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

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