Brief Summary Of The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

There are many things that someone can experience over the course of a lifetime that can determine who you do and do not want to be. Though there are many things that can stand in the way of you finding your direct path to happiness, you learn a few life lessons along the way. Jeannette Walls was a young girl whom had many of those experiences thrown her way from the age she was three, and now into her adult life. Having a father, who promised the world and really tried to catch it, was enabled by alcohol and other misfortunes that lead his life. She also had a mother, who followed the lifestyle of her father by enabling him and continuing with a life that was fickle trying to raise four children and becoming established at one place for more than a few days at a time. By taking a look at the summary of The Glass Castle, it is evident that the Walls’ conformed to an inconsistent way of living because of lack of confidence, neglect of their children, and some

social issues. However, Jeannette, for the most part, remained obedient to her family even when she felt it was time for her to move on and forget her past.
Jeanette Walls was a woman who thought she had a once broken life, pieced back together by pursuing her life long dream of becoming a reporter in New York City. On her way to a fancy get together, out of the window she saw her mother digging through the trash. Knowing that her mother had been homeless for years, Jeannette immediately felt ashamed in knowing there has to be something she can be doing to help her mother. Taking the time to meet up with her mother, Rose Mary, Rose Mary infers that there is nothing to be ashamed of, as Jeannette is aware that this was a life she once shared with her father, mother, and three siblings. Ever since childhood, Jeannette and her family were often spent in various towns, “skedaddling” to find the right place to reside and start a life. Dependent on being unstable, Rex, Jeannette’s father was a man who ensured that if things were not going the way he liked, or approved of, that the family must move, and fast. Always being on the move meant that Rex and Rose Mary could not hold down a solid job long enough to provide for their children. Both Rex and Rose Mary were full of talents but could not necessarily implement them when they often times relied on their children to proof read their writings, or help out with an electrical job. Being lucky enough to inherit a place to call home, Rex could not stay away from habits that landed the family out of jobs, schooling, and a roof over their heads once more. Insisting that maybe family could help, this again caused for more heartbreak and let down for the Walls’. Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen are becoming older and wiser to understand that settling is not part of who they are. It is at this lowest breaking point that Lori, Jeannette’s oldest sibling, plans to graduate and relocate to New York City. It was shortly after this, that Jeannette follows. Unfortunately, when Brian and Maureen are the last to move, Rex and Rose Mary join. It is at this time that after Rex and Rose Mary continue living on the streets that Rex loses his life too soon, Jeannette feels guilt and pressure for making something of her life while her mother is comfortable living the past. The themes throughout this book allow for the reader to gather thoughts about the Walls’ life.
Inconsistent with high expectations was a constant in the Walls’ life. Rex and Rose Mary tried to hold down jobs throughout their short stays in over a handful of towns, but could never seem to stay established because of the high expectations Rex had for himself and the family, though he was aware they had nothing. Running around, doing the “skedaddle” became the norm and soon the Walls’ found themselves living a life where the parents conformed to their dysfunctional lifestyle. Rex often relied on alcohol to get him through his days and nights from the many jobs he worked, though coming home to almost nothing. In the same sense, because the Walls’ conformed to the lifestyle of having a drunken father, it was different when he was sober. Later on, the law enforcement forces the family to up and move, again, to Phoenix where the family finally lands a solid establishment. It is at this time that Rose Mary inherited a fairly large home for her and her family. Living a better life than ever before, Jeannette goes on a whim to ask her father to continue being sober due to the gracious blessings they have received. Eventually, that conformed lifestyle of having nothing and being comfortable with it, surfaced to the top again when Rex results in alcoholism to hide the shame he feels from living a non-conformed life.
Conformity happens all throughout people’s lives, as it is an influence we experience modifying our behavior because of pressure from others. I have gathered that the main reason that Rex bounced back and forth to alcoholism and conformed to an inconsistent life, was due to the social influence he experienced through his life. When Rex was sober and conformed to a life where he wasn’t spent serving others and fending for himself, he lost it and felt guilty that someone reached out to help him. The social influences around him of others reaching out to him and helping was enough to make him feel like he had to break that influence and conform back to his ways of having him and the rest of the family fend for themselves, as it was the only life they have known.
Confidence was something that lacked among the Walls family, as it was hard for Rex and Rose Mary to use their talents successfully and consistently.

This lack of confidence rooted from Rex, though he may have thought otherwise, and was demonstrated through Rose Mary’s ways, also. It was multiple times that Rex would flip the question on his children when they would question his tactics by asking them if he has ever let them down to ensure that his children think inconsistency is the way. Due to the inconsistency that Rex carried, it lead his family to and from homes, jobs for himself and Rose Mary, and not sticking to his word of providing enough to have the glass castle that he promised his family. Rex and Rose Mary love their children, confidence and self-esteem issues were prominent throughout their whole lives. The lack of confidence and self-esteem carried over even after the death of Rex, when Jeannette lands herself a nice job and place to live, but is still ashamed of the life that she made for

herself.
The lack of confidence and the feeling of being ashamed can stem from lack of self-esteem. But where can that lack of self-esteem come from? I believe this lack of self-esteem came from an internal influence that was common amongst all of the family members. It is natural for people to have feelings that come from many different sources. However, many of the sources that we carry with as are instilled in us from our childhood because of interactions or influences we experience. Because Rex carried over his lack of self-esteem and inconsistency, it would be easy to assume that it came from something he experienced in his childhood that made it so easy for his children to experience the same thing. Fast forwarding through Jeannette’s life, though at the beginning of the book, she was ashamed of wearing pearls and having a life for herself because she knew her mother was still living the life that Jeannette was trying to forget. It was hard for her to forget her childhood because she tried to make the best of the negative experiences she and her siblings often encountered.
Neglect of the Wall’s children was also another common theme that I caught onto, throughout the book. It was many times that the children were off on their own either not being cared for, or fending for themselves, which then led to the children becoming adults at a very young age. At the age of 3, Jeannette was cooking hotdogs for herself, which was unfortunately the norm for her. Being forced to be so independent at this age, Jeannette was treated for burns in the hospital because she caught on fire from the hotdogs. It was later on that Rose Mary told Jeannette that her fear of being burned was something that she had to get over, and in order to do so, she had to start cooking for herself again which was hard for Jeannette to get back into because of her prior experience. It was not much further from that instance that the Wall’s were traveling to another place to live when the door to their car flew open, causing Jeannette to fly out, being left behind for hours. Upon her family coming back for her, this was one of the many times that Jeannette felt forgotten about. However, Rex and Rose Mary wouldn’t consider their children’s upbringing as neglectful. There were influences overtime that caused this upbringing.
Loneliness and social anxiety is something that I kept in the back of my mind most when I was thinking about the adult life that was lived so early by the Walls’ children because of their inconsistent lifestyle. As loneliness and social anxiety are two different concepts, they assist each other in the role they can have on someone. Loneliness is a state where someone feels a lack in his or her social life. Rex and Rose Mary were the epitome of loneliness due to the fact that they were always on their own. Loneliness is something that can last a lifetime and as the children were young enough that their lives were not made for them, most of the Walls’ children grew out of the loneliness. However, it stuck for Rex and Rose Mary all the way up the death of Rex. From moving jobs, homes, and even dumpsters, it was almost apparent that Rex and Rose Mary enjoyed being alone and living their secluded life without interacting with very many people. However, when the Walls’ did interact with people, those people were either always wrong, or disapproved of by the Walls’, which lead me to believe that Rex and Rose Mary had to deal with social anxiety.
Social anxiety is tied to relationships when a person is waiting for a negative interaction with someone that eventually causes them to avoid any social interaction at all. Rex and Rose Mary never had the chance to have consistent relationships with the people they lived amongst, worked for, or just had simple interactions with because of the whole family always being on the move. Thankfully, in their adult lives, some of the Walls’ children were not perceived to have social anxiety, though it may have been easy for them to practice it due to their childhood. There are many things that can stem the social anxiety, but I think the biggest one throughout this book was sensitivity and fear of being disapproved or judged by others. Rex and Rose Mary were talented people but because they were never really set to make something of their lives and had no stability, they were used to thinking that others may have thought differently of them on a regular basis. Unfortunately, this did affect the adult life of Jeanette when she saw her mother climbing around in a dumpster. Jeannette was constantly worried about what she would tell people and how she would explain to people who her mother was, if they asked.
Though there were obvious signs and many reasons for the Walls’s children to break free from their parents over time. As this eventually happened, it was only temporary. While Jeannette and Lori make the initial move to New York first, they finally get Brian and Maureen to move with them also. While it was a dream of all of the children to break away from their past, it was hard for them to gully move forward to forget what they left behind, including their parents. Eventually, Rex and Rose Mary make the move to New York as well, but while becoming squatters in a vacant building, Jeannette, of all, feels the lash of a dying father, an insane sister, and a reckless mother. It is at this point that Jeannette feels like she cannot fully let go.
A person might assume that with such a hard upbringing of neglect, lack of confidence, and instability that it would be easy to break away and start fresh as soon as someone could. As this might be the case for some people, it was not for Jeannette, specifically. Jeannette was obedient to her parents as much as she may have resented the life they gave her. Obedience is when you conform to a demand by someone who has more authority than you. Because Rex was her father and Rose Mary her mother, Jeannette had always felt the need to obey her parents though they did not have a hold on her when she started her new life. Jeannette always knew that regardless of what her parents went through, she must obey what they might need and ask for, because they are the ones who instilled her values and morals within her, to this day.
Through an inconsistent upbringing due to lack of confidence, a conformed lifestyle, neglect, and social issues, Jeannette Walls tries to find comfort and belonging with her past. From the discouragement that came from her parents, each of her siblings had plenty of reasons to leave their past behind, as they did not want it to decide their future. Nevertheless, because Jeannette was obedient to her parents, she had a hard time just leaving them to fend for themselves. As Jeannette watched her family drift a part, being aware of her fathers death because of his past habits, her sister’s mental illness, and her mothers openness to being homeless, Jeannette couldn’t help but think of their past influences that deciphered their future and she was determined to let go of the past once and for all.