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Motif
Explanation and Analysis—Demon-Hunting:
The idea of hunting demons recurs throughout The Glass Castle . This motif begins with an early childhood scene from Part 2 in which Jeannette, like many young children, is afraid there’s a monster under her bed. Rather than reassure her that monsters don’t exist, Dad claims he knows the monster, Demon, and takes her out into the desert to hunt “that old ornery bastard” down:
Dad said he had been chasing Demon for years. By now, Dad said, that old Demon had figured out that it had better not mess with Rex Walls. But if that sneaky son of a gun thought it was going to terrorize Rex Walls’s little girl, it had by God got another think coming. “Go fetch my hunting knife,” Dad said.
Dad’s unconventional approach doesn’t deny that life can be scary. Instead, he acknowledges the reality of fear while empowering Jeannette to face it. He also casts himself in the role of a hero, as usual.
Later, the demons Jeannette hunts become real. While living in Phoenix, she is groped by an intruder in her sleep. With Mom asleep and Dad nowhere to be found, she and Brian take on the task of hunting the man down, a quest they refer to as “Pervert Hunting.” This scene shows how, as Jeannette gets older, the fantastical fears of her childhood crystallize into immediate, tangible dangers. Dad’s demon-hunting game has made the children feel self sufficient, true, but his failure to protect them has also made them vulnerable to harm.
Later, Dad suffers alcohol withdrawal while trying to get sober as a birthday gift for Jeannette. Horrified by his anguish, Jeannette asks Mom for help:
I looked at Mom, who was stirring her soup as if it were an ordinary evening, and that was when I lost it.
“Do something!” I yelled at her. “You’ve got to do something to help Dad!”
“Your father’s the only one who can help himself,” Mom said. “Only he knows how to fight his own demons.”
Here, the idiom “fight his own demons” calls back to the demon-hunting of Jeannette’s childhood. Though back then Dad claimed to have defeated Demon in a glorious victory, it’s clear that heroic story isn’t entirely true. In this way, Dad’s withdrawal represents a moment of disillusionment for Jeannette. Seeing him struggle, she realizes the story he’s always told about himself isn’t the only narrative that exists.
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