Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 12 · column 6 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
mother and uncle. After traveling from “pillar to post” us my grandmother would have said, the family settles in Welch. West Virginia, where they live without running water or heat for years. I could hardly believe their level of poverty This way of life is the dark side of nonmaterialism and “freedom. Walls's skillful portrayal of her memories convinced me of their truth even as I marveled at the survival of the children as they escape from this hardscrabble childhood and make successful lives as adults. As an educator. I again wondered about that elusive quality called “resilience which some children seem to have and some don't. How is it that some young people can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” after appalling experience's as children, while for others, a relatively minor negative experience seems to permanently wound the young person and obstruct his path to success?
Recently, watching the movie Into the Wild. I saw another portrayal of these nomadic families, living on the "slabs” in the desert out West. I realized that another society of adults and children apparently exists parallel to the one we represent. seeking to free themselves of the “ties that bind.” whether governmental or societal. Walls' account makes it difficult to endorse this lifestyle, though she has clearly survived it and established herself as a successful writer.
Readers of this memoir learn about another way of life, perhaps found not too long ago in the hollows of Rappahannock County. All will set the autobiography down thankful for all that we have and determined not to complain about the relatively few hardships we may have experienced. In this sense. The Glass Castle may offer an appropriate antidote to all those challenges of life.
43.5%