jeanette sees her that way and although it is obvious that she (Erma) has done horrible things but I somehow end up feeling sorry for her because she didn't choose her life it was chosen for her.....unlike Jeanette's parents who choose to stay in poverty and clearly have the brilliant minds to provide for their family but are too lazy.
ReplyDeletecouldn't get into this book but i tried. i am reading smashed now.
ReplyDeleteloralai
I'm using this book as a reference in an essay about faith for ap lit, and I think that one reason the parents are the way they are is because they have too much absolute faith in everything. They rarely ever lose their faith, and because of that they don't change their behaviors.
ReplyDeleteIt's just so sad to see the brilliance that both parents have, yet just waste their lives (and their children's lives also)! To know that for all those years, the mother could have kept a steady teaching job and kept her children fed and clothed, yet gave it all up to be an artist is just mind-boggling!
ReplyDeleteSince we had no refrigerator, we left the ham on a kitchen shelf. After it had been there for about a week, I went to saw myself a slab at dinnertime and found it crawling with little white worms.
ReplyDeleteMom was sitting on the sofa bed, eating the piece she'd cut. "Mom, that ham's full of maggots," I said.
"Don't be so picky," she told me. "Just slice off the maggoty parts. The inside's fine,"
Okay, so not only do the parents do absolutely nothing to provide for their children (the father going so far as to steal from his own children) but as shown here, the mother doesn't even respect herself enough to eat rotten food. This has made me realize where low self-esteem can bring you. Now I know this family is an extreme example, but the parents don't even care what happens to themselves...so sad!
the interesting thing is that in this book Jeanette never touches on her mother's artwork (describes how she paints). Although it is clear that her mother wasn't successful with her artwork I think that there is a possibility that she could've been (once again her laziness got in the way). Especially because Lori became so successful at her paintings and she learned from her mother.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Lauren. I think her mother had a lot of potential. Between being an aspiring artist and a teacher, she had plenty of opportunities to keep her children properly fed and clothed. The same is true of her dad. He was completely capable of being a "handy-man" but was instead too interested in drinking his life away!
ReplyDeleteI have never been so frustrated with characters in a book. The mother says that welfare would cause "irreparable psychological damage" to the kids, but she doesn't seem to think that the way the family is living is going to cause damage.
ReplyDeleteGRR!!
"Why do I always have to be the one who earns the money?" Mom asked. "You have a job. You can earn money. Lori can earn money, too. I've got more important things to do," (218).
ReplyDeleteSo. Frustrating. This woman makes me cringe. What can be more important than the well-being of your own children? If I were one of her kids, I would have run away long ago.
After reading some of the blogs I wish I had of gotton interested in this book. it sounds preatty good. I just can't beleave she grew up that way I mean eating butter and sitting in the back of a u haul truck. And a lot of times it seems like the parents are selfish and only care for themselves. which makes me up set. I just can't imagine having a chilhood like that.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how someone can grow up the way she did but end up so well off in the end. while her mother and father decided to keep their bad life even as thir children greew up to better lives. And the othe rthing that is amazing is how u people wer etalking about how Lori bacame sucsessful at a trait that she got from her mother .
ReplyDeletethat last comment was from me Loralai by the way.
ReplyDeleteGoing off of Kim's last comment, the mom seems to have a massive lack of responsibilty... well, the dad does too, but it's really pathetic how lazy and thoughtless the mom is. She never has her kids in mind of her actions, only of her own well-being.
ReplyDelete"We ran to the front door. Outside in the yard, parked in a row, were three brand-new bicycles - a big red one and two smaller ones, a blue boy's bike and a purple girl's bike." (98)
ReplyDeleteI think that this is one of the nicer times of the book. I like how the dad, atleast at this one time, thought of his kids and got them something they would enjoy.
"'Did you see better?' I asked?.
ReplyDelete'I wouldn't say better,' Mom answered. 'I'd say different'
'Maybe you should get a pair, Mom.'
I like the world just fine the way I see it,' she said.
But Lori loved seeing the world clearly." (97)
I wonder if the author wrote this quote, atleast the end of it, intentionally. Mom seems to have a blurry vision concerning her priorities and beliefs, whereas the kids obviously have a much better view. The kids know about their wants and needs but the parents do not, or perhaps just ignore them.
This was a really powerful book. I have never felt so frustrated while reading as I did when I read this book. It really made me think twice about how fortunate I am to have a normal family compared to Jeannette's.
ReplyDeleteI liked how Jeannette and her siblings tried their best to make good times out of the hard times that their parents put them through. I'm glad that Jeannette, Lori, and Brian, and even Maureen, were able to breake away from their parents' overbearig influence and lead decent lives.
I was overcome by the different emotions encountered in this book. It was such a gripping story and I found it so amazing that the kids each changed their lifestyles and succeeded with their lives despite their early childhood raising.
ReplyDeleteAt the end of the book, Lori, Jeannette, Bryan, and their families along with their mother got together for Thanksgiving. They spend their time reminising on the happy memories of years past and reminds the reader that you can truly have a strong love and loyalty for you family.
I think that this book was amazing because it brought you through her life in a complete and satisfying way. Through all the issues of poverty and having to deal with her lazy parents, Jeanette pushed herself into success and I like that she proves to her readers that one can come out of poverty on top. I especially liked the ending scene when they were eating Thanksgiving at her house it gave a happier image than the previous chapters.
ReplyDeleteFor the week of 4/20
ReplyDeleteGetting into this book is challenging, I like her style of writing and how expressive she is about her mother. "Right there. That's exactly what I'm saying. You're way to easily embarrassed. Your father and I are who we are. Accept it" (Mom) If i was in her shoes I would be embarrassed to, but I think at this point her values are all mixed up. She has lived and survived this way of life with her father's crazy ticks and her mothers ability to just keep going.
Matt
for the week of 4/20
ReplyDeleteHer father is so wild and creepy, he seems like a spontaneous madman. full of life but still with that craziness in his spirit. He is like that favorite toy that you cant put down, and the it breaks but you still have to hold on and cherish that toy. What puzzles me is that her mother is sort of stuck to her father but is still with him? She is a strong woman that somehow survived out of poverty. Its what is normal to her, but completely alien to me.
Matt
for the week of 4/20
ReplyDeleteI don't what to feel about the doctors and nurses behavior towards Jeannette when she was in the hospital. The hot dog incident was vivid but i think essential to compare the two worlds. The one world where she is a free but almost scared child, or the world where she is pampered and loved by most of the hospital staff. The mother always reminds me of snow, heavy, wet and always in the way, sometimes its good to have a snowball fight but the snow just breaks every time it hits you. Its unreliable and gross. I really don't like her parents
MATT
Jeannette definitely has a loyalty to her parents at the beginning of this book. Her love never changes, but as she grew older and realized how much her parents were hurting the family by literally doing nothing, she chooses to walk a different path. It must have been hard, I would imagine, to leave everything you've always known to start a new life for yourself at such a distance from her family. But that was probably the best decision she ever made for herself.
ReplyDeleteWeek of 4/13
ReplyDeleteI just finished the book and I'm surprised, I'm surprised at the parents for being so different i guess. The dad (Rex) seems like the perfect father when he's not drinking, but I think he is way to extreme on handling his children. Like teaching Jeanette how to swim, I wanted to just be there and call him a moron. He is wild and spontaneous but scary like a stray dog. I have no idea if I hate him or like him.
Matt
I'm very confused at what her mother actually does, she plays piano, paints and neglects her kids. It seems like she is fine with her lifestyle, even though they move all the time. She seems almost seems like in a daze at same time. I don't know why they still choose to live there lives like that after Jeanette and Lori have become successful. But like that saying with every cloud there is silver lining, maybe the mom and dad helped them and taught them life's true value or meaning even when it seems like they were not. They thought they were good parents, maybe because it's so different to me I'm just not seeing it.
ReplyDeleteMatt
I agree with Kim, that must have been really difficult to go astray from all that seems normal to you. That's another thing that surprised me how she could grow up living on scrap metal and bottles and cans and then become this successful woman all on her own. This reminds me of a scene from Little Miss Sunshine
ReplyDelete"Yeah. French writer. Total loser. Never had a real job. Unrequited love affairs. Gay. Spent 20 years writing a book almost no one reads. But he's also probably the greatest writer since Shakespeare. Anyway, he uh... he gets down to the end of his life, and he looks back and decides that all those years he suffered, Those were the best years of his life, 'cause they made him who he was. All those years he was happy? You know, total waste. Didn't learn a thing. So, if you sleep until you're 18... Ah, think of the suffering you're gonna miss. I mean high school? High school-those are your prime suffering years. You don't get better suffering than that." I like this quote by Steve Carell it just reminds me a lot of her and how she just wrote a fantastic book based on her sufferings.
Matt
Final Blog
ReplyDeleteThis excellently written book pierces the very core of your being as page after page of poverty enters your mind. Poverty, though not despair, atleast before Welch, West Virginia, consumes the main characters, slowly dragging them into a deep, but escapable pit. One by one, each of the children claw their way out of that pit into the daylight, the daylight of New York City.
It's so sad to think about that even in this day in age, so many people are in utter poverty. So many people are solely dependent on others for their food, electricity, a home, and their clothes. It's a shame of the living conditions of the houses of many people. Some of them are unfit even for wildlife to reside in.
This book just pours out positive and negative emotion. There is love but poverty, there is fear and loyalty. This family or Jeanette survived on all of these things that kept her sanity and her family together. " to front only the essential facts of life, and when I came to die, discover that I had lived." (Henry David Thoreau. Walden)I think this book educated us about poverty and how it shed some light on a world that none of us are familiar with. Mom and Dad became this negative force pulling the children back, but they got out and started taking in control of their lives.
ReplyDeletefor the week of 04/27/09 Matt
The Thanksgiving section was probably the best chapter because it wrapped up all those difficult chapters into a nice and comfortable situation. For some reason I think this book has taught me a lot but I dont know what. The parents eem to be all about themselves and let the kids live their life with little or no guidance at all. But I kept thinking two questions Why didn't the kids run away? and was the parents childhood like this? I'm just baffeled on how insane the parents were to the children, but yet I feel bad at the Thanksgiving scence because maybe it made them who they are.
ReplyDeletefor the week of 04/27/09 MATT
This book really made me think, I had mixed feelings about it, feelings of anger and sympathy. I think that the emotional effect was to strong in some parts so that it made the book kind of scary. There were some chapters where I didn't want to flip the next page because it was either about how terrible the dad was or how insane the mother was. Did they honestly think that this childhood would help their kids? Whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger right? Yeah... right. This is how I kept thinking of the parents, it was very lucid about how stupid or insane they really were. This book revived my dislike to bad characters in a good novel, it made the characters come to life and actually play-out the scene in my mind. Jeanette walls is a brilliant writer and this book clearly showed her writing ability. MATT
ReplyDelete