Parenting Skills and Family Resilience: A Study on the Walls Family

1111 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How does bad parenting affect parents

According to the Merriam Webster online Dictionary, the word “family” means a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head. The Walls family fit under that characteristic but they were far from the average family. The Walls children had to endure numerous hardships in life which later on enabled them to become successful and productive members of society. Although some people might argue that the Walls children would have been better off if they were removed from their home and placed under foster care, actually it was in the children’s best interest to grow up with their parents even if this meant having to overcome difficult times because of their parent’s lack of parenting skills.
In one article, "What makes a Good …show more content…

In his own very special way, Rex Walls loved his children because he taught them to be independent, and self sufficient. He taught them life lessons that he believed could come in handy in the future. At times it seemed he loved the numbness that alcohol provided him more than his kids. He was never a role model for his children; he had the worst habits and lifestyle any adult can have. On more than one occasion Rex Walls abused the love and trust Jeannette had for him. A good portrayal of this is when the check for lease on Rose Mary’s Texas land came in the mail and Rex tricked Jeannette in trusting him with the money and said “Let’s hide it together”. To Rex everything was a big adventure, he did not care that that money was to provide for his children; his only concern was getting money to spend on alcohol and winning money from games of billiards. Even with all of his undesirable traits, his children loved him and they looked up to him when they were little. On one occasion, he said to Jeannette, "But you always loved your old man, didn 't you?" "I did, Dad," I said. "And you always loved me". Jeannette and Rex Walls shared a very special father and daughter relationship. Out of all his kids Jeannette was always the one who trusted him and

Show More
Related

  • Summary Of Jeannette Wall's Memoir 'The Glass Castle'

    1643 Words  | 4 Pages

    As much as Walls loved her father, she realized he would “never build that Glass Castle. But we had fun planning it.” (279) Rex told them that special kids could have “those shining stars, he liked to point out, were one of the special treats for people like us who lived out in the wilderness.” (39) Walls really felt special when her mother said, “life’s too short to worry about what other people think. Anyway, they should accept us for who we are.” (157) This vicious cycle proves to the reader that Walls never had a way to escape from her parent’s cruel ways; she grew up thinking like her parents did. This cruel way of thinking made Rex feel good about himself while making Walls’ feel special. The idea of the Glass Castle gave Walls a sense of hope that her dad would stay true to his word, but the impracticable idea of a house of glass symbolizes just how unstable the Walls’ foundation was. Walls said, “As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had.” (279) Rex never had the stability to protect her and she knew he would endanger her. Walls’ father Rex had extraordinary power in convincing Walls that he only wanted the best for her, even while causing her to

    Read More

  • Good Parents In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

    327 Words  | 1 Pages

    Rex Walls has a big imagination throughout the memoir. He has a plan to “find gold” and build their dream house, “ the Glass Castle,” (Walls 25). Rex Walls made that plan because “people were after” him and he needed a cover up. He used the Glass Castle as a disguise to keep the children fro worrying about why the traveled so much. Jeannette Walls believed there was a demon underneath her bed. Rex Walls expressed how the demon had “evil eyes with fire in ‘em,” to go along with Jeannette’s imagination (Walls 36). When dealing with kids, imagination plays an important role.

    Read More

  • Changes in Tone Throughout the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the Glass Castle there is a constant shift in Jeanettes tone through her use of diction. Her memoir is centered around her memories with her family, but mainly her father Rex Walls. Although it is obvious through the eyes of the reader that Rex is an unfit parent and takes no responsibility for his children, in her childhood years Jeanette continually portrays Rex as an intelligent and loving father, describing her younger memories with admiration in her tone. The capitalization of “Dad” reflects Jeannette’s overall admiration for her father and his exemplary valor. “Dad always fought harder, flew faster, and gambled smarter than everyone else in his stories”(Walls 24). Jeanette also uses simple diction to describe her father, by starting sentences with, “Dad said,” over and over. By choosing to use basic language instead of stronger verbs, she captures her experience in a pure and honest tone.

    Read More

  • Rex And Jeanette's Relationship Analysis

    462 Words  | 1 Pages

    This is illustrated when the author says, “...when he turned to me, his eyes had a wounded look, like a dog who’s been kicked.” Also when Jeanette says, “It’s just that I think Mom would be a lot happier. Plus, we’d have the extra money.” It forces Rex to face the fact that he hasn’t supported and provided for his family and his children well enough, like he thinks a father should. He also is forced to face that he has done things that make his daughter feel uncomfortable and sad and frightened in their own house, which topples his good spirits. You can also tell Jeannette is extremely hesitant to go through with the request, the way she refuses to make eye contact with her father as she builds up the courage to ask him to stop drinking suggests that she knows the powers her words

    Read More

  • The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls and Mockingbird by Marshall Bruce Mather

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    Jeanette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle and Marshall Bruce Mathers’ “Mockingbird” both contextually illustrate the undying love and compassion between a father figure and his offspring. In the memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette anxiously believes that there is a monster under her bed. This results in her father, Rex Walls, taking her with him to try and find the monster under her bed so that they could face such a frightening beast together. They then check all over the house and end up going outside and Rex is bravely yelling and calling out this monster and Jeannette ends up joining him too. Eventually, after a lengthy period of time yelling at the monster, they ultimately decide that the monster is just a figment of Jeanette’s imagination. By calling out the monsters name, it is blandly obvious that Rex wanted to show Jeannette how to face her fears and confront them. Rex and Jeanette sit down and Rex explains to her “That [is] the thing to remember about all the monsters, Dad said: They love to frighten people, but the minute you stare them down, they turn tail and run. All you have to do, Mountain Goat, is show old Demon that you’re not afraid” (Walls 36). This quotation emphasizes the fact that the monsters that Jeanette perceives and the fear that she experiences, while lying in bed, is only a delusion created in the confines of her mind. In doing this, Rex Walls demonstrates the characteristics of an excellent father by demonstrating the compassion and love that he has for his child. Rex establishes this notion by teaching her life lessons, such as facing her fears, which prove to be helpful later on in the novel, as they assist Jeanette when she is in an anxiety provoking situations. The persona of a great father figure ...

    Read More

  • Rex Walls Character Analysis

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette tells about her less than easy life. Her family was constantly moving about, never staying in one place for very long, or how Rex Walls would say they were always doing “the skedaddle”. But Rex, while trying to be a good father, struggles with a strong alcohol addiction. But all throughout the book we see that Rex has many of the traits of an admirable parent. These traits being that he never expects perfection from any of his kids or himself or his wife. He doesn’t fear occasional failures from them either. All parents should try to be admirable parents for their

    Read More

  • Examples Of Alcoholism In The Glass Castle

    459 Words  | 1 Pages

    Being more engaged in his drinking, and less engaged in his word was one thing Rex Walls was good at. After neglecting this promise Jeannette, his favorite daughter, who always believed in him, eventually sees how awful alcohol makes him. Leading her to draw a end with believing in her father's word saying, “you will never build the glass castle” (238). Which then causes Rex to go into an even bigger depression.

    Read More

  • Alcoholism In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

    759 Words  | 2 Pages

    This can lead to frequent absences from work, unemployment, and misusing financial resources of the household and family. In Rex’s case in particular, he hurt the entire family: Distinctly, the Walls hold a short budget to begin with, but due to Rex’s constantly poor employment situation, and his control of Jeannette for alcohol money from their miniscule budget, the family is worse off than when they even started. Rex struggles to find employment due to alcohol’s effects: loss of work ethic and the pull to drink according to Drug Free. It doesn’t help that Jeannette gives in to Rex’s requests, but in the end they have even less money than they had. In addition to the financial hardships, the children tremendously suffer from their Rex’s behavior. As soon as Rex’s alcoholism hits it peak and the family grows well aware, Jeannette begins to adopt a trait called codependency. Codependency may be

    Read More

  • The Glass Castle Coping Mechanisms Analysis

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Erma died, he spent four days in Junior’s Bar. Erma was his mother. The children were walking home from Erma’s funeral with their parents. Their father Rex was so distraught that he once again resorted to alcohol. When they were walking, Jeannette and her siblings noticed “He turned down the street to Junior’s bar. We all watched him go… Dad just kept walking” (Walls 181). Rex’s family is ashamed of him for drinking, but they rarely make an effort to help him stop. Alcoholism is a disease that is deadly for many people. It is not something that you can conclude without help. Rex took all of what money the Walls family did have and spent it on alcohol. This was a recurring event. This lead the young children to fend for themselves. They often had to go days without food but if they did have food, it was sometimes inedible. In many cases, they were pilfering through other people’s belongings. Substance abuse is dangerous in a sense that the substance itself causes many life threatening conditions. It can also be dangerous because people will do anything they can to be able to abuse again. This includes taking money that could be used on a week of groceries or to heat a home during

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Glass Castle

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Jeannette’s child days,she was taught by Rex and Rose Mary that their life is one big adventure. The Glass castle can be seen as an end goal for that adventure because Rex always found a reason to move to different places and those reasons were tied in to the Glass Castle. For example, In Blythe, Rex announced that they will move to Battle Mountain, so he could use the prospector to mine gold and build the Glass castle. But the real reason they were moving was stated previously as, “a squad car tried to pull us over because the brake lights on the Green Caboose weren’t working. … then headed down an alley and found an empty garage to hide in” (Walls, 48). One can assume that because a police squad car had tried to pull over the Walls family, Rex had been afraid that if they’d been caught, he would be put in the slammer. Rex explained the move from Blythe to Battle Mountain in a more exciting way to keep the Walls kids hopes up for a good life. Despite the good, Rex also tries to be financial proficient by using the Glass Castle. In one event, Rex tells Rose Mary, “... to ask her mother for the money to fund for the cyanide leaching process he was developing” (Walls, 70). Later, Rose Mary claims that Rex needs the money because he can’t support his family. This can be proven true because of their lack of food and malnutrition conditions in Battle

    Read More

  • Jeannette's Love And Love In The Walls Family

    916 Words  | 2 Pages

    Even though things were good with Rex and Jeannette , but “ He did have what mom called a little bit of a drinking situation”(23) which wasn’t that big of deal to Jeannette in the beginning, but due to his habit of changing jobs, more so losing them, and having the same excuses for losing them creates doubtful feelings in Jeannette’s mind. which exhibits a bit of concern in Jeannette about her father’s doings. One time the walls family went to the church but Rex wasn’t himself for he was drunk, so he started insulting the people at the church, which just shows his miserable state every time he drinks. He then goes out of hand by insulting Jeannette, “ I didn’t like dad when he talked like that” (p;114), first time Jeannette feels negative towards

    Read More

  • Analysis: The Glass Castle

    1451 Words  | 3 Pages

    My family isn 't like the Walls family because my parents would never treat my sister and I like their parents treated them, my family and I have a decent living situation, and we would never hurt any animal. From the beginning, Rex and Rose Mary treated their kids wrong and didn 't take responsibility as parents. Every child deserves a loving home and should never have to worry if they are going to eat that night. West Virginia also seemed a lot different then because the laws are more strict now. The way the Walls are, they would get in trouble for the way they treated their kids, animals, and even their living space. "Mom always said people worry too much about their children. Suffering when you 're young is good for you, she said. It immunized

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Education In The Glass Castle

    1031 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...life living with yet loving parents and siblings just to stay alive. Rosemary and Rex Walls had great intelligence, but did not use it very wisely. In the book The Glass Castle, author Jeanette Walls discovers the idea that a conservative education may possibly not always be the best education due to the fact that the Walls children were taught more from the experiences their parents gave them than any regular school or textbook could give them. In this novel readers are able to get an indication of how the parents Rex and Rosemary Walls, choose to educate and give life lessons to their children to see the better side of their daily struggles. Showing that it does not matter what life throws at us we can take it. Rosemary and Rex Walls may not have been the number one parents in the world however they were capable in turning their children into well-educated adults.

    Read More

  • Mental Illness In The Glass Castle

    1125 Words  | 3 Pages

    “When Dad went crazy, we all had our own ways of shutting down and closing off…” (Walls 115).In Jeannette Walls memoir, The Glass Castle, Walls enlightens the reader on what it’s like to grow up with a parent who is dependent on alcohol, Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, was an alcoholic. Psychologically, having a parent who abuses alcohol is the worst thing for a child. The psychological state of these children can get of poorer quality as they grow up. Leaving the child with psychiatric disorders in the future and or being an alcoholic as well.

    Read More

  • The Glass Castle

    1712 Words  | 4 Pages

    ...victims, the Walls siblings may not have chosen to overcome their painful history to become such strong and successful individuals. The abdication of what one could consider appropriate parental responsibility by moving to Welch isolated the children in a very hard environment. In their time there, the remarkable survival skills and character that the children developed served as a source of strength in their escape from their environment. Their determination in forging a better future for themselves is realized by utilizing the skills they formed while trapped in Welch. The courage to embrace change; putting aside such a deplorable childhood speaks volumes about the remarkable ability of these siblings to overcome hardship and achieve their own powerful and unique lives.

    Read More

More about Parenting Skills and Family Resilience: A Study on the Walls Family

Open Document