A second positive trait that Mom has is her compassion towards others. For instance, Mom is teaching in Battle Mountain and many of her students are what one would call minorities. She tells them that they need to be proud of their heritage, and that they are just as good as the white kids (Walls 73). Mom realizes that these kids are being bullied and made fun of for their race. She wants to make them feel better about themselves, and ease the pain of the bullying they are going through. Moreover, Jeannette complains about how terrible Erma is while they are staying in her house. Mom explains how Erma's parents had left her as a kid, and she says that the kids should be understanding of her misery. Mom knows that by understanding someone's past can explain a person behavior. She feels sorry for Erma's childhood and knows that Erma cannot escape the misery it left her in. Finally, Uncle Stanley nearly molests Jeannette, she tells Mom hoping she will yell at Stanley. .
Instead of yelling at Stanley, Mom says, "Poor Stanley; he's so lonely."" (Walls 184). Mom recognizes the fact that Stanley has never been married as the reason for his actions. She understands that he is only using Jeannette to deal with his loneliness. Though Mom is a very compassionate person who possesses good qualities, she also has many negative traits.
A major negative trait that Mom shows throughout the Glass Castle is her irresponsibility. To illustrate, Jeannette is taken to the hospital to treat severe burns she receives from cooking hot dogs. She says to the doctors, "and she lets me cook for myself a lot."" (Walls 11). A three year old has no business cooking anything, for they are far too young and weak to handle all of the equipment used to cook. Mom should have known better than to let such a small child be anywhere near the instruments used for cooking. Similarly, Mom goes to Charleston to renew her teaching certificate.