Awesome / The Glass Castle

• The fact that Jeannette and her siblings were able to escape from their state of poverty at all is impressive. Many people in such circumstances never escape.
• The Battle of Little Hobart Street, in which Jeannette and Brian construct a catapult to scare off the local bully by flinging rocks at him. It works.
• Lori fighting back against Erma, as well as Jeannette speaking up to her about racism.
• Jenanette being very much The Determinator even after her father steals all the New York money she and her siblings were saving. She not only finds a new hiding space for their money, but she cleverly arranges a deal with a babysitting client: her older sister Lori will work for them as a nanny for the whole summer, at the end of which the client will buy her a bus ticket to New York and also give her enough money to get set up there. The client agrees, and it works. Lori makes it to New York, and the rest of the siblings are soon able to follow suit.
• In the film, Rex has two pretty awesome Jerkass Has a Point moments:
  • He calls out a public pool manager for keeping the pool segregated (meaning black people are only allowed to swim at certain times) even though that hasn't been legal for years.
  • He also calls out a well-meaning but rather ignorant doctor for judging his family when the lack of national healthcare in America keeps doctors rich while low-income/poverty-stricken families like the Walls just get poorer. Considering how bad the healthcare situation in America has gotten nowadays, these words hit hard.
• There's also the scene in the film where adult Jeannette finally gets fed up with lying about her parents to please her class-conscious, snobbish spouse and tells the wealthy couple they're dining out with the full truth, without shame. She also leaves the restaurant, and her spouse, right afterwards.

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