Shawna Williams
Response to the Glass Castle
There were many instances within the Glass Castle in which Jeanette displayed one or more characteristics of a child who is academically gifted. One of the characteristics of such a child being that they learn things more quickly. The perfect example of this would be within the first couple of pages in the book when Jeanette burns herself cooking at the age of 3. I think this my first shock factor that a child at the age 3 would even be allowed near an open burner. The fact that she was cooking for herself added to my shock. All throughout the book Jeanette displays characteristics of learned things more rapidly including the area of reading. She at one point within her story described reading books that were of interest to her mother including books written by Charles Dickens and Williams Faulkner. These books are no doubt difficult for some adults to read. Another characteristic displayed by Jeanette was that of a stronger need to know. She was always curious about something. It seemed as if she and her brother were always experimenting with things. One instance of her strong curiosity was in the instance of the “cat house.” Jeanette was so curious in fact she sends her brother over to speak to the woman on the porch in order to gain a better understanding of what was taking place.
One indication of Jeanette's academic giftedness come in the form of strong communication skills. She and her father would sit up together and read books. When the two came to a word in which they did not understand then she and her father would look up the word in the dictionary. If at that point in time they didn’t agree on the definition in the dictionary, then Jeanette and her father would write to the publisher suggesting a different definition. I personally think that it is a great feat to have a book published and such an act also indicates her ability to communicate various ideas.
All throughout the book Jeanette maintains an intense interest towards various topic of science, especially that of rocks. She begins a rock collection and makes necklaces for her mother from the rocks that she finds. She goes into deep detail about the types of rocks she had and the different things that she does with them. In one instance she pounds the mica down into a powder and rubs the powder all over her body to make it glitter.
I think one of the more significant traits that Jeanette displayed as a means of her academic ability one one in which she was able to sense the discrepancies in her surroundings. She does this on several different occasions one being the time in which Bryan, her brother, came screaming out of the other room claiming that their grandmother was a pervert. Jeanette makes a connection as such a young age that is crucial in understanding the actions of the father. She realizes that her dad was probably touched by his mother in much of the same way and probably is cause for some of the dis functionality that he displays. Jeanette also realizes a discrepancy in her mothers work performance and the expectations set out by the school officials. When her mother gets a job the principal quickly catches on and realizes that their hiring her was a bad decision. However Jeanette and her sister step up to the plate and help their mother grade papers so that their mother does not appear to fall behind. In one instance they allow themselves to be spanked by their mother in hopes to demonstrate that their mother did in fact have control of the classroom.