Archetypes In Jeannee Castle's The Glass Castle

An archetype, as defined by Literary Terms, is an idea, symbol, pattern, or character type that appears repeatedly in stories from cultures worldwide, symbolizing something universal in the human experience. There are three types of archetypes: symbolic, character, and situational. In her memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls employs each archetype to capture her difficult life growing up due to her father's alcoholism and inability to hold a job. These archetypes also play a crucial role in developing the novel's theme of perseverance. The central theme of the novel is perseverance, as Jeannette and her siblings worked hard and never gave up, managing to build a better life for themselves. Walls uses fire as the symbolic archetype, Jeannette as the hero for the character archetype, and a quest as the situational archetype to develop the theme that perseverance can make anything possible. Fire is a symbolic archetype in the memoir that develops into a lesson about perseverance. For Jeannette, fire can represent destruction.

She refrains from inviting Dinitia over because "Erma had made it clear how she felt about black people" (Walls 142). By keeping Dinitia away from Erma, Jeannette protects her from Erma's racism. By protecting her former bully, Jeannette shows how caring she is. Additionally, Jeannette believes in people and chooses to see the good in them. When Brian accuses their father of spending all his money on booze, Jeannette defends him (Walls 78). Her father says, "I swear, honey, there are times when I think you're the only one around who still has faith in me" (Walls 78). Jeannette then tells herself that she will never lose faith in him (Walls 78). By keeping faith in her alcoholic dad, she believes in him and that one day he will move on. Jeannette's forgiving, caring, and optimistic nature makes her a character archetype of a hero, and she uses these qualities to persevere in life. The situational archetype in the memoir is the quest. Jeannette embarks on a journey to better herself. Jeannette and her sister Lori always talked about growing up and escaping to New York City (Walls 222). They dreamt of making it big, unlike their parents. Lori began to see New York as “this glowing, bustling place at the end of a long road where she could become the person she was meant to be” (Walls 222). This idea began to rub off on Jeannette, and she too felt the same way.

She went off to seek the person she was meant to be. She had a purpose now, and this gave her a quest. She never gave up because she wrote the memoir from New York City and even saw her homeless mother as she passed by in a taxi on her way to her city apartment (Walls 9). Jeannette was determined on her quest and persevered through it all to become the person she is today. By utilizing symbolic, character, and situational archetypes such as fire, a hero, and a quest, Walls effectively conveys her theme of perseverance in her memoir, The Glass Castle. The archetype of fire is used to represent destruction, while Jeannette embodies the qualities of a thoughtful hero. Additionally, Jeannette's goal of reaching New York serves as a quest throughout the memoir. Despite facing numerous challenges such as being bullied and enduring a difficult childhood, Jeannette perseveres and ultimately achieves her dream of becoming a writer in New York City. Through the skillful use of these archetypes, Walls effectively conveys the theme of perseverance.