The Glass Castle Characters

Girl on FireIf you need a hot dog, ask Jeannette Walls. She's been cooking them since she was three-year-old, so she's an expert. The first line of her childhood memoir is "I was on fire" (2.1.1),...

Tyrannosaurus RexRex Walls resembles a terrible sitcom dad, like Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin, except he's not a cartoon. The problems Rex causes have real consequences that aren't solved in 30 m...

Center of the UniverseMom treads the fine line between optimism and delusion. This could be a positive thing, we suppose, but the fact is that Mom spends more time on the delusion side of the fence...

Big SisterLori is the oldest Walls child. She's naturally smart, and she develops "a bit of a sarcastic streak" (3.6.18) as a defense mechanism as she gets older. She and Jeannette make a good team...

Baby BrotherJeannette is totes proud of her younger brother. She only shares the good things he does, and she portrays him in a very positive light. Jeannette never casts herself or her siblings as...

The Other OneMaureen is the youngest of the family. We know little about her, because it seems that Jeannette doesn't understand her baby sister. Maureen's the oddball of the family. She has nightm...

Bad GrandmaIf you think Jeannette's parents are the worst, you clearly didn't read Part III, which deals with the kids living with Dad's mom, Erma. Erma is a humorless, racist child molester—or,...

Guilt by AssociationSome people, like Erma, are terrible people because they do terrible things. Mom even makes a Hitler reference with Erma. When she tells Jeannette that everyone has good qualiti...

While living with her racist grandmother, Jeannette makes friends with a black girl at her school. Jeannette doesn't do this to rebel. In fact, Dinitia and Jeannette start as enemies. Dinitia bulli...

Jeannette always wanted to know what a prostitute does. Her liberal parents are oddly prudish when it comes to sex, so this remains a mystery to her until she meets a friend's mother, Ginnie Sue Pa...