Glass Castle 2 . . .

. . . As I was reading in the glass castle this week, I came across a quote that I thought was pretty interesting. The protagonist, who's name I still don't know, is talking to her mom about this plant near their house known as the joshua tree. It grows at the base of a mountain in the desert of Nevada and constantly has the wind blowing it in one direction. Because of this it grew to look like the wind was constantly blowing on it. The protagonist wants to take it home and re-plant it so it could grow straight and tall. But her mother tells her " You'd be destroying what makes it special... Its the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty." ( walls p. 38 ) I liked this quote because i thought it really summed up the walls' parenting philosophy and idea of life in general . They never really baby their kids at all and, quite often, this puts their kids in danger. Although I am definitely not advocating this type of parenting, I'm starting to see that their motive for doing so is to help their kids build character. They think that making them face these impossible struggles will make them stronger people. And in most cases, they're right. At this point, it seems like their unorthodox parenting ideas are paying off in helping their kids gain confidence and resilience in every day life. But living so far removed from society has its price, and I think it will soon catch up with the Walls family . . . but I'll just have to read and find out.