Literary Terms

Symbolism

1. Once she even takes her favorite toy, a plastic Tinkerbelle figurine, and holds its face to a flame. Before she can pull it away, the face begins to melt. She puts bandages on it, but she wishes she could perform a skin graft like she received. Of course, she knows that would mean cutting Tinkerbelle into pieces.
              This is a symbolism of Jeannette and her life. When she was little, she was cooking herself hotdogs and lit herself on fire by accident and then began to be very obsessed with fire. She ends up lighting her favorite doll on fire. The doll is a symbol of Jeannette being lit on fire and also it symbolizes her life and how it continuously falls apart.

2. "Dad always tells bedtime stories that are always about him."(57)
             When Rex always tells stories about himself it shows his need for his children to believe in hi. The children completely believe that their father is an extremely intelligant man and truely believe that he is an inventor. He feeds on the childrens faith, and if they stop believing in him he resorts to drinking. Also when he tells stories about himself it makes him feel powerful and makes him feel like he can do anything. 
3. In the novel the children's Uncle Stanley (Rex's brother) molests Jeannette when she goes to their house to shower because their "new" home does not have a running water system. When Jeannette tells her mother
when uncle stanley molests her, she tells her that sexual assult only hurts you if you let it. Mary then paints a picture of a women downing. This symbolises her losing hope in the family and their well being. Also if shows she is losing control and might not be able to save herself.

Irony

4. It is ironic that the first thing Jeannette’s Mom begins to talk about is Picasso.
          This is ironic because the Wall's are a very low class family and are homeless. Most homeless people and low class families do not know about high class artists and educational things.

5. Jeannette’s mother disapproves of her hum chewing and calls it a low-class habit.
            This is ironic because they are low-class people, so she in contradicting herself
Mood

6. The mood is upsetting because the whole time Jeanette is explaining the troubling things she had to experience while growing up.

7. Another mood is when the family is at Battle Mountain. The family is finally happy and is doing well for themselves and have complete faith in eachother.
 Theme

8. A theme that occurs throughout the book is forgiveness because Jeanette constantly forgives her parents for never doing what's right for them.

9. Bravery is a theme that occurs in the novel because Jeanette and her siblings have to be brave every day dealing with the people that bully them at school and living with their alcoholic father.

Foreshawdow

10. When Jeannette is older and living a luxiourous life in New York City she sees her mother on the side of the road picking through a dumpster. This is a foreshawdow because this is how her life was growing up and it shows the reader a quick insight on her childhood.

11. When Jeannette and her father go to a bar, he orders two beers for the both of them even though she asks for a sprite. This is foreshawdowing that Rex is giving a signal to other men that she is of age and available. 

Flashback

12. The beginning of the novel is Jeanette when she's older while the rest of the story is a flashback of her life story.

Metaphor

13. In the novel, the main focus is the "glass castle" that they are searching for. The father says everything they do and all the money they work for is to build this glass castle where everything would be perfect for them. The father digs for gold, and he is always digging for the gold, which in comparison is the glass castle. The digging of the glass castle only leads to be filled with garbage and dissapointment.