Name:Date:Period:

Glass Castle Reading Guide 2 – Pages 51-101

  1. As you read these 50 pages, keep a list of 10 specific, high-impact words that the author uses that you think makes the piece better. List the page number where you found each word. (DICTION)

1) 2) 3) 4) 5)

6) 7) 8) 9) 10)

  1. Jeannette describes the living conditions of her family’s new home in Battle Mountain. “Instead of beds, we kids each slept in a big cardboard box, like the ones refrigerators get delivered in. A little while after we’d moved into the depot, we heard Mom and Dad talking about buying us kids real beds, and we said they shouldn’t. We liked our boxes. They made going to bed seem like an adventure.” (PERSONAL RESPONSE)
  2. Would you feel the same way about the beds?
  1. In your opinion, how much adventure should parents allow their children to have?
  1. Rosemary says about the necessity of storing the piano outside: “‘Most pianists never get the chance to play in the great out-of-doors […] And now the whole neighborhood can enjoy the music, too.” What does this dialogue reveal about her personality? (CHARACTERIZATION)
  1. Identify this literary device from page 54, and explain what it means: “Dad said you could read my face like a traffic light.”
  1. How would you describe the mood of the last paragraph of page 56 and the two paragraphs on page 57? (From “We bought so much food […] to “[…] we didn’t even hear it.”) Find three quotations to support your answer. (MOOD)

Mood Words / Quotations
  1. After Jeannette and Brian set the shack on fire with their chemical experiment, Jeannette describes her father’s reaction: “[…] he pointed to the top of the fire, where the snapping yellow flames dissolved into an invisible shimmery heat that made the desert seem to waver, like a mirage. Dad told us that zone was known in physics as the boundary between turbulence and order. “It’s a place where no rules apply, or at least they haven’t figured ‘em out yet,” he said. “You-all got a little too close to it today.” How might the fire be a metaphor for the Walls family? (METAPHOR)
  1. Why do you think the author mentions the Green Lantern? How do you think it will factor into the plot? (FORESHADOWING)
  1. How do the Walls children deal with hunger? (PLOT)
  1. How does Rose Mary’s relationship with Lori and Jeannette work once she gets a job as a teacher? Give specific examples. (CHARACTERIZATION)
  1. Why does the Walls family leave Battle Mountain for Phoenix? (PLOT)
  1. How does what the author reveals about Rose Mary’s mother reveal something about why Rose Mary grew into the kind of person that she is? (CHARACTERIZATION)
  1. How might the following conversation reveal something about Rose Mary’s philosophy towards life? “Lori wanted Mom to try the glasses, too. Mom slipped them on and, blinking, looked around the room. She studied one of her own paintings quietly, then handed the glasses back to Lori./ ‘Did you see better?’ I asked./ ‘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.’” (THEME)
  1. How is the following conversation about more than just rocks? “‘You know, Mountain Goat, I still feel bad about making you leave your rock collection back in Battle Mountain,’ he said. ‘But we had to travel light.’/ ‘I know,’ I said. ‘It was more than one thing, anyway.’/ ‘I’m not so sure,’ Dad said. ‘Every damn thing in the universe can be broken down into smaller things, even atoms, even protons, so theoretically speaking, I guess you had a winning case. A collection of things should be considered one thing. Unfortunately, theory don’t always carry the day.’” (THEME)