Adult Children in The Glass Castle and A Mother in Mannville

The novel The Glass Castle and the short story A Mother in Mannville both tell the story of a child with a disastrous childhood. Jeannette in The Glass Castle, whose parents were irresponsible, lived a nomadic life when she was young. Jerry in A Mother in Mannville, an orphan, didn’t have parents at all. However, the protagonists in the two stories both had special qualities different from other children and acted in more adult ways than other children. Miserable childhood didn’t ruin them, but shaped a similar positive character and personality.

I think it’s necessary to share a brief introduction of what happened on these two kids. Jerry was sent to an orphanage at the age of 4. He lived a really difficult life in the orphanage. When the narrator met him the first time, Jerry “(was) undersized” and “wore overalls and a torn shirt, and was barefooted”. Jeannette’s situation was worse. She had two careless and irresponsible parents. And it proved even worse than no parents! I’m really angry when I read the irresponsible behaviors of her parents in The Glass Castle. They didn’t take care of Jeannette, even expecting their 3-year-old daughter to cook for herself. When Jeannette was in the hospital, one of the other two children was stung by a poisonous scorpion and the youngest one fell off the back of the couch, eliciting this reaction from their father, “The floor took more damage than he did”. Jeanette’s mother didn’t care about anything, even the death of her second daughter. And her father was rude and he always used vulgar language. He also had some paranoia and drinking problem. Consequently Jeannette and Jerry developed similar characters in three aspects.

Firstly, they both had firm granite characters. They didn’t give up when they faced the formidable obstacles. Jeannette got burnt because of cooking hotdogs for herself when she was 3 years old. As a patient in the operation room she exhibited no fear. When nurses consoled her and said “everything would be okay, she responded: “if I’m not, that’s okay, too.” Her family started the skedaddle when she was about 4. They lived in the car, chased by bill collectors. Sometimes Jeannette strolled around barefoot in the hot desert. But she never complained about anything. As for Jerry, although at first he was looked down upon by the narrator with a bad manner, he still went out and chopped the wood with rhythmic and steady blows and did a marvelous great job that caused the narrator change her mind.

Secondly, they were both incredibly independent. They were more like grown-ups than children. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette cooked when she was 3. She was “pretty good with Dad’s pistol” when she was 4. Jerry had something more than independent. The narrator called it “integrity”. Most dictionaries describe this word as “honest and firm in one’s moral principles”. While if we trace the etymology of the word, we can find the word is evolved from “integer”, which means a sense of wholeness and perfect condition. Therefore, I prefer to describe the integrity of Jerry as “perfect personality and fully human”. Jerry always took responsibility without subterfuge. In A Mother in Mannville, the handle of the ax was broken but he stood back of his own carelessness.

Last but not least, although they never complained about their conditions, they were still eager for love. That was the pathos of these two stories. The little kids didn’t express their longing for love and unfortunately there’s really no one give them the love. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette felt happy staying in the hospital forever, which most people would love to leave as soon as possible. Besides the cleaner and quieter environment, the care of doctors and nurses is one of the most significant factors. She had never enjoyed the feeling of care and concern before. More evidence of her longing for love is that Jeannette cried and felt sore after tumbling out of the car. She didn’t cry when she was burnt and needed to have surgery. I propose she cried in this case because she was afraid of being abandoned by her families. She regarded the company of the family members as the precious love. Jerry in A Mother in Mannville. He didn’t have a mom, and he adopted a mother figure, the narrator herself, to try to find maternal love. What’s interesting is that Jerry told the narrator that he had a mom and he was “plainly proud” when he mentioned his mother and his gifts from his mom when the relationship between Jerry and the narrator became really close. Consequently this caused the narrator to become angry and disappointed and decide to leave. But finally she learned that everything about Jerry’s mom wasn’t true. Jerry pretended that he had a mom who loved him because he really wanted a mom. But it’s really confusing that he told his story to the narrator. From my own perspective, he wanted to protect the narrator as well as himself. He knew that sooner or later the mother figure would leave and he didn’t want to make both of them stuck in the dilemma. Jerry “went over the hill into the laurel” on the day the narrator left, which may imply that he missed her and he missed the feeling of being loved.

All in all, these two brilliant works show the fickleness of the world and the inconstancy of human relationships. These two adult children also show us that the calamitous growing environment doesn’t always ruin the child but can also build a strong child with firm granite characters.