TOW #8 - IRB Post #2

Throughout The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls employs many rhetorical devices effectively to help her tell the story of her life, specifically life with her father. The Glass Castle is brimming with symbolism, the most evident of that being the actual idea of a glass castle. Ever since she could remember, her father promised her that when they struck gold and became rich, he would build her and the family this glass castle. No matter where his crazy shenanigans took them all around the country, building this glass castle was always the ultimate goal. This childhood idea shared between Jeanette and her father showed her belief that her father was a hero and could do the impossible. Towards, the end of the book, when he tells her he is dying, he says, "'Never did build that Glass Castle [...] Those were some damn fine plans" (Walls 279). Even though they never got to build it, the castle symbolizes that her dad would have given her the world if he could have. Even though the dream was lost, it is truly the thought behind it and the fun they had planning it together that counted. It was symbolic of the building of their relationship and the indestructible love shared between a father and his daughter. Imagery is another factor that aided Walls in the formation of her story. It plays a huge part in getting her emotion across to the reader. An example of this is when her father is walking her to the train station to leave for New York, and he would, "make a tocking sound with his tongue as if I were a horse and he was urging me on. It seemed to make him feel like he was doing what a father should, plucking up his daughters courage, helping her face the terrors of the unknown" (Walls 240). He then gives her a parting gift, "his favorite jackknife, the one with the horn handle and the blade of the blue German steel that we'd used for Demon Hunting" (Walls 240). Her description of the way her father acts shows the audience that she realizes her father is at least attempting to be a good dad and that he loves her. The description of the  jackknife is again another form of symbolism, showing that she will take her childhood ( the "demon hunting")and her father with her into adulthood, which helps the audience see that she loves her father too. Symbolism and imagery are two huge factors in The Glass Castle that help Walls in describing her life and the bond between her and her father.