Poverty In The Glass Castle, By Jeannee Castle

Jeannette Wall’s memoir, The Glass Castle, talks about the hardships and challenges that she and her family had to suffer from, as they were constantly running out of the food and cash, leading them to move from places to places such as Battle mountain in Nevada, Phoenix in Arizona, Welch in West Virginia, New York City and so on in the search of survival. Some places provided a better quality of live , while some worsen it. Thus, the author and her family were living under the condition of the poverty, where they had to struggle for the basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter by not getting adequate resources to support the minimum level of their physical health.

Jeannette talks about the first place that she remembered living

Sometimes they didn 't get the pure water to drink and so they will rely on the unpurified and ditched water. They would use just a cup of water to wash themselves, and instead of the toothpaste, they would use baking soda mixed with hydrogen peroxide to clean their teeth. Since they mostly went barefoot, their soles were also tough and thick. She would say, “We were sort of like the cactus. We ate irregularly, and when we did, we 'd gorge ourselves “(Walls, 12). Since they were living interest at that time, she compares their eating condition like cactus, i.e. eating a lot when available. For instance, when a train filled with cantaloupes jumped the track, all they had for breakfast, lunch and dinner was “fresh cantaloupe, stewed cantaloupe, even fried cantaloupe “(Walls, 12). This is how they used to live their life with no future plans or safety. There was no stability in their life in terms of food, living, and

They were often forced to steal the clothes from the store because of not having money to buy new clothes. “I would create a ruckus to distract the clerk while Mom hid a dress under a raincoat she would be carrying on her arm “(Walls, 70). The authors’s life as a kid was different as compared to other kids. She just had three dresses and so had to wear them two or three times each week. She use to look pretty dirty because of the worn clothes. “They called me poor and ugly and dirty, and it was hard to argue the point “(Walls, 87) but like Erma said, “ Beggars can’t be choosers “(Walls, 82), she had no choice than to wear those dirty clothes. There were times, when they didn 't care about their health. "Mom, that ham 's full of maggots," I said. "Don 't be so picky," she told me. "Just slice off the maggoty parts. The inside 's fine “ (Walls, 106). Thus, this clearly shows how poverty left them no choice but to eat the ham full of