TOW #12: "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls (Part 1)

     The first half of The Glass Castle consists primarily of Jeannette Walls's travels through the southwestern United States as a child and how it shaped her view on childhood. Growing up without a secure home, Walls found herself in a new town almost every week, which is what makes up the bulk of the book. Through the stories of her journey, Walls appeals to her audience made up of people who grew up with an ordinary childhood and achieves her purpose of effectively illustrating her thoughts as a child growing up with her unstable family in her memoir with the help of vivid imagery.
     Walls begins her memoir with a story about how when she was three years-old, she was once left unattended at the stove when making hot dogs. This detail would appall her readers, since many of them are not used to the idea of a very young girl cooking hot dogs alone. She continued her story by adding that her dress caught on fire and she ended up in the hospital with severe burns. After such a traumatic event, one might believe that the child would grow up to have a fear with fire. This was different in Walls's case: she became fascinated with it. She ponders this fascination when she writes, "I loved the scratching sound of the match against the sandpapery brown strip when I struck it, and the way the flame leaped out of the red-coated tip with a pop and a hiss. I'd feel its heat near my fingertips, then held my breath until the moment when they seemed about to blaze up out of control" (15). Through this use of imagery, Walls effectively conjures up the feelings of excitement and curiosity she felt as a child when playing with fire, therefore achieving her purpose of portraying her thoughts as a child with an unusual home life.
     Walls is credible because The Glass Castle is the story about her own life. Her aforementioned use of imagery also strengthens her credibility because it aids her in depicting the thoughts and ideas that she had as a child. Jeanette Walls achieves her purpose of characterizing herself as a child and therefore describing for her audience an unusual childhood in The Glass Castle with her use of stirring imagery.