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Gender roles in children's literature
Essay on The effects of absent fathers on their children
Gender roles in children's literature
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Jeannette and her siblings were all forced into completing tasks and taking on roles for themselves and their other siblings that are heartbreaking to read about and uncommon for most children to experience and tackle themselves. Much of this had to do with the lack of responsibility on their parents’ part and the ways they decided to live. As I have read the book, I have been amazed over and over again at the ways Jeannette handled the parental roles—both mother and father. She was very tough and never gave up, but you could tell there were other times she was just plain discouraged. One example we can see her using the roles to benefit her siblings was when her mom left to Charleston to “renew her teaching certificate” for 8 weeks and put Jeannette in charge of the money. She budgeted out $25 a week to provide the groceries and pay all of the bills that would need to be taken care of. Even though Jeannette gave her father (Rex) money when he asked, she …show more content…
This allowed her to help Lori move to New York and even herself after she graduated. Something that I thought was very profound and mature of her was when her father asked her what she wanted for her tenth birthday and she asked him to stop drinking. This request was proof of her maturity and benefited her, her siblings, and her mother for the little time that he did remain sober. Jeannette and Lori both worked together several times to help their mom (Rose Mary) get out of bed to go to work as a teacher. This kept money coming in for the family and allowed their mom the keep her job until she decided she didn’t want to do it anymore. It seems that there are unending instances when Jeannette used her maturity and parental roles to benefit herself and her family. Life was rough, but without her bravery and hard work, life might have looked even more rough than the story we are reading
Rex and Rose Mary were obviously very different from other parents. They thought their children should be taught from morals and knowledge, and wanted their children to be like them. Rex wanted his children to be tough and entitled to what they needed and not wanted. Even though Jeannette was injured, her parents thought it was a good thing. They thought it was better for their daughter to make her mistakes early so she could learn from her past experiences. Her father even let her play with fire, so that she could overcome her fear of the mighty flame. "Dad appeared alone in the doorway of my room. He told me we were going to check out Rex Walls Style. Dad hurried down the hall with me in his arms. A nurse yelled for us to stop, but dad broke into a run." Pg.
Ever since she was a young girl. Jeannette had set high goals for herself. Since she was so advanced in school and genuinely enjoyed learning, it made sense that she would want to do big things with her life. Whether it was being a veterinarian or a geologist, her dreams extended far beyond her homes in little desert towns or Welch, West Virginia. However, because of her poverty-stricken home life, many people believed it didn’t seem likely that she would be so successful. One day, while living in Welch, Jeannette goes to the bar to drag her drunk father back home. A neighborhood man offers them a ride back to their house, and on the ride up he and Jeannette start a conversation about school. When Jeannette tells the man that she works so hard in school because of her dream careers, the man laughs saying, “for the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big plans” (Walls 183). Immediately, Jeannette tells the man to stop the car and gets out, taking her father with her. This seems to be a defining moment in which Jeannette is first exposed to the idea that she is inferior to others. Although this man said what he did not mean to offend her, Jeannette is clearly very hurt by his comment. To the reader, it seems as if she had never thought that her family’s situation made her subordinate to those
Jeannette and her father Rex have a hopeful beginning to their relationship which consists of its own heroic moments filled with many learning experiences, moments of trust, and source of comfort, which letter on took a disappointing end filled with, hypocrisy, lack of trust, lack of protection, alcohol addictions, and death.
She was put into a situation where life is a challenge, like the Joshua tree which is beautiful because of its struggle. “If situations like these, I realized, were what turned people into hypocrites”(Walls 144). During these pages she shows us the true meaning of life. She is friends with a African American. She shows us that other people have a rough time also, not just her and her family. Jeanette had a good life, she got a bike, travel around the world, and got to be friends with people. She cannot just go off and be a hypocrite, she shows us that life is more than living, but enjoying it as much as you can with the things you have. This is all achieved by writing it down in an effective Memoir and by using good mix of great and bad
They shared a special father-daughter bond. However, as she grew older she realized things more clearly and understood them more. She realized who her father truly was and did not want to end up the same way. “What I wanted to say was that I knew Eric would never try to steal my paycheck or throw me out the window, that I’d always been terrified I’d fall for a hard-drinking, hell-raising, charismatic scoundrel like you, Dad…” (Walls, 268). Their relationship weakened over the countless times of him coming home drunk, lying and getting the family into hard times. Jeannette also asked him to stop drinking several times, especially on her birthday as a birthday wish. Rex tried several times to stop and went into a depression while he stopped. He even locked himself in his room tied on his bed so he couldn’t move. He then again started drinking again and broke his promise to his daughter after their trip to the Grand Canyon. However, Jeannette could never imagine her life without him. “But despite all the hell raising and destruction and chaos he had created in our loves, I could not imagine what my life would be like-what the world would be like-without him in it.” ( Walls, 279). This shows how Jeannette will always have spot for her father, no matter how much he put her, her siblings and mother through. “Seeing the world that way has always helped Walls survive. In her first 10 years, her family lived in "at least 20 places" across the American West, she says. "I don't quite know what it means to live somewhere. Do you have to unpack? Does staying in a motel for a few weeks count?" Her dad would find odd jobs before getting fired or feeling the itch to move on. Her mom took teaching work but repeatedly quit when it interfered with her painting time. There were no new clothes, rarely enough to eat, no doctor visits.” (Hubbard, 76-80). Life got tougher and tougher as Jeannette got older. Rex’s drinking became worse as the
With the right mindset, anybody can achieve successfulness. It doesn’t depend on the social ranking, amount of money, or any other factors. If somebody was brought up like Jeannette was, they could follow in her foot steps. With parents who offer out no help, it would require all the effort to come for the child wanting change. They cannot rely on anybody for help because it is rare and temporary. They also shouldn’t count of moving at such a young age, it was miracle even with Jeannette’s parents that they let leave. In a whole, Jeannette’s story can be achieved by anyone if they are up for the challenge. Liz’s story can relate to more children or teens around America. Many children have the struggle of drug addicted parents in tod...
An example of this is the lack of food that the children have throughout the novel. Due to the poor socioeconomic status of the family, Jeannette and her siblings never have food to take for their school lunches. This would have been understandable if the family had no means to make money, however, this is not the case. Jeannette says that she and Brian found a “genuine two-carat” diamond ring. Jeannette tells her mother that “…that ring could get us a lot of food“ (Walls 118). In response, Rose Mary says “That's true…but it could also improve my self-esteem. And at times like these, my self-esteem is even more vital than food” (Walls 118). Clearly, Rose Mary exhibits a selfish attitude and prioritizes her self-esteem over the needs of her family. If she had sold the diamond ring, a family which could not even afford to eat would be able to thrive. Evidently, by placing her own needs above those of the family, Rose Mary shows how she is willing to prioritize herself at the peril of her family. Contrastingly, Rex tends to put the children’s needs above his own. When the children need new beds, Jeannette says that he “built each of us a wooden box with sliding doors for personal stuff” along with the bunk beds (Walls 96). Moreover, he lets the children have the bedroom in Welch and resorts to sleeping on a
She was now reading at a 5th grade level and followed the nuns instructions. Claudette would remind herself “mouth shut, shoes on feet” ( Russell, 240). This also shows she’s trying to change for her parents sake and to be better than Jeanette.
Jeannette Walls states in an interview “My mother could not take care of herself, how could I possibly expect her to take care of me?” (Diversity Conversation) She never takes responsibility or has the initiative to go out and make a better life for her and her children. Rose Mary uses guilt and verbal abuse to keep the children “in line,” so to speak. Rex even resorts to physical abuse after Rose Mary snitches on Jeannette. “‘How dare you?’ she shouted. ‘You’re in trouble now — big trouble. I’m telling your dad. Just you wait until he comes home’” (219). As neglected as they are, they somehow survive the crazy conditions they are forced to live with — lack of food, water, a stable shelter, lack of personal hygiene, and even lack of parental supervision. Lori, Jeannette, Brian and Maureen resort to the worst possible ways to keep themselves alive. For example, the three older children find a stick of margarine in the refrigerator and split the stick between each other because they are so hungry. When Rose Mary finds out ,she becomes very angry — stating that the margarine was for her. Another time, the kids want to eat ham, but find it infested with maggots, Rose Mary tells them to just cut off the parts with maggots and eat the rest. That it will be “fine.” “A big green Dumpster stood in the parking lot. When no one was looking, Brian and I pushed open the lid, climbed up, and dived inside to search for bottles. I was afraid it might be full of yucky garbage. Instead, we found an astonishing treasure: cardboard boxes filled with loose chocolates. Some of them were whitish and dried-out-looking, and some were covered with a mysterious green mold, but most of them were fine. We pigged out on chocolates,” (110). This just shows how desperate they were for food. At the same time, their mother is hiding food from them, eating it on the sly. “‘I can’t help it,’ she sobbed. ‘I’m a sugar
No one ever said tolerating family members was easy. Tensions between others are bound to build and opinions about people are bound to change. The Walls family in Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle is a prime example of changing opinions about different family members. Most notably, Jeannette has a shifting attitude toward her father, Rex, because of one prominent thing: his alcoholism. Throughout Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, Walls’ attitude towards her father endures multiple shifts due their family’s changing conditions to convey the message of acceptance and forgiveness of past actions.
She instantly knew what she wanted to do with her life, but it was a matter of being able to make a livable financial income. She sincerely states, “I cleaned my friends’ houses till I could find a job, I rode buses, I didn’t have a car and it was really sad coming from a ‘safe haven’... to go from bouncing around to friends’ houses, sleeping at random people’s houses. It was horrible.” She was only eighteen years of age. She in a sense lost the support of most of her family and she was forced to learn quite a bit about taking responsibility for herself so early in her life.
Francie begins to get bullied and made fun of at school because of her and her family being poor. The other school kids and teachers know that Francie must sell junk and metal scraps only to be able to buy old loafs of bread from the Jewish deli. Because of the hardships at school Francie has to switch to a school that respects her financial status. She now has to walk 42 blocks only to get to school. Another problem Francie must face is to live basically without a father. Since Johnny’s drinking problem he is always out of a job, so Francie must forget about a source of income from their and has to stress about how they will
Jeanette was extremely cultivating. Jeanette was her father's preeminent child, she felt like she had an extraordinary bond with him and they got along great. Just as any other girl though, Jeanette was going through the stage where the boys started to like her, but she didn't have “those” feelings for them. When a boy Billy took advantage of her, she didn't tell anyone because she was scared of what her family would think and do to this boy. It didn't happen often where she would meet a boy because they were always moving around so much. Jeanette didn't think anything of being poor, her family was the local pariah. Her parents being to tell lies and stories so it wouldn't seem that bad, but even if she knew the truth she would have been alright. As he started to mature she started to see gaps the stories her parents would tell her but still went along with
In actuality, she was defiant, and ate macaroons secretly when her husband had forbidden her to do so. She was quite wise and resourceful. While her husband was gravely ill she forged her father’s signature and borrowed money without her father or husband’s permission to do so and then boastfully related the story of doing so to her friend, Mrs. Linde. She was proud of the sacrifices she made for her husband, but her perceptions of what her husband truly thought of her would become clear. She had realized that the childlike and submissive role she was playing for her husband was no longer a role she wanted to play. She defied the normal roles of the nineteenth century and chose to find her true self, leaving her husband and children