There were plenty of details about her life and her childhood, everything that she had to go through, every little detail was told. Walls did not leave anything out, even if there were some disturbing memories. Although the book itself was fantastic and it helped me understand the tough times through her childhood, the transitions from one event to another was a bit abrupt, causing some gaps throughout the book. Through the book, the message that was very evident was to help others in need, and if it is possible, to forgive and forget.
Most of the information is presented in a recessive way rather than a factual statement. Meaning that instead of the author coming out and stating an event or factual evidence they present it in a way that forces the reader to look for it, this is done because some information may not be needed by anyone, someone, or everyone. Lots of information in this book was useful to me in many ways. Reading the story about Melinda has shown me that sometimes, people just need someone to talk to. That even though people may act fine and seem fine they may be very distanced from true happiness because of something that happened in there past, and if they do not have someone that will listen to them then they may allow it to define their future, but, if someone is willing to just listen to them, then they may be able to get past the traumatic event(s) that they are letting define them.
Also, now that she realizes what she could have done all along or what her parents could have done I do believe that this makes her sort of resent her parents in a way because of how she looked back on her life before.. (INSERT QUOTE HERE) But because she soon after starts to work on her novels specifically about her life and how she grew up it further shows her character as a person and how she finds this as a way to sort of cope or really just own up to herself and everyone else about who she really is inside. Not only this but that there are more to people than how they appear to be, we can never truly know someone or assume the way someone lived based on how they've found their
It seemed unfair to me that she was kicked out of Crystal’s apartment because Crystal continued to call the police about a domestic violence happening upstairs. I was disgusted when I read that in cases of domestic violence, many women would rather stay quiet for fear of eviction, than call the police. I tried to put myself in that situation, and it seemed hopeless. I was shocked to read that Arleen and Crystal were both molested when they were young; they had similar struggles growing up. This section of reading really brought Sherrena’s true colors to the forefront.
I appreciated the different sisters’ stories and perspectives while trying to live their lives as best they could. The way the novel jumps from past to present throughout the chapters is very interesting to me. For instance, Dede was brought back to present day when speaking to the interviewer, but seemed to be “going back into the past after hearing certain things about certain people” (Alvarez 66). She would often change back and forth throughout the chapter, keeping the reader involved with what events were happening during the time. Also, when the interviewer asked questions, “Dede feels as if she cannot carry off her responsibility by talking about the terrible past” but she realizes that this is the best thing to do for her family (Alvarez 65).
It made Melinda realize that being quiet, blowing off school and being antisocial is affecting her life in a big way. It is affecting her by making her lose her only friend, and feeling more isolated from everyone than she already is. Along with the troubles at school, Melinda is starting to feel very depressed, she goes home and takes action. One night she took a paper clip and cut her wrist. She is starting to inflict self harm.
It showed that the pressure of always being perfect and beautiful was hard on her. I also liked that most students can relate to being pressured to be something they’re not. I disliked that I felt the length of the book on multiple occasions. I identified with Paige because I have also been pressured to be someone I don’t want to be. In the story, Paige is pressured to be perfect and make no mistakes and this often happens in real life.
For instance when her older brother was in the hospital and he came and gave their mom his winter coat. He said “Give this to someone who will need it,” because he knew that he would be killed. What was especially heartbreaking was hearing about how all the children were being taken to the crematorium. Henia says “They were singing as they were getting on the train.” This by itself would be heart-wrenching but to also have to see a siblings do that would kill me.
Of all the characters, I have the most sympathy for Amy because she has gone through a lot and nobody else can really see the real Amy, instead they only see Amy the way rumors and stories say how she is. This is demonstrated throughout
One thing that I didn’t get during this book is how Callie didn’t talk for so long. If Callie would of talked sooner they could've helped her sooner. I believe that Callie is a very sweet girl and that it is so upsetting that she did that to herself. I think that if maybe people would of talked to her more before she was put into Sea Pines it would have helped her. I think that if Callie’s parents and everybody wouldn’t of stepped in then she wouldn’t of started to talk.
Some of the main issues and questions addressed in the book were, after being rapped she felt as if he aslant took all power from her she was no longer a regular eighteen-year-old college student. Was she going to be able to get back to who she was prior to the assault? At one point when she started walking to her campus after being assaulted, there were embarrassing stares as she walks to her campus residence she no longer felt powerful she felt
The film Shattered Glass is based off the true story of Stephen Glass, a journalist for the New Republic and how he published fake news stories. Glass published 41 stories in his career and 27 of them were factually false. He was exposed by his editor, Chuck Lane after an online journal discovered Glass’s Hack Heaven story was completely false. Chuck would later fact check all of Glass’s stories to find more false facts. Though all stories were supposed to go through a brutal fact and editor check all of Glass’s false stories were able to pass.
For my research paper, I want to explore how people born into poverty are resilient and hardworking individuals, opposed to lazy and hopeless individuals. This issue was seen in Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle throughout her childhood until she went to New York. During her childhood, Jeanette and her siblings were bullied. They were bullied because their clothes looked ratty, they looked greasy, and often times eat out of the garbage because their parents didn’t have enough money to buy food.
What I didn’t really like about it, was the lack of development for their relationship. To me, it seemed that she hated his guts, then boom! He says he is able to break her mother’s curse which makes her already attracted to him. I believe the author could’ve had the two slowly open up to each other, and maybe include a few awkward moments that shows the development of their love for each other. Despite the minor setback, I could not contain my excitement and muffled my squeals with a pillow.
Climate change has always been an aspect of the Earth, through mods such as the ice age, the Earth has changed. The issue that is being presented and investigated now is the speed of the change. This speed is the reason that both scientists and activists are looking around for answers. Science has always been part of the climate change debate. The research that has been put forth looking for solutions has been looking for more funding, as the issue of climate change is becoming more visible as well as people are becoming more aware of the problem.
