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.
