'I can't believe you would say that,' she said. 'How come you never blame your father for anything? He's no saint, you know' 'I'm doing the best I can under the circumstances,' she said. 'Mom, we can't go on living like this,' I said The following exert from the book reveals Jeannette biggest AHA moment up to this point: Her father expends all of the little money they have on alcohol and leaves for days on end without saying where he is going. The reader comes to this understanding when Jeanette, the only family member behind her father throughout the entire beginning of the novel, comes to the realization that her mother needs to divorce her father. She comes to a realization that her progressive father is actually the town drunk and that her intransigent mother would rather paint than raise a family. As she grows up, however, she realizes that her parents are actually dirt poor and neglecting. She is known as her father's 'biggest supporter' and actually enjoys some of the 'adventures' the family goes on. Throughout much of the book, Jeanette loves her father and puts up with, what looks like to an outsider, her abysmal lifestyle. The book is the story of a poor, dysfunctional family and what it is like for Jeanette to grow up in such circumstances. Recently, I have delved into an American classic, the Glass Castle.

Aha moment story