The Glass Castle Movie and Book Comparison

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a favorite of my students, so I was excited about the movie that was released in August. I'm hoping it will bring more attention to this book that has so fully engaged my students. You can read about my experience with it in the classroom in my blog post here.

Usually, I'm disappointed with the movie version of any book, and I was worried when I went to see it, because The Glass Castle is dear to my heart. In fact, I was prepared to be disappointed, and even angry if they messed with it too much.

They did mess with it, but I was pleasantly surprised. Better yet, I immediately saw how this movie would work perfectly with the book for a compare/contrast assignment.

Some of the changes they made from the book to the movie are evident right away. The main change is that the book opens with Jeannette as an adult, and then tells a linear story from when she was three years old to her adulthood. The movie alternates between her adult self coming to grips with her childhood, shown through a series of flashbacks. It works. There is certainly a different dynamic, but I found it interesting and the integrity of the story held. My first thought after the movie was how this structural differences would be excellent fodder for a comparison discussion with the book. Why did the director make this choice? How did it change the perception of the viewer/reader? Which version was more effective?

The other changes seemed like necessities of the format, such as skipping over locations and storylines to fit the time constraints. The movie also makes a main character out of Jeannette's fiancé, who is a minor player in the book. These are also good discussion points about how these choices affected the story.

The Glass Castle is not an easy story. It dredges up powerful emotions in many, and has mature themes and storylines, but it is not easily forgotten. Jeannette's ability to forgive and to craft a bright future for herself are uplifting and inspiring in the end, and the movie brings this into clear focus once again.

The Glass Castle in the classroom

One of the reasons I'm a teacher:
I assigned The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls to my Humanities class. A 55-year-old man in my class admitted to me that he'd never read a whole book in his entire life. He'd faked it through school. I encouraged him to give it a try, that he could do it. I promised him he would love it. I crossed my fingers and encouraged, encouraged, encouraged. He did it, he loved it, and still, he contacts me occasionally to tell me how proud he was of his accomplishment and how much he loved that class.

I teach school year-round, so we're headed into the last few weeks of a quarter. In one class, we're wrapping up our study on The Glass Castle. It's an unconventional choice for a novel study, because it's a memoir, not a novel, but as the students turn in their final essays and give their oral presentations, I'm reminded why I choose this book for my classroom, and that my former student's experience with the book isn't all that unique.

First, I've never had a student, out of many hundreds, who has not enjoyed the book, or at least could relate to it in some way. Many of my students don't like to read, or don't think they can get through a book, just like my former student. The teenagers like it just as well as he did. It matters to me that my students like what we read, because more will actually read it, and I want them to have a good experience. I think back to my days studying literature, and how excruciating it was to write papers and give presentations on something I hated.

Second, it's well written, and functions as a novel for study purposes. There are plenty of themes, symbolism, plot, round characters and everything else you would want from a good novel. The fact that it is true adds another level that the students appreciate. The most popular presentation choice is finding out where the characters are now and what they are doing.

Finally, I never get tired of teaching it. Since the students engage with it and are excited to talk about it, I always find something new. Students tend to relate the things that happened in Jeannette Walls' life to their own in incredible ways. I've taught some books once and haven't been able to stomach the thought of spending another quarter with them.

The Glass Castle is best for high school and up, due to some mature themes (there is nothing gratuitous or graphic).

I put my Glass Castle unit up on Teachers Pay Teachers, in case you decide to teach it in your class and don't want to start from scratch. It has evolved over four years, and is exactly what I use in my classroom.