The Glass Castle: On Fire

I am officially on chapter 2! So far the book is living up to my expectations. In chapter 2, Jeanette describes a couple of her memories in great detail. One of her memories includes being on fire. "I was on fire. It's my earliest memory. I was three years old, and we were living in a trailer park in a southern Arizona town whose name I never knew. I was standing on a chair in front of the stove, wearing a pink dress my grandmother had bought for me. . . I was wearing the dress to cook hot dogs, watching them swell and bob in the boiling water. . . I felt a blaze of heat on my right side. I turned to see where it was coming from and realized my dress was on fire" (Walls 9). This quote shocked me. I couldn't believe she was just three years old and cooking by herself. I thought that after she was on fire, and had to go to the hospital, she would have been terrified of fire from then on. I thought wrong. It turns out that her experience with fire, only 'fueled her flame' to be fasinated with it. "Instead, I became fasinated with it. Dad also thought I should face down my enemy, and he showed me how to pass my finger through a candle flame. I did it over and over, slowing my finger with each pass, watching the way it seemed to cut the flame in half, testing to see how much my finger could endure without actually getting burned" (Walls 15). This quote tells us a lot about Jeanette's personality as a three year old. She was probably almost fearless. She was also a risk-taker, bave, and curious. I can't wait to keep reading!