An Analysis Of Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle

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Individuals who are involved in self improvement ask themselves what the key to success may be. The key to success in life is, by far, self-reliance. Although there is nothing wrong with asking for or receiving help, the support of friends and family will only benefit us ephemerally. People go through their own personal journey of reaching the best version of themselves. That journey is best achieved with self-reliance. Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, is symbolic of the theme survival through self-reliance.
Walls grew up having a close relationship with her father. As a child Jeannette's father was her hero, a strong, intelligent man, her best friend, and a great father who kept his children happy with his adventurous, optimistic …show more content…

If one is unreliable, the child will turn to the other. Unfortunately, Jeannette Walls did not have any parent to rely on. Similar to her father, her mother was selfish, irresponsible, and insensitive. Rose Mary was a writer, a teacher, and an artist. Wall’s mother instilled creativity, an attitude of free spirit, and the love of reading upon her children. However, Rosemary spent countless hours sitting in front of her typewriter and a canvas. Whereas she had no interest in cooking a meal for her children which would disappear within minutes, she could make a painting that would last forever. Jeannette‘s mother could not bear to put her children before herself. While being given the opportunity to provide for her family on multiple occasions, Rosemary answered self-indulgently to each and everyone of them. From the scene in the book “where we kids had gone without food for days and my brother caught Mom secretly chomping away on a giant chocolate bar” as stated by Edna Boardman while quoting Walls, to callously denying Jeannette the opportunity to make money for food after miraculously finding a real diamond ring. Rather than allowing her children to pawn the ring, she simply states “[T]hat’s true, but it could also improve my self-esteem. And at times like these, self-esteem is even more vital than food” (183). Jeannette’s displeasure with living in a broken down house with no running water, no food, and parents who neglected …show more content…

"At Peace with Her Past." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, vol. 299, Gale, 2011. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=txshrpub100222&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1100103469&asid=7f683946c2bc4511d88e9f5fa1560d26. Accessed 17 Nov. 2017. Originally published in News & Observer, 19 Jan. 2007.
Walls, Jeannette The Glass Castle. Scribner. 2005.
Wineke, William. "You Won't Put This One Down." Contemporary Literary Criticism, edited by Jeffrey W. Hunter, vol. 299, Gale, 2011. Literature Resource Center, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=GLS&sw=w&u=txshrpub100222&v=2.1&it=r&id=GALE%7CH1100103463&asid=c755b5abf63fe2a714c56137a5b8e105. Accessed 17 Nov. 2017. Originally published in Wisconsin State Journal, 10 July 2005, p.

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