Memoir Blog- The Glass Castle

"You can turn painful situations around through laughter. If you can find humor in anything, even poverty, you can survive it." -Bill Cosby

When reading the list of quotes to relate to The Glass Castle, the aforementioned one by Bill Cosby struck me as the perfect description for this memoir. In the beginning it was clear how Rex and Mary Rose Walls used humor as a sort of a tactic to distract their children from the severity of their living conditions. Although I honestly feel they were also doing it to divert their own attention from the hardships at hand, humoring themselves.  Obviously, since all the kids were so young and in awe of their parents "venturesome" outlook, this worked quite well. The children, up until a certain point, had an immense amount of faith in their parents, and would support their actions even if they deep down knew it was not in their best interest. Of course, harsh feelings would surface, but adding a joke or comical affirmation (especially coming from Rex) would lighten situations that most other parents would crumble in disgust and shame over. As time goes on, it becomes solely up to Jeannette, Lori, Brian and Maureen to fend for themselves and keep a (very) positive outlook during the especially tumultuous times in Welch, West Virginia. 

One incident which directly parallels the quote I chose occurs when Jeannette and her father are discussing the scorching heat, sitting on the porch of their dilapidated house.

"Dad started laughing. It was a silent laugh that made his shoulders shake, and the more he laughed, the funnier it seemed to him, which made him laugh even harder. I had to start laughing, too, and soon we were both hysterical, lying on our backs, tears running down our cheeks, slapping out feet on the porch floor"(189). 

Although the children eventually all separate from Rex and Mary Rose and each have their individual disputes with their parents, if it weren't for the initial lighthearted "adventures" they all experienced, the situation would have not resulted as it did- which I personally feel is uplifting rather than depressing, as some could possibly see it.

Extremely Loud, Question #13

I found Oskar's imagined responses to be absolutely hilarious, especially during the his Hamlet performance. Although when I really thought more into it, it seems more much more sad than funny... Oskar clearly has a lot of pent up agression, which is not only displayed by his bitter inner comments, but more obviously by the bruises he gives himself. Looking more specifically into his inner thoughts, they are so childish in nature compared to his usual "know-it-all" outlook. I feel like after his father died, Oskar experienced urges to imitate him, since he looked up to him so much. I looked it up and saw that this is actually common in children who have lost a parent. Oskar generally acts very mature, very meticulous, much like the descriptions of his father depict. I feel that since he was straining so much to achieve a certain persona, he lost sight of his juvenile 9 year old self, which led to all his imagined outbursts.

Another thing I found interesting is the way all the people involved in his life are put into a play script format (bottom of page 146). It just shows how confused he is, saying Dad dosen't make sense, Mom dosen't make sense, etc. He also imagines the audience praising him because he makes so much sense. Oskar just wants so badly for someone to understand him, to tell him what he's doing (the key search) and how he's feeling is perfectly fine. He's questioning so much at this point that even the childish imaginings of a crowd cheering will make up for how lost he feels. It's also so incredibly violent which is a side of Oskar we didn't see much of up until this point. I think maybe this approach with the people in his life as characters show that he wishes everything in his life could run smoothly as a play, and finally "make sense".