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

The above line perfectly characterizes one of the central themes of Jeannette Walls’ memoir, “The Glass Castle”. It is important to be able to laugh, even in the direst of situations; one must find light in the darkest of times. In “The Glass Castle” humor is used extensively to alleviate the tensions that accompany poverty and assuage any negative feelings thereof.

In this memoir, Jeannette (the main character) is raised in poverty, living a nomadic lifestyle running from bill collectors with the rest of her family. Her father has a gambling problem and drinking problem, using much of the family’s (very short supply of) money to fuel his two vices. Despite her father’s shortcomings, he is generally a good man and shows a great deal of love and affection for his children. One way that he expresses his love is via his use of humor in situations that would not be typically considered comical. For example, when Jeannette was thrown out of a moving car because the door spontaneously opened, her father ran over to her and said, “You busted your snot locker pretty good”, hoping to cheer her up and give levity to the situation. His tactics proved effectual, for Jeannette ran back to the car and joked to her mother and siblings about her broken “snot locker”. In this instance, her father truly made the best of a bad situation by taking it lightheartedly and using humor to help his daughter forget her pain. Often that is what humor can be used for—forgetting pain, be it physical, emotional, or both.

The previous example offered humor as a remedy for physical pain; contrastingly, here is an example for the alleviation of emotional pain: Throughout her childhood, Jeannette referred to her family’s moving habits as “skedaddle”. Each time that her family would have to sporadically move due to financial dangers, they would play “skedaddle”, as if moving were a game or an adventure. “Skedaddle” is used as a playful euphemism, giving a lighthearted feel to a quite serious predicament. Here, the use of such a humorous and jubilant term also gives levity to the situation. The children are able to forget about their family’s struggles and poverty by turning it into a game. This is reminiscent of children playing “eviction” in the streets during the Great Depression of 1920s America.

Aside from direct humor and laughter, it is also important to keep a positive attitude when life gets difficult; much of the time, without a good outlook, it is impossible to push forward. Such a positive outlook is infused with creativity when Jeannette’s father gives his children starts for gifts. One Christmas, he was unable to afford gifts for the family, so he took them outside and let each of them pick out a star, forever to be theirs. This was a clever way to avoid negative feelings around Christmas time, and to keep their spirits high. He was using his easygoing and lighthearted nature to help his family temporarily forget the hardship of their lives.

Throughout Jeannette's childhood, her mother and father's optimistic views helped her get by. Not only did their "games" and "adventures" help the children, but it also helped the parents as well. Her parents needed positive reassurance perhaps even moreso than the children did, because if the parents were unable to remain hopeful and cautiously optimistic, the children would have suffered much more. Without the laughter and (false/ignorant) joy to help her cope with her situation, Jeannette would have never been able to escape from the economic snare that she was born into.

"The Worst Day"

(I chose the topic of "The Worst Day" because no one has chosen it, so I figured i will endeavor on uncovered territory...)

Oskar, the nine year old narrator suffering from the death of his father and dealing with a fragile mental state, refused to name September 11th by date; he simply referred to it as "the worst day". He makes no direct reference to 9/11 throughout the entire novel. There are several effects of the absence of such direct mention, demonstrating exactly how carefully Foer uses every single word.

The primary effect of Oskar’s manner of referencing 9/11 is that it presents the day from a definitive point of view. By calling it “the worst day”, Oskar is presenting his opinion as fact, defining it not as his worst day, but as the worst day. Such authoritative reference to 9/11 shows exactly how deeply Oskar was affected. Throughout the novel, Oskar consistently states facts, rarely espousing his opinions to others. He more frequently quoted data and statistics than he did opinions. In the instance of calling it “the worst day”, Oskar is stating his opinion as fact. Certainly not everyone in the world views September 11th as the worst day, but he feels so strongly that he presents it as such; he deviates from his usually objective nature, referencing the day solely with his conclusive belief.

Also, “worst” is a definitive word. Amongst his references to the Dresden bombings and the bombing of WWII Japan, the terroristic events of September 11th are mentioned. The bombing of Hiroshima resulted in over 140,000 deaths, the bombing of Dresden 40,000, and The World Trade Center 3,000. The personal impact of the loss of his father drove Oskar to categorize September 11th as “the worst day”, even though both Dresden and Hiroshima were significantly more catastrophic. The numbers of deaths did not matter as much to Oskar; the single death of his father is what drove him to such despair—understandably so. Foer wrote Oskar to speak with uncharacteristic definitiveness about this day as to further exemplify its personal effects.

Finally, the most obvious reason for saying “the worst day” was Oskar’s avoidance. Oskar was unable to call this date by name. Oskar’s indirect references to the day depict his overwhelming pain and intense inner struggle. Because of the loss of his father, it was too painful for him to say the date of his father’s death. It was as if he was attempting to forget the date, to push it out of his mind as to be able to think of his father as if he were still alive. By giving his father’s death a date, his father was gone forever, conclusively—that is the opposite of what Oskar wanted. Oskar’s inner struggle to accept his father’s death emblematized the inner struggle and pain that all of the families of victims faced, as well as the denial and confusion of a country wary of an impending plunge into economic despair and military turmoil.