The Glass Castle: Motifs

Blog #3: Motifs
The Walls family was constantly “doing the skedaddle.” The reoccurring idea of running away from the problems in their life spurs from the fact that the parents, Rex and Rose Mary Walls, cannot keep a steady life in one place. This contributes to the author’s purpose of writing her memoir because it reiterates the constant struggle of her childhood: always having to start a new life, try to be accepted in a new school in, more often than not, a new state.
The nickname that Rex gives to Jeannette, “mountain goat,” seems to only be said when Jeanette and Rex are having a special moment or when he is asking her to do something t for him. For example, when he gives all the kids stars for Christmas, Jeannette comes out for “her turn,” Rex addresses her as “mountain goat.” And during Jeannette’s younger years, Jeannette becomes frightened when she imagines an intruder in the house, to calm her down Rex suggests they go and search for the “monster (36-37).” Throughout their search he repeats “mountain goat” to establish a close relationship between them. However as the novel progresses, Rex repeats the nickname mostly when he is asking for something. And as Jeannette gets older, Rex finds it harder and harder to persuade her to do favors for him, such as asking for money to buy more alcohol. So in these instances, he repeats “mountain goat” as a strategy to make Jeannette remember the times when she believed in him, which, in turn, convinces her to listen to him.
Throughout the novel, Rex and Rose Mary Walls are constantly fighting about how the other spends their time. Rose Mary had her painting and Rex had her drinking. However, both would yell at the other for wasting their time when they are doing the exact same thing: wasting time doing something that will not benefit their living conditions in any way. These activities simply took money away from things that could be doing to receive or save money.