John Evans

Ms. Dott

English III Honors AOIT

29 November 2017

Socratic Seminar Questions

Transcendentalists Thoughts

1. I believe that Rex and Mary are transcendentalists because they are minimalists. Rex and

Mary do not rely on needed money from the government. They believe that they make

enough money to support themselves and their family. “They couldn’t afford expensive

presents, and they didn’t want us to think we weren’t as good as other kids…”(p. 39).

This is showing that they don’t need that much money to get by in life. Another example

from the book is the quote “Mom frowned at me. 'You'd be destroying what makes it

special' she said, 'It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty'.”(p. 38) Mary loved

finding beauty in the nature and painting it herself. Physical facts of the natural world are

a doorway to the spiritual/ideal world. One last example from the text that shows that Rex

and Mary are transcendentalists is when Rex drove to the desert and they spent the night

under the stars (p. 18). He was trying his hardest to make his children's life more

adventurous and to be in nature. Rather than romanticism which is valuing feeling and

intuition over reason; transcendentalism is showing that everything in the world is a

reflection of the divine soul.

2. Self-reliance is reliance on one’s own powers and resources rather than those of others. I

believe that Jeanette was very self-reliant during her life. The quote “I had been counting on

Mom and Dad to get us out, but I now knew I had to do it on my own.”(p. 221) shows that
Jeanette had to become extremely self-reliant during her family's rough times. Another example

from the book is when Jeanette’s dad removes her from the hospital due to the fact that he

dislikes her being under control and influence of the doctors. (p. 9-14). One last example of self-

reliance in the text is when Jeanette is forced how to swim (p. 66) Rex’s plan was to try to get

her to literally sink or swim. Jeanette had to trust herself and try her hardest to try and swim. All

of these examples are examples of transcendentalism, self-reliance must outweigh external

authority and blind conformity to custom and tradition. I believe that self-reliance could be a bad

thing though because if you are only relying on yourself you won’t get any other feedback on

your own ideas. You have to try and get others input to build up your knowledge on a specific

topic.

3. Non-conformity means failure or refusal to conform to a prevailing rule or practice. This

is shown throughout the story by Rex and Mary not really caring about their kids. With leaving

them with no basic’s for multiple days, multiple times; to making their kids pay for their

lifestyles and sometimes food. One example of this is when Brian’s head was wrapped up in a

dirty, blood stained bandage. And Dad decided not to take him to the hospital. Another example

of non-conformity is the quote, “He tried to kill me, mom sobbed, ‘Your father wants to watch

me die’ ‘I didn’t push her,’ Dad protested. ‘I swear to God i didn’t. She jumped.’”(p. 72) this is

when Mary was being dangled by rex out of the window. One last example of non-conformity in

the book is back to the very first scene when Jeanette was cooking hot dogs by herself in the

kitchen. The parents weren’t helping her cook them even though you think they would know that

it is dangerous. I believe that in ordinary life families are more precautious of things that are

going on around them, but you do get a few outliers. In today’s world I think that we do still live
in a world of non-conformity, there are many different believes around the world that may do

things and treat people differently.

The Glass Castle

1. Jeanettes quest for opportunity was to feel her life with pride in achievement. She was

disappointed with the like the way her life was. Her past and after. Jeanette manages to

create a life for herself on her terms using her own resources. Her dad was a major whole

back in her life. “But despite all the hell raising an instruction and chaos he agreed to

dinner lives I cannot imagine what my life would be like what the world would be like

without him in it.” (p. 279)

2. Symbolism is important in the glass castle the symbolism brings back in Porten and

memorable situations. The symbolism of fire is used in the first chapters when Jenny

accidentally lights yourself on fire. The fire is used to symbolize unknown forces. “Pointed to the

top of the fire… It’s a place where no rules apply or at least they haven’t figured them out yet, he

said”(p 73). Another example of symbolism is the Joshua tree in the desert, this is used to

symbolize the strength and beauty that can come out of nothing.

3. I believe that we remember events in our lives in the back of our minds forever, but

sometimes we can give forget them. Whenever we forget a part of a story we tried to add

something into the story To try to spice it up, doing this can make the listener pay more attention.

I believe that I cannot tell a story with our entellus me because I always try to grab the attention

of ever I’m telling it to. I think that a true story is telling a story exactly how it happened when

and where. In a true story you would have to explain certain details. You can remember the

details by writing them down in a diary.