The Glass Castle — Vocabulary
Jeannette Walls
(Edited)

"Everyone has something good about them," she said. "You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that."p.144.8alternate pages5 more

When we wanted money, we walked along the roadside picking up beer cans and bottles that we redeemed for two cents each.p.62.1alternate pages5 more

Mom let us grade papers that had multiple-choice, true-false, and fill-in-the-blank answers—just about anything except essay questions, which she thought she had to evaluate because they could be answered correctly in all sorts of different ways.p.74.7alternate pages2 more

Mom and Dad liked to make a big point about never surrendering to fear or to prejudice or to the narrow-minded conformist sticks-in-the-mud who tried to tell everyone else what was proper.p.103.9alternate pages1 more

I nodded and smiled back, then I realized there was something malicious in her smile.p.137.7alternate pages1 more

"Look at it from his perspective," Mom said.p.263.8alternate pages

It was true that many grown-ups in Welch talked about how senior year in high school was the highlight of their lives.p.236.5alternate pages1 more

She positively glowed as she told me about the hot meals and the hot showers and all the friends she'd made.p.218.2alternate pages8 more

But the positive thoughts would give way to negative thoughts, and the negative thoughts seemed to swoop into her mind the way a big flock of black crows takes over the landscape, sitting thick in the trees and on the fence rails and lawns, staring at you in ominous silence.p.207.4alternate pages8 more

Fussing over children who cry only encourages them, she told us. That's positive reinforcement for negative behavior.p.28.3alternate pages4 more

"I'm not being negative," I said. "I'm trying to be realistic."p.187.9alternate pages4 more

But Mom and Dad were clearly proud, and as I listened to them talk ... about their fellow squatters and the friends they'd made in the neighborhood and the common fight against the city's housing agency,p.267.4alternate pages5 more

As someone who could make them famous among their peers, I was no longer a person to be trifled with.p.231.6alternate pages

Welch wasn't like those other places we had lived, he said. There were rules that had to be followed, and people didn't take it kindly when you flouted them.p.145.9alternate pages

"Everyone assumed I was a normal person," she said. "It was weird." Then she told me that it had occurred to her that if she got out of Welch, and away from the family, she might have a shot at a happy life.p.218.3alternate pages5 more

He grabbed Dad by the shoulder, but Dad pushed him off and assumed a fighting stance.p.109.7alternate pages5 more

Dad whipped us with his belt, but never out of anger, and only if we back-talked or disobeyed a direct order, which was rare.p.59.3alternate pages2 more

He wanted me to accompany him on a business trip.p.210.8alternate pages1 more

I expected him to turn and walk away, but there were six stinging blows on the backs of my thighs, each accompanied by a whistle of air.p.220.8alternate pages1 more

When Mom told me I was so focused it was scary, I know she didn't mean it as a compliment, but I took it that way.p.208.9alternate pages4 more