the Glass Castle #6

At the end of the book, Walls is a grown woman again. Her father has a heart attack and suddenly dies. In a flashback written earlier in the book, Walls and her father are sitting outise at night on Walls' birthday. He asks her which star she wants as a present. She points to the brightest one she can see, which turns out to be Venus. Even though it's not a star, he says that he will give Walls Venus anyway. After her father dies, Walls, as her grown self, is looking out into the night sky. She sees "Venus on the horizon, up over the dark water, glowing steadily". This brings the life of her father to a final close. Although he was a drunk and never provided well for his family, he was still her father and Walls decides to remember the good in him, rather than the bad. The very end of the book describes how Walls lives in a big cumfy house with her husband and leads a life where there is no starvation or lack of heat. She invites her family over for Thanksgiving. Her mother, who is homeless, still has her crazy, capriciuos personality. Her siblings feel malice towards their parents, for seeing how easily their lives became better after they got jobs and started families, they don't understand how their parents could have failed so miserably at raising and providing for them. In all, this was a very satisfying ending. It was very bitter sweet, what with the death of Walls' father but also her good and happy life ahead of her. All the hardships of dealing with homelessness, poverty, and bad parenting lead to Walls forging a life of her own where she is successful and rich. Although a true happy ending would have involved a reconciliation with her parents, this ending fits the book, and Walls' life, better. Walls' book is filled with unhapy and dissapointing episodes on the large scale. But in every chapter, it was the little things that could cheer Walls and her siblings up, like making up games to turn a bad situation into a good one. In the end, it was only these little things that could be looked on with fondeness. All the big things, such as the children's relationships with their parents, were left untouched and unreconciled.