The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls: Literary Analysis

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.

The first thing that symbolizes something to Jeannette is fire. “I was on fire. It’s my earliest memory.” (9). Fire is the first impression of the book. Fire represents chaos in Jeannette’s

life. Because this quote is the first impression of the book it is foreshadowing the chaos in her future. “ ‘You can’t live in fear of something as basics as fire.’ I didn’t. Instead, I became fascinated with it.” (15). Fire becomes an interest to Jeanette. Throughout her childhood she always seems to be searching for fire. In her life fire is always there in the background and comes to show destruction or chaos. “I wondered if the fire had been out to get me, I wondered if all fire was related, like Dad said all humans were related, if the fire that bad burned me that day while I cooked hot dogs was somehow connected to the fire I had flushed down the toilet and the fire burning at the hotel. I didn’t have the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.” (34). Jeannette realizes that fire equals chaos when fire is burning the hotel. Her first memory was fire and it is always there in the background for the rest of her life.

The second thing that symbolizes something to Jeannette is New York City.

“I told Lori about my escape fund, the seventy-five dollars I’d saved. From now on, I said, it would be our joint fund. We’d take on extra work after school and put everything we earned into a piggy bank. Lori would take it to New York and use it to get established, so that by the time I arrived, everything would be set.”(223) Lori and Jeannette work to earn money so they can leave. They named the piggy bank that they keep their money in Oz because New York City seems like The Emerald City to them. The two sisters went through so many struggles growing up they are determined to leave Welch and begin a new and better life. “ ‘I’ll never get out of here,’ Lori kept saying. ‘I’ll never get out of here.’ ‘You will,’ I said. ‘I swear it.’ I believed she would. Because I knew that if Lori never got out of Welch, neither would I.” (229). Lori and Jeannette have had a tough childhood and they need to escape Welch. They know that if they stay in Welch their life will always be full of challenges. New York is their escape from a life full of hardships and challenges. “I wondered if he was hoping that his favorite girl would come back, or if he was hoping that, unlike him, she would make it out for good.” (241). When Jeannette leaves her dad lost hope. He has always let his kids down and New York City is their escape. New York City represents their freedom. Their freedom from a life full of

disappointment and struggle.

The final thing that symbolizes something to Jeannette is the Glass Castle. “ Like build the Glass Castle… a great big house he was going to build for us in the desert.” (25). The Glass Castle gave hope to Jeannette and her siblings throughout their childhood. Hope for a better life. “I started at the plans. ‘Dad,’ I said, ‘you’ll never build the Glass Castle.’

‘Are you saying you don’t have faith in your old man?’ ” (238). Jeannette’s dad tries to get Jeannette to help him with the Glass Castle. He does it to remind her of all the fun times they had working on it when she was younger so that she might not move to New York City. Jeannette’s dad knows that if Jeannette leaves that he will lose the only child that still had faith in him so he tries to get her to not move. “ ‘Go ahead and build the Glass Castle, but don’t do it for me.’ Dad rolled up the blueprints and walked out of the room.” (238). The Glass Castle represents Rex Walls’ hope for a better life. In a better life he would be able to provide for his family and please his children.