Comparing The Glass Castle And Plath's Daddy

Authors demonstrate similar messages and themes throughout their writing, from poetry to personal memoirs. Similar parental qualities such as parenting styles also show through, as well as whether the author was raised via nature, nurture, or even willpower. Jeannette Walls’s The Glass Castle, and Sylvia Plath’s Daddy are two pieces of literature that demonstrate their similar relationships with their fathers, similar parenting styles, similar character development,

Throughout both authors’ writing, their strained relationship with their fathers is shown. In Plath’s poem, her father’s oppressive nature becomes evident even in the first stanza: “Black shoe, in which I have lived like a foot” (1). Here, she is speaking metaphorically, calling her father a black shoe, and describing herself as the foot within it. Furthermore, her usage of the adjective “black” to describe the shoe creates a tone that the reader can infer has a negative connotation. Rather than create a positive image of comfort and protection, the specific word choice of “black shoe” clues the reader in on the oppressive nature of her

father. Similarly, Jeannette Walls’s father, Rex, displays the same qualities: “He did it again and again, until the realization that he was rescuing me only to throw me back into the water took hold” (66). An unusual method, Rex was teaching Jeannette how to swim by “drowning” her until she figured out how to. Most parents would choose less extreme methods to achieve the same result, yet Rex’s misguided and oppressive characteristics cause him to act this way.
Both of these writers’ fathers exhibited similar parenting styles, namely, Authoritarian. Authoritarian parents are defined as demanding, unresponsive to child’s needs, gives no choices to child, and reserved in warmth and nurture. Jeannette and Sylvia’s fathers both demonstrated these qualities, such as when Rex didn’t want to let Jeannette leave home for New York. Plath also alludes to her father’s commanding and controlling nature many times, describing him as Hitler and herself a Jew. That strong metaphor lends itself to the sheer amount of oppression she experienced under her father’s authority.
Furthermore, each daughter was raised through a different method (nature, nurture, or willpower). Jeannette most prevalently displays willpower; as a young girl, she mimics her father’s adventurous nature, but slowly realizes that her father is not as perfect as she thought. She moves to New York, and starts her own life relatively separate from her father’s. Plath, on the other hand, was raised moreso through nature. Her writings about the constricting, oppressive man that is her father suggest that she may exhibit the same plaguing qualities. Ultimately, Plath commits suicide after two unsuccessful attempts, most likely due to how oppressively she was raised. Her dad’s nature of near-abuse was passed on to Plath as well.
Kohlberg’s stages of moral development measure an individual's “moral maturity”, and Plath and Walls are each in their own stage.

Jeannette demonstrated Level Three, Stage Five. Her deeper understanding of society and her impoverished situation are evidence of this, as she understands that rules and outcomes can be changed and moves to New York to start her own life because of that. Furthermore, she understands that her father and mother aren’t quite all there, and that they have serious mental issues. Plath demonstrates Level Two, Stage Four. Her understanding of the fact that her father’s treatment of her was wrong shows that she has passed stage three of level two, where she would have just been trying to please her father. However, she didn’t pass into Jeannette’s stage, because she didn’t try to change her situation and eventually that lead her to kill

herself.
Sylvia Plath and Jeannette Walls demonstrated similar characteristics, such as the parenting styles of their fathers, but also differed in terms of how they ultimately developed, with Jeannette growing via willpower, and Plath by nature. Each demonstrated similar but different stages of Kohlberg’s Moral Development, as well. Ultimately, the two women are a testament to how similar parenting can still have two very different outcomes in children.