Confronting Adversity: Themes of Growing Up and Identity. “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” This quote by Carl Gustav Jung correlates to the authors of “The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls, “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Harper Lee, and “Lord Of The Flies” by William Golding. Each author reveals that it's the internal turmoil that takes one from an innocent child to an adult through the main characters of each of their literary works. The characters then, through that conflict, choose to become an evolved individual through that strife. In all three books, characters confront internal conflicts between conforming to external forces and adhering to their own personal ethics, ultimately choosing to stay by their beliefs …show more content…
While growing up, Jeannette was engrossed with the abnormal ideas and pictures her dad filled her head with. One of which, is the idea that one day, he will build his family a castle made of glass. An Idea so absurd she believed it because he did. This reveals the trusting nature of her youth and perspective of life. She has not yet hit a point in her adolescence where the naivety she held as a child shifts into anything but undoubtful trust. Living in poverty all her childhood, Jeannette found a way to cope with her dysfunctional lifestyle, which was to make the best of her situation. Other than seeing the reality of her bad circumstances, the innocent part of her decided to stay optimistic. When referring to the whole family sleeping in their car under the night sky, Jeannette says “We could live like this forever” (11). Despite not having shelter or a bed, she sees the situation as an adventure. A lifestyle she wishes would never end. Showing she does not worry about having basic essentials anyone older may have or having any fear of the future. Jeannette grows up when she determines it is in her best interest to continue with her new found perspectives on life rather than continue in her parents’ footsteps. Jeannette is at a crossroads when it comes to continuing the life of poverty with her parents or to pursuing her goal in life of making something of herself. When she …show more content…
On the island, Ralph shows his innocence when he attempts to make companionship with the other boys. He shows this to Piggy, Simon, and Jack. (RALPH TRYING TO BECOME FRIENDS QUOTE) Though Jack challenges Ralph continually, Ralph still makes the attempt to be cordial with Jack mirror that of children. He tries to bring the group together by seeing the goodness in the others, rather than letting the group of boys divide and create conflict. Showing his innocence by choosing to see the good within the boy. Ralph portrays his hopeful, innocent behavior when he decides that the boys need to keep a fire going in order to get rescued. “We’ve got to have special people to look after the fire. Any day there may be a ship out there. and if we have a signal going they’ll come and take us off. And another thing. We ought to have more rules. Where the conch is, that’s a meeting. The same up here as down there.” (). By seeing the fire as an essential part of rescue, Ralph’s innocence is shown through his faith in a ship nearby to save the boys. The conflict on the island forces Ralph to grow up. Ralph has to decide if he should continue his goal of keeping a signal fire going or join Jack in his promise of safety. After seeing the savagery the boys possessed during the feast where Simon was brutally murdered, Ralph has to choose if his safety and want of belonging is enough to surround himself with the savage boys. (QUOTE OF
However, as the plot progresses, Ralph faces both internal and external conflicts; from those conflicts he greatly matures. Ralph always has the strong belief that all the children will be saved from the island sooner or later; he is so sure that he even insists that they should have fire at all times to signal. However, when the boys abandon the fire which is symbolic of Ralph’s hope of getting saved, Ralph faces an internal conflict that makes him fear about their future; perhaps they will not be rescued at all. By insisting that the children should keep the fire going, he creates an external conflict with Jack whose values are different. Jack is enjoying life as a leader of the savages, and he fears that fire will possibly end his authoritarian rule over the savages. Both conflicts are resolved when Ralph finally meets the naval officer.
The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, is an autobiography that has been enjoyed by many. It encompasess many themes that deal with the darker sides of life. Issues such as alcoholism, abandonment, and poverty are just a few that plague the family in this book. This personal story offers an insight to the childhood of Jeannette Walls. As an outsider looking in, it is crazy to think that such a young girl went through so many traumatic events, but to her, those events were nothing out of the ordinary. Her parents were different than most. They were guilty of constantly uprooting the kids, not holding steady work, and not always providing for the needs of their children. Strangely enough, through their eyes they were doing everything right and
Firstly, a notable trait that distinguishes Ralph from the other children on the island is his ability to think more rationally. As the boys become influenced by Jack’s rule, they regress into uncivilized savages that lack discipline. Whereas, Ralph is wisely able to keep the boys under order, which is particularly apparent through the meetings that he regularly holds. It is in those meetings that circumstances can be confronted with rationality and equanimity. For example, Ralph instructs the boys with, “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking,” (Golding 36). By saying this, Ralph enforces his role of a leader by making rules for the boys on the island to
Ralph’s ultimate goal is rescue and it is through his establishment of order that the boys temporarily remain sane. For example, when Ralph first finds the conch, he intends on blowing it to call and organize the boys for an assembly. This characterizes Ralph as a logical leader who leads by regulation. This shows the importance of organization to Ralph, which is how a leader should think, caring about all his people. In addition, he begins to build shelters after a while on the island so they can have protection against the strong heat or rain on the island. Shelter is one of the basic necessities for life and Ralph’s action of building those shows his commitment and hope for survival until they can become rescued. Furthermore, during their first assembly, Ralph suggests to build a fire so that if ships pass by they can see the smoke, as a sign of life. This is significant because it shows Ralph’s priority of rescue. It additionally shows not only does Ralph rule by order, but also with respect. He wants the other boys to obey his order, not by force, but because they respect him, as they should do to thei...
Other cases, self desire may occur for treating one’s self with respect and love. Through an exchange of information, two people may learn and grow to love about themselves. Nonetheless, parents are the ones who show their children how to love. In the absense of a parental figure, many children will face a sudden change in their life style. Children of all ages will learn from their teachers, their peers, and their influences from media. In Jeannette Wall’s The Glass Castle, children will change through different influences in their lives, as seen in the novel, “I hesitated. “Sometimes, I think, it’s neither.” (256). Jeannette grew up knowing that her parents weren’t the best examples. Although her dad illustrated his love for her through various actions. She finds that it was hard to talk about her parents in public. The fact that her parents are living in the streets while she is spending her money on school was gruesome. Her bond with her parents became worse and worse which aided Jeannette into becoming a promising
Dreams are something to strive for, but at times they can negatively impact one’s family and friends. In the memoir titled The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls that takes place in a multitude of places in the U.S., but most importantly in Welch, West Virginia, does this idea show off? Jeannette Walls lives within a poor household with parents that don’t treat her and her siblings the best. They learn to survive within the harsh world as well as grow beyond the scope of their parents. Jeannette Walls is trying to convey a theme of big aspirations having negative impacts on family and friends.
Almost every single creature of on earth raises their offspring before sending them off on their own. In the The Glass Castle, an autobiographical memoir, Jeannette Walls details her childhood experience growing up in her dysfunctional, quirky, and nomadic family. Her parents, Rex and Rosemary, fills her and her siblings, Brian, Lori, and Maureen, childhoods with bad situations for a family. This includes alcoholism, unstable jobs, unstable homes, mood swings, and poverty. However, their parents teach them many skills that would not have been acquired if they grew up in a different setting. The children are taught self-sufficiency, hard work, and compassion. Despite the hardships Jeannette had growing up with her parents, it was still in her and her siblings’ best interest to grow up with the parents they had.
At about twelve years old, Ralph is among the oldest of the boys on the island. He is described as a “fair-haired” boy with mild facial features. He is the first character introduced and plays the role of the protagonist. He is somewhat charismatic, but is admittedly frightened by the situation. Ralph begins as an innocent boy but ends up very mature from dealing with conflicts and adult decisions throughout his leadership. He believes that survival can only be achieved by the presence of peace and order. He tries, somewhat unsuccessfully, to build a stable, civilized society. Ralph is a perfect character however. He struggles as a leader, and has to rely on Piggy, a boy who he respects for his maturity and knowledge, for advice. As the chief, Ralph notices that many of the boys are not following the rules, but he does not subject anyone to punishment. This leads to anarchy, and the creation of Jack’s tribe. Eventually, many of the boys abandon Ralph, and although against his initial values, he tries to join Jack to escape the loneliness he has experienced. Toward the end of the novel, Ralph is hunted by Jack and his followers, but is able to the beach where he finds a naval officer to rescue him. This is the first time that Ralph is relieved from his internal and external conflicts.
The boys vote him in as the leader, as a result he gains respect from most of the boys. Ralph creates assemblies and uses the conch to symbolize who can or cannot speak, these represent rules which makes Ralph feel safe and comfortable because there is a sense of order on the island. Even though the island has zero discipline to misbehaving or not following the rules, Ralph’s civilized upbringing is stuck with him he wants there to be rules and laws to keep some sort of order. This backfires on him though because the majority of the boys don’t want there to be rules, they want to have fun while there are no parents around. At the first assembly, in hopes of preventing chaos from occuring, Ralph decides that hands need to be raised and the conch has to be in the hands of the person who wants to speak. (pg 33) Although Ralph’s rules were successful at the first assembly this sense of order didn’t last. As time went on the boys started to act less civilized, talking without the conch and succumbing to their savage ways. Ralph on the other hand was able to retain his morals. One of Ralph's main priorities was always to keep a signal fire on the top of the mountain. He wants to make sure the fire is always going so the boys will have a chance at being seen and rescued. Ralph explains to the boys the importance of the fire but the boys to not listen to him and let the fire go out. When a ship passes by the island it is unable to know that there are occupants because of no sign of life, Ralph can’t help to feel a large amount of anger towards the others but rather then letting this defeat him, he stays positive and makes a plan to start the signal fire for the next time someone passes by. (67) Communication between Ralph and the other boys is difficult, especially with Jack since he has no interest in resolving their issues so they can work together and be rescued.
Ralph’s character plays a major part in the plot of ‘Lord of the Flies’. Ralph is the first character we meet in the novel and at first he seems to be very relaxed about the situation of being in unknown territory. The plot begins opens when Ralph and another boy, Piggy, discover each other and eventually decide through Piggy’s constant persistence to blow through a conch shell to see if there are any other people around. It turns out that there are many other boys stranded on the island and they begin to form a small community, which is controlled by Ralph who becomes the leader. Throughout the novel Ralph tries to keep the boys in order and to preserve a civilised society by showing constant faith that if they work together they will be rescued. He does this by encouraging them to keep a fire burning, which represents that faith, and to organise themselves into a unit equipped to handle the unpredictable situation. However, Ralph finds this increasingly difficult as the story progresses. Ralph begins to long and daydream of his civilised and normal past. Gradually, he becomes confused and began to lose clarity in his thoughts and speeches. "Ralph was puzzled by the shutter that flickered in his brain. There was something he wanted to say; then the shutter had come down." (p. 156)
What gets you through a tough day? What if you had no money and you were constantly getting neglected? How would you get through it all? Well, In the story The Glass Castle the author shows us how jeanette and her siblings constantly get neglected but always get by with optimism, false hope, and each other.
Ralph always wanted to do the right thing for the boys as a group and for himself as well: “‘The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don’t keep a fire going? Is a fire too much for us to make?’” (Golding 80). The boys that were watching the fire let it burn out, so when a ship passed by the island they did not have any black smoke to signal the ship that there were people on the island. Ralph was extremely frustrated with everyone because many of the boys did not care that the fire went out. Ralph realizes that fire is one of the most important things since that is the thing that is supposed to get them rescued off of the island. The boys, besides Ralph, are showing their evil by not caring that this happened to them instead they just brush it off like it is no big deal but in reality it is a huge deal for their survival. The way that Ralph was brought up in his society shows that he can control his evil reactions in tense situations since he does not want to lash out at somebody. Even though Ralph is from a controlled society, he was very eager to join the society that was taking place which leads to the killing of Simon: “The beast was on its knees in the center,...leapt on to the beast, screamed struck, bit, tore...they could see
When the boys landed on the island, they would initially strive to have fun and enjoy themselves due to a lack of authority curtailing their liberties, and with the sanguine hope of being rescued. However, due to their predicament, two leaders would emerge, Jack and Ralph, leading to conflicting leaderships that would eventually lead to tension between the two boys. Jack would have a penchant for flouting the orders of Ralph, the elected leader, especially when he and his hunters were ordered to watch the fire which was at that time, their only hope of being rescued. The fire, like many, would die down, and Jack would return with a slaughtered pig, with the knowledge that he disobeyed the orders assigned to him. Ralph would express this to him, but he would be,¨vaguely irritated by his irrelevance but too happy to let it worry him.¨ (Golding 63).
Ralph’s innocence is lost when he realized that they were not going to get off the island, and so he had to worry about survival of the others and himself. Ralph’s innocence is shown when he talks about his dad soon coming to rescue him and the others from the island as soon as he finds the map, “I could swim when I was five. Daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the Navy. When he gets leave he’ll come and rescue us. What’s your father?”(Golding 13). This quote helps convey his innocence because he lacks the mental capacity to truly understand the situation that he’s in, which is he’s stuck on a random island. He still believes his dad will come rescue him as soon as possible, “he’ll come and rescue us.” This quote also reveals that he has no worries in the world and has a casual conversation with Piggy even though they were just involved in a plane crash and are now stranded on a island. Ralph doesn’t truly understand what’s happening on the island and thinks he’ll be rescued in no time, but in reality he’s going to be stranded and is going to have to find a way to survive along with his tribe. Ralph starts an assembly to discuss the situation they are in and where they are, “We’re on an island. We’ve been on the mountain top and seen water all round. We saw no houses, no smoke, no footprints, no boats, no people. We’re on an
Ralph’s loss of innocence is first demonstrates when the boys first realize that they are all alone on a deserted island and then appoint Ralph as their chief, which causes him to take on an adult-like leadership role, “‘Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things’... ‘I’m chief then.”’ (Golding 19) After Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell, Ralph blows it to summon any other human life on the island to the platform, where they hold their first meeting. Ralph believes in parliamentary procedures and has a maturity about him that makes the other boys want him as their leader. This causes him to take on more responsibility and attempts to do things the way adults would. Also, he can’t stay behind and play like the other children do, instead he must explore the island, “‘I’ve got to have time to think things out. I can’t decide what to do straight off… we’ve got to decide if this is an island… three of us will go