Glass Castle Characters

Iggy

Brian's pet iguana he found that reminded him of the desert; froze to death during the winter

Zum Zum

German Restaurant that Lori works at when she first moves to New York

Kathy Pastor

Ginnie's oldest daughter; got made fun of b/c of her mom and she had lice; befriends Jeannette and loves to hear about California and invites Jeannette for dinner

Miss Katona

Guidance counselor at Welch who helps Jeannette leave.

Miss Jeannette Bivens

Jeanette's teacher in high school; head of newspaper and becomes her mentor

Mrs. Sanders

Jeannette babysits for her (a teacher); gives Jeannette the idea that Lori should babysit her kids during the summer and in return she would buy Lori a ticket to New York

The Watch

Jeannette steals a watch from the jewelry store she works for; got mad at her boss because her boss keeps accusing her of stealing because of her stealing

Brian

Jeannette's brother; second to youngest; becomes a police officer; a tough kid (splits his head open about 3 times); likes to explore with Jeannette; never been a fan of Rex especially when drunk

Carrie Mae Blankenship

Jeannette's classmate who introduces her to a thermometer for the first time

Miss Carpossi

Jeannette's english teacher; doesn't like Jeannette becomes it seems like she gets off easy (not fair) and makes fun of her

Eric

Jeannette's ex husband; a lawyer; Jeannette was content with him but not truly happy; lives on Park Avenue

Rex Walls

Jeannette's father and Rose Mary's husband; has a major drinking problem; planned to find gold with the prospector to build the Glass Castle

Mcdonalds

Jeannette's first job when she moved to New York

Rose Mary Walls

Jeannette's mother and Rex's wife; an "upcoming artist"; bipolar (is crazy and hypocritical); a sugar and excitement addict

The Maroon Wave

Jeannette's school paper; where Jeannette finds out she wants to be a journalist

John

Jeannette's second husband; she's actually happy with; also a writer; own land in the country

Lori

Jeannette's sister; oldest; most mature and realistic of their situation of all the kids; always seems to be in charge of the household; has to help her parents before she leaves; needs glasses; smart and good at art (becomes an illustrator)

Maureen

Jeannette's sister; youngest; the prettiest of the bunch; always tried to stay and eat at her friends' houses; becomes somewhat crazy and stabs her mother and leaves for California

Robbie

Rex pimps Jeannette out to Robbie; guy at bar who Rex gambles money away from him playing pool; tries to molest Jeannette but stops when he sees her scars

"Stolen Children"

Rex tells Jeannette that she has "stolen his children" from him because they are all leaving from New York

Uncle Stanley

Rex's brother; seems to have drank most of his life; very touchy feely; pervert- groped Jeannette while ***********; icky and gross

Grandpa Ted

Rex's dad; does want to be called Grandpa; "fragile"; a pushover to Erma

Erma

Rex's mom; doesn't want to be called Grandma; is considered a nasty and ugly person; lives in Welch; racist and pervert- molested Brian and most likely sexually abused Rex as a child; dies of cancer

Charleston

Rose Mary goes to classes in Charleston to renew her teachers license; comes back "enlightened"

Chocolate

Rose Mary hoards and eats chocolate until Brian Lori and Jeannette catch her and take and eat her chocolate

Uncle Jim

Rose Mary's brother who dies and owned land in Texas that was worth 1 million dollars; Rose Mary wants to buy a share of his land instead of collecting the money

NJ Turnpike

There was a build up because a UHaul broke down on this turnpike; Jeannette had a feeling it was because her parents were heading to New York

Tinkle

Wall's dog during Welch; Jack Russell Terrier who followed Brian home one day; killed the rat; kids would fight to sleep with him so they could keep warm during the winter

Pippin

Wall's dog; kids would fight to who would get to sleep with during the winter to stay warm

Mr. Freeman

Wall's neighbor in Welch; shoots rufus who was laying in his yard and thought it was a opossum

Ginnie Sue Pastor

Welch town *****; has a husband (the pastor) but he is kinda always out of it; has 8 daughters and 1 son- none look alike; gets chicken on the table and to Jeannette's surprise is nice and doesn't act like a ***** around her

Dinitia's Mother's Boyfriend

abused Dinitia and got her pregnant; Dinitia ends up killing him

South Bronx

apartment where Jeannette and Lori move into; their first own place; in large puerto rican community

Dinitia Hewitt

at first was a bully to Jeannette until she saw Jeannette returning her neighbor home after almost being killed; befriends Jeannette and brings her to public pool; later distances herself from Jeannette when her mom's boyfriend starts abusing her and she becomes pregnant; kills him and goes to jail

Barnard

college that Jeannette attends; Columbia's sister school since girls allowed in Columbia

Chuck Yeagar

fighter pilot that Rex is obsessed with and Jeannette gets to interview

Ken Fink and Bob Gross

filmmakers from New York who Jeannette meets. Persuade Lori to move to New York and later the rest of the children

The Phoenix

first newspaper Jeannette interns then works for own and ran by Mike Armstrong;

Shakespeare

for the Merit scholarship; Lori has to a bust Shakespeare; Rex destroys it

Indoor Plumbing

had very limited indoor plumbing until they got their own place in New York

Maggots

ham had maggots and Rex told them to just cut the maggoty parts off

Evangeline

hostel in Greenwich village that Lori and Jeannette briefly live in; introduced by Lori's friend Evan

Mr. Becker

jeweler who hires Jeannette to work part time

Psychologist Landlord

landlord that gave Lori her apartment

Ernie Goad

leader of his little "gang of friends" who make fun of the Wall children and call them garbage; have a "war" with Brian and Jeannette and lose to the mattress catapult of rocks Brian and Jeannette make (battle of little hobart street)

Rufus

name of the rat that infested the Wall's house; ate food and went on Maureen's head; killed by Tinkle; Rose Mary named it after it died

Jeannette

narrator/author; second to oldest; a daddy's girl (hard to pull away from her father) (idolizes him); very smart, good at writing (becomes a writer), a survivor, but can be naive and conflicted

Kenny Hall

oldest Hall boy (42); mentally ill so still lives with his family; Jeannette tries to befriends him but he gets a crush and the other kids make fun of him

Professor Fuch

one of Jeannette's favorite teacher until he disagrees with her stance on poverty

Mike Armstrong

owner and editor in chief of The Phoenix (a newspaper); Jeannette interns for them her first summer in New York; convinces her to go to college

Lucy Joe Rose

teacher at the school in welch who has to give Rose Mary and the Wall children a ride to school; treats them badly

Mr. Muckenfuss

the editor of the Wave who with the help of Mrs. Bivens kept Jeannette on the newpaper

Oz

the name of the piggy bank full of money for the New York fund

Cindy Thompson

tried to befriend Jeannette to get her to join the Jr. KKK

Emerald City

what Lori and Jeannette call New York City; a place where everything is happy and full of wonders; almost make believe