Post #3: Everything is usually better in the morning

I've always noticed that most of the thrilling things happen at night. For example, in movies when is there ever a fight between two drunks in a bar in the middle of the day? Hardly ever. It's always at night (or really early morning). The darkness of the night just makes people do crazy (and sometimes stupid) things. The next morning usually brings a clearer head that can come with regret, confusion, and embarrassment. Ever hear the expression, "Sleep on it"? That's because everyone typically makes better decisions after resting.

 

Parents (and people in general) tend to argue a lot. It can even become routine for families who have a drinking father:
He drinks after work. He gets drunk and angry. He begins to yell at the mother about stupid things. She tries to defend herself. It's a lot of yelling. Children become scared. Everyone falls asleep eventually feeling bitter or afraid. They wake up the next morning and hardly ever bring up the night before. Apologies may or may not be said. Everyone tries to be extra nice to each other. The night before feels like just a bad dream. Yet it happens again that night. It's a never-ending pattern.

The Wall's family is also experiencing this. The author recounts one time when they were driving and her mother was pregnant at the time. She announced that she believed the baby would be coming soon and Rex and her disagreed about how long she had been pregnant. He had been drinking and accused her of messing up in her counting. The author quoted her parents' argument and her mother eventually slammed her foot on her husband's which was resting on the brake pedal. The car screeched to a stop and the mother leaped out of the car and ran into the darkness. Rex chased her and cussed at her, telling her to get back in the car. Eventually he cornered her and drug her back into the car as she cried and screamed.

The author says her parents make up the next morning. Everyone seems to be in a good mood and when her mother cuts her father's hair he exclaims that she did an amazing job. I doubt a word was mentioned about the night before. Drunks usually don't remember what they did so they don't apologize.

Post #2: Nobody is 100% good or evil

Humans aren't perfect. They also aren't the opposite of perfect (I don't mean flawed or imperfect, I mean the absolute polar opposite of perfection. That is, to be completely useless and flawed. It's a concept which is beginning to hurt my head to think about, like the size of space. Ouch.) Anyway, humans are a combination of both good and bad. Maybe not a fifty-fifty split because that's still perfection in a sense. The mixture varies from person to person based on billions of factors and conditions.

After that philosophical rant, I'd like to explain what it has to do with The Glass Castle. I'd like to point out that it would be easy to fill these blog posts with my reactions to the terrible things that Rex Walls, the author's father, does. It'd be easy to call him an awful person and move on. But the thing is, Rex Walls isn't a rotten human being. Nobody is rotten. People simply behave rotten from time to time. This concept also applies to adjectives such as "nice", "friendly", and any other adjective that is used describe a human's personality.

Rex Walls drinks, makes threats to hurt his wife, drowns kittens, makes up stories about him being a hero, and forces his kids to lose their childhood by teaching them the hard truths of life. But while those actions are generally viewed as unacceptable, there is always another side to them. Alcohol is addicting and maybe he can't stop. He loves his wife and rescued the kittens then decided to drown them. He just wants to make his kids think he was an amazing dad and doesn't want them to grow up not knowing what's out in the real world. Maybe these are merely excuses that don't give him the right to do those actions. But I've got to admit, his heart seems to be in the right place. Some of his actions show he tries to hard to be a good person. For example, Rex rescues a lot of cats. He tries to help them but when they reproduce and become too much to handle he kills them. He started out doing a good deed but tried too hard, saved too many cats, and the alcohol probably let him think it was okay to drown the cats.

That is why I wholeheartedly believe that no person is entirely good or bad. Each person is a mix of both and that's just the way it is.

Post #1: Before Reading

By definition, alcoholism is an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness and compulsive behavior resulting from alcohol dependency. It is not only hard on the drunk's health, but it also takes its toll on his/her family as well. Trust me, I know from experience. The Glass Castle is a memoir told by a girl named Jeannette Walls who grew up with a father who drank and an irresponsible mother. I chose to read this book because I've heard many stories about terrible fathers who drink and mothers who are too afraid to walk away with the children. Many of my friends live(d) through this and so do I. That's why I want to hear Jeannette's story. Because the more stories I hear and the more failing families I see, the more it inspires me not to be like those families. It drives me to be a better person and to not let people (especially men) manipulate me, because I want to be a good parent.

In addition, hearing about people who go through similar things in life creates a special bond between those people because they can relate, understand, and sympathize with each other. Humans as a species like to be understood and cared about. That's why most people share their heartbreaking stories: so other humans will feel sorry for them and want to help forming friendship. Others, like Jeanette Walls, tell their tales in order to help those who feel similar pain feel less alone.

This song is one of my favorites and I was listening to it while proofreading and I realized it fits the concept of two people exchanging their bad expirences to help each other feel better and less alone. I personally can relate to the song which is one reason why I love it so much.

I look forward to reading Wall's memoir and learning about her life. I also admire her for raising above her family's issues to not only become successful, but to have the bravery to write the book.