Topic Chosen: Make connections with other texts or concepts or events.

While first starting to read God Don't Like Ugly by Mary Monroe, I quickly realized that this text is very similar to the book, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, that we were required to read over the summer. Obviously coming from almost nothing, in The Glass Castle, Jeannette explains that as a child, she hated everything about her appearance. From her fire red hair, to her pasty white skin, and her tall awkward body, she mentioned a number of times during the novel that she was repulsed by the way she felt she looked. As well as Jeannette, Annette, the little girl from God Don't Like Ugly, also explains how ugly feels she is. She says, "Mama and I looked a lot alike, but she was called pretty, I was not... We had the same beauty mark on the right side, just above our lip. People called her beauty mark a mole. They called mine a wart" (4). As explained in the book, at such a young age, Annette was considered fat, lazy, and an ugly version of her mother. Similarly, these to stories have the fact that at such a young age, two young girls felt terrible about themselves, in common. Another example that shows that the novels The Glass Castle and God Don't Like Ugly have similar concepts, is how both familes suffered from severe poverty. From sleeping in boxes to not eating for days, Jeannette Walls suffered the same amount of poverty that Annette's family suffered during her childhood. Annette explains, "We slept on the bedroom floor in our clothes until a preacher gave us a stained matress, a ripped sheet, and a blanket that was so old and worn you could see right through it. We ate off of cracked plates or out of cans most of the time and drank water from a spring a few yards from the house" (6-7). After Annette states this, it is obvious to see that the two main characters of The Glass Castle and God Don't Like Ugly have their financial problems in common. One last example that proves that the books The Glass Castle and God Don't Like Ugly have similar events and concepts is the fact that both of the main characters' fathers were always on the run. Whether they were running from someone personally, or because they could no longer afford where they were living anymore, at a time in which they felt their family was in trouble, both fathers would tell their families it was time to go, pack up, and leave. Annette explains, "We lived in shacks, wore secondhand clothes, and moved often enough that we always managed to stay a few steps ahead of our bill collectors and the Klan... News about Daddy's arrogance always reached the Klan, and he received veiled threats too often for his comfort. That's the main reason we roamed around like gypsies"(5). Evidently, because both fathers were either running from enemies or bill collectors, they both had the fact in common that they were always on the move. In conclusion, while beginning to read God Don't Like Ugly, I realized that the concepts and events of the novel related to a past story I read, The Glass Castle. Both families in the stories deal with main characters who hate themselves, poverty, and fathers who are always running from someone.