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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do Jeannette and Brian find when they are foraging in the woods?

2. What does Jeannette do with the stolen item from her job?

3. Where is Rose Mary living at the time of the Thanksgiving dinner?

4. Where does Jeannette get a job in Part 3?

5. Who is Dinitia?

Short Essay Questions

1. What happens when Jeannette makes an attempt to fix up her family's ramshackle home in West Virginia?

2. What are some of the reasons that the children do not like going to school in Welch?

3. Why does the owner of the paper that Jeannette works for talk her out of taking a job at his newspaper?

4. After the incident between the children and Erma, what does Jeannette begin to wonder about her father?

5. What are Jeannette's feelings towards her parents by the end of the book?

6. Why does Rose Mary quit her job, and what is Jeannette's reaction?

7. What are some examples of how the Walls parents fail to provide for their children's needs during this first year in Welch?

8. Why does Rose Mary decide to hang on to the diamond ring that the children find in the woods rather than selling it for much needed money? What does this say about her priorities?

9. Describe Rex and Rose Mary's living arrangements and lifestyle in New York.

10. How does Rex, despite all of his problems, show his devotion to Jeannette during her college years?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Jeannette's relationship with her mother is conflicted, yet she still feels a fondness and compassion for her as an adult. Discuss the relationship between these two women by answering the following questions:

1) How would you characterize the relationship between the two?

2) How does each of these women play both an adult and a child's role?

3) How does the relationship between them change over time?

Essay Topic 2

Although life is very difficult in the Walls household, one way that the children cope is through depending on each other. Describe the relationship between the children: Brian, Lori, Jeannette, and Maureen and how they depend on and take care of each other. What roles do each of these children play within the family? Cite specific examples from the book.

Essay Topic 3

The title of the memoir is significant in its symbolism as something unfinished, or unrealized within the author's family. Discuss the title and its significance, considering the following:

1) How does the glass castle represent the unrealized dreams of the family, or the things that the family may never have?

2) What does the glass castle mean to Rex? How does it represent Rex's unrealized potential?

2) Why do you feel that the author chose this title? How does it relate to the memoir as a whole, and to her feelings about her childhood?

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