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A relationship between a parent and child
A relationship between a parent and child
A relationship between a parent and child
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First and foremost, I would like to say how much I enjoyed your novel, The Glass Castle. I’m not a big reader so when the book was assigned in class I sort of got bummed out; but after I started reading it, I felt like I couldn’t put it down. I can honestly say I have never heard of any childhood quite like yours. However, I really connected to your relationship with your dad, Rex. Despite his drunkenness, you cared for him and cherished him. As I was growing up, my dad was an alcoholic. It took a toll on me, but I never left his side because he was my dad that I cared for deeply. He was an alcoholic for about 5 years until finally one day something clicked and he never touched a drink again. He did many stupid things while he was drinking
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a memoir told in the perspective of a young girl (the author) who goes through an extremely hard childhood. Jeannette writes about the foodless days and homeless nights, however Jeannette uses determination, positivity, sets goals, and saves money, because of this she overcame her struggles.
In the book, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls is trying to tell us that her parents are taking her happiness away. In this section, young Jeannette is witnessing how her parents get into argument about money and disrespect people who are trying to help their condition. Walls says, “I thought Grandma Smith was great. But after a few weeks, she and Dad would always get into some nasty hollering match. It might start with Mom mentioning how short we were on cash” (Walls 20).
I’ve never heard of any childhood quite like yours. I was shocked by the personality and character of your parents and how they raised you and your sibilings, “The Glass Castle”. I understand why people call your parents monsters. I will admit that the thought crossed my own mind on multiple occasions. However, I have also never read a book or a memoir that required so much thinking . With every page I read I was able to learn about the struggles & hardships you dealt with as a child and I tried to see a deeper meaning. When I did that, I saw your parent’s intentions behind everything they did. I began to understand what you saw and still see in your parents.
Jeannette Walls has lived a life that many of us probably never will, the life of a migrant. The majority of her developmental years were spent moving to new places, sometimes just picking up and skipping town overnight. Frugality was simply a way of life for the Walls. Their homes were not always in perfect condition but they continued with their lives. With a brazen alcoholic and chain-smoker of a father and a mother who is narcissistic and wishes her children were not born so that she could have been a successful artist, Jeannette did a better job of raising herself semi-autonomously than her parents did if they had tried. One thing that did not change through all that time was the love she had for her mother, father, brother and sisters. The message that I received from reading this memoir is that family has a strong bond that will stay strong in the face of adversity.
The Glass Castle is a memoir of the writer Jeannette Walls life. Her family consists of her father Rex Walls, her mother Rose Mary Walls, her older sister Lori Walls, her younger brother Brian Walls and her younger sister Maureen Walls. Jeannette Walls grew up with a lot of hardships with her dad being an alcoholic and they never seemed to have any money. Throughout Jeanette’s childhood, there are three things that symbolize something to Jeannette, they are fire, New York City and the Glass Castle, which shows that symbolism gives meanings to writing.
It is commonly believed that the only way to overcome difficult situations is by taking initiative in making a positive change, although this is not always the case. The theme of the memoir the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is that the changes made in children’s lives when living under desperate circumstances do not always yield positive results. In the book, Jeannette desperately tries to improve her life and her family’s life as a child, but she is unable to do so despite her best efforts. This theme is portrayed through three significant literary devices in the book: irony, symbolism and allusion.
Education plays a big role in our daily lives. Education is commonly defined as a process of learning and obtaining knowledge. The story takes place beginning in the late 1950s to the early 2000s. Jeannette Walls is the main character of the story and the narrator. She tells the events of her life living with careless and yet loving parents. This family of six lived in many cities and towns and went through tough states to stay alive. Her mother and father never kept a good steady job, but they had great intelligence. Jeannette and her siblings barely went to school to get the proper education they needed. In the book The Glass Castle, author Jeanette Walls discovers the idea that a conservative education may possibly not always be the best education due to the fact that the Walls children were taught more from the experiences their parents gave them than any regular school or textbook could give them. In this novel readers are able to get an indication of how the parents Rex and Rosemary Walls, choose to educate and give life lessons to their children to see the better side of their daily struggles.
Rex Walls While growing up in life, children need their parents to teach them and lead them on the path to a successful future. In the Glass Castle Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, neglects to take care of his duties as a father figure in Jeannette’s life. In the same way, he teaches her to be strong and independent at a very young age. As we read through the story, we see the special relationship that Jeannette shares with her father. Even though he, in many instances, failed to protect his children, refused to take responsibility for them, and even stole from them, Jeannette still loved him until his death for two reasons: one, for his ability to make her feel special, and two, because he is a never-ending source of inspiration.
Could the dysfunction of the Walls family have fostered the extraordinary resilience and strength of the three older siblings through a collaborative set of rites of passage? One could argue that the unusual and destructive behavior of the parents forced the children into a unique collection of rites of passage that resulted in surprisingly resilient and successful adults. In moving back to Welch, Virginia, the children lost what minimal sense of security they may have enjoyed while living in their grandmother’s home in Arizona. The culture and climate (both socially and environmentally) along with an increased awareness of their poverty resulted in a significant loss of identity. As they learned new social and survival skills in this desperate environment, there is a powerful sense of camaraderie between the older children. Their awareness, drive and cunning survival skills while living in Welch result in a developing sense of confidence in their ability to survive anything. This transition, while wretched, sets the stage for their ability to leave their environment behind with little concern for a lack of success. As the children leave, one by one, to New York, they continue to support one another, and emerge as capable, resourceful young adults.
When most people hear about rapes, murders, and drugs they think about the news and movies. They never would have thought a book could express these controversial topics correctly. I was one of those people before I read “The Glass Castle” and “A Place to Stand. ““The Glass Castle” is about a girl that grows up with parent that shouldn’t have kids. She struggles with growing up poor and not getting the support she needs when awful things happened. “A Place to Stand” is about a boy who grows up without his parents around and eventually ends up in a maximum security prison for selling drugs. Most of the book is focused on him learning how to read and write in prison and all the awful things that happen there. These books were marvelous representations of the authors, Jeannette Walls and Jimmy Santiago Baca, lives. They had many negative things happen to them through out there life but they were able to persist and become the well-respected people they are today. They made their life relevant to us with their memoirs. I liked both of these books very much but there was one that I enjoyed a lot more than the other. “The Glass Castle” was a more superior book than “A Place to Stand.” I enjoyed the short story aspect of “The Glass Castle” compared the long narrative of “A Place to Stand.” It was a lot easier to put down Jeanette’s book without becoming confused the next time you read it. Also I love the whimsy Jeannette puts on topics that aren’t typically whimsical. Jimmy’s novel is completely serious throughout the whole book. Finally, every character in “The Glass Castle” seems to develop and grow throughout the book. Other than Jimmy most of the characters either die or are never seen again by the end of the books. These are bot...
For Adult Children of Alcoholics, surviving their families becomes the point of existence. The fortunate may be able to draw support from a supportive adult, and may emerge with fewer difficulties than their brothers and sisters. The majority, however, have to “make do.” Some spend lonely hours in their rooms wishing only to vanish behind the woodwork. Others attempt to rescue the foundering vi...
What is the source of your success? My own definition of success is about overcoming my obstacles and hardships. If I can’t overcome the obstacles and hardships along the way, then I will try again so that I am more prepared and have the right knowledge. I want to meet obstacles and hardships because I want to feel the pleasure of success when I overcome them. In order for me to overcome and embrace hardships, I need to find the missing link, have the right knowledge, and practice effective time management.
Strine, T., Dube, S., Dube, V., Witt Prahn, A., Rasmussen, S., Wagenfeld, M., Croft, J. (2012). Associations between adverse childhood experiences, psychological distress, and adult alcohol problems. American Journal of Health Behavior, 36(3), 408-423. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=43&sid=54392cc5-0150-4def-89f7-b43309bb775f%40sessionmgr198&hid=114&bdata=JmxvZ2luLmFzcCZzaXRlPWVob3N0LWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=72384112
What I found most baffling was how I was completely oblivious to the control that alcohol had on my life. The family tried explaining the pliers-like grip it had on me, but they would further have to explain how I became very defensive when they did so, They indicated how I would incite arguments and become very ill-tempered in response to my inability to calm my cravings. However, I couldn 't even begin to conceive of myself displaying such behavior, especially towards my own family. Learning how my actions had hurt them in such a manner was perhaps the most difficult part to accept as it caused a mass of sorrow to fluctuate my heart and flood my eyes with tears on a regular base. I thought, endeavoring to wrap my mind around it all was literally incomprehensible. Still, something or someone had to be the voice of reason behind the broken furniture, busted walls, and smashed mirrors throughout the house. I came to grips with the fact that everyone could not have been fashioning the exact same fabrication about me and my sudden outbursts.
I remember seeing Jimmy in this guy’s apartment waiting for him to go to sleep so he could sleep with his wife. He was dancing with his wife as dude proceeded to pass out. In the midst of this, I had two more kids. I didn’t drink much when I was pregnant because it made me too sick but I didn’t mind that others did. This made four kids in total. My family still took the older ones and the other two were good. All my babies were good until adolescence. I remember my daughter sleeping on the coffee table in her car seat. She would sleep there all night with the hustle and bustle of people passing her. To this day, she has to have some kind of excitement around her. She was only a few months old. It must have been in April.Years later my oldest son told me they hated it when I drank and wanted me to quit. We still lived in the projects and drinking was the hardest thing I’d ever tried to do. I was honest with them and told them that we better say a prayer