Literary Device Page

1.) Settings: Nevada, Blythe, Battle Mountain, Las Vegas, San Francisco, California, Phoenix, Arizona, Welch place, their van the Green Caboose and the Blue Goose

2.) Point of View: From the First Person

3.) Style/Tone - What is Wall's narrative style? what words held build a tone and develop that narrative style?: Jeannette Walls narrative style is that she writes her memoir from her view as a child not how she sees it not. For example, she described things like they were no big deal and if nothing was wrong in the world. The tone changes almost every chapter, in one she is having fun and being the 8 year old girl that she is. But in other chapters it gets serious and dangerous. Some words that help build up a tone is when she describes her father when he is drunk, or when she goes into detail on describing feelings, objects, or settings.

4.) Mood - How does Walls create a mood using words and sentence structure?: Upbeat. Because it could be up beat good like when Rex is playing or doing something for his kids. Or it could be a bad upbeat like when Jeannette was basically raped by Billy, then he came to her house to shoot her and her siblings with a Bebe gun.

5.) Find a simile and/or a metaphor and explain the comparison: There is a simile on page 21 in Glass Castle and it says, "the sky at sunset looked like a sheet of fire". It is comparing the sky at sunset to a sheet of fire.

6.) Irony - Find and explain an example of situational or verbal irony. An example of this is on page 14 and it said, "you don’t have to worry anymore, baby,’ Dad said. ‘You’re safe now’”. This is Situational irony because he had just kidnapped her from the hospital after she was treated from her burns.


7.) Symbolism - Explain 3 of the most prevalent symbols in the book so far: One of the many symbols in the memoir is fire. this is brought up a lot in the story when Jeannette Walls got burned and when she constantly plays with it. Another symbol is the Joshua Tree, this is a symbol because Mary Walls, said that its constant struggle for survival creates it beauty. This could be referred to Jeannette because all of the things that goes on in her childhood and eventually she will survive and grow as a person. The last symbolism of the book would be the Walls transportation, if its the Green Caboose or the Blue Goose they are always in it. This symbolises their constant moving and traveling thought out the whole book.


8.) What themes are developed throughout the book thus far: One of the themes thus far is the loss of childhood for Jeannette. I say this because even though Rex and Mary Walls think that they are doing the right thing by living on the next pay check. Also she was raped by Billy and a crappy pedophile so that innocence was lost in her early childhood too.