The Glass Castle was published in March 2005 and tells the life story of Jeannette Walls, a story of family, perseverance, adventure, and peril. Her memoir quickly became a best-seller and this prompted the creation of a movie to capitalize on it. However, the movie did not gain as much attention as its parent novel and only made about $21.77 million dollars worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. The official budget of the movie is unknown, but looking at the performance of past movies by the same producer such as The Blind Side, Water for Elephants, Marley & Me, and My Best Friend’s Wedding, all of which grossed hundreds of millions of dollars, we know that the box office performance The Glass Castle adaptation did not perform as well as …show more content…
the producers expected and may have experienced a deficit in sales. But despite of the movie’s mixed critical reception, general viewers and Jeannette Walls herself enjoyed it showing that it’s worthwhile for readers to review out the movie in an objective way. The movie takes numerous creative liberties but still shares the themes shown in the novel and in some ways, these themes are utilized more efficiently. The most obvious flaw of the movie adaptation is that the entire story of The Glass Castle is condensed into the length of a typical feature film.
As Jenn Doll stated in the article “The Trouble with Making Books We Love into Movies” about the perceived profitability of movie adaptations of books: “Among the challenges of such a mainstream-aimed movie: It must fit into the filmmakers’ assumptions of what will be successful…” (Paragraph 3). Numerous key scenes of the story were cut from the movie and this may have made the plot feel rushed and unexplained. But all of this was done in an attempt to make the movie more accessible to a wider variety of people, not just readers or moviegoers. Though there is no way to get past how some moments of Jeannette’s life are just breezed through, the film uses dialogue and visual storytelling to overcome its limitation of not using expository …show more content…
text. The film often uses visual storytelling to give the audience information about a character.
Towards the beginning of the movie, we see a young Jeannette Walls making hot dogs as she did in the novel. From this scene, we immediately learn about the Walls’ family style of parenting and how dangerous it is to their children. In the book, a lot of time in this chapter of The Glass Castle is spent setting the scene and focusing on the reactions of the outside world. But since the movie is able to provide a visual representation, the majority of the expository process is reduced and more time can be allocated to further tell the story. In the movie, there is an exclusive scene where Rex Walls gets into an argument with a doctor after him questioning him about how Rex takes care of his children. Rex rebutted that in order for their family to be able to get medical attention they would have to use up months worth of money for food. This further explains the financial situation the family is in and Rex Walls’ character and beliefs. What scenes from the novel were cut were only done so to streamline the story and amass a more casual
audience. Jeannette Walls in her memoir, stated as a child: “‘Mom says I’m mature for my age,’ I told them, ‘and she lets me cook for myself a lot’” ( 11). This shows her character, a child who was left to fend for herself while her parents are off doing their own thing. We see that in the opening of this scene where Jeannette cooks the hot dogs as she described in the novel while her mother is painting. Plot remains relatively the same: Jeannette gets burned, the family drives her to the hospital, and the staff question the Walls’ parenting style. Although, subtle differences in chronology can be found. After explaining that Jeannette is on fire, the book goes back to explain the details while the movie flows through that in one stream. The tone and mood is where the film has problems. Both share the similar tone of shock and fear, but since the movie feels so rushed, the viewer doesn’t have time to be impacted by the scene while the book establishes the danger as soon as Jeannette Walls said, “I was on fire” (6). Though The Glass Castle movie is not without its flaws, it does deserve merit for being able to recreate the events of the memoir in a unique and interesting way. I highly recommend for teachers to allow their students to view this movie as it will enrich them with an emotional and artful experience. Additionally students can take sides to which they like better and promote discussion while they analyze the strengths and weaknesses on two ways to tell a story.
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.
She went off to seek the person she was meant to be. She had a purpose now, and this gave her a quest. She never gave up because she wrote the memoir from New York City and even saw her homeless mother as she passed by in a taxi on her way to her city apartment (Walls 9). Jeannette was determined on her quest and persevered through it all to become the person she is today. By utilizing symbolic, character, and situational archetypes such as fire, a hero, and a quest, Walls effectively conveys her theme of perseverance in her memoir, The Glass Castle.
The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls about her family. In this story she tells about her adventurous and dangerous childhood that shaped her to be the person she is today. Which is a strong, optimistic, responsible woman who knows how to roll with the burns and the punches literally. Brian, who is younger than Jeannette was her partner in crime in all her childhood memories. Maureen was the youngest she was not too close with the family and if I had one way to describe her it would be lost. Lori was oldest sibling and the total opposite. She was more reserved and very into her art. Which she took after their mother, RoseMary. RoseMary was a selfish woman, she would constantly put herself first. She was also, very weak and
Jeannette Walls, American writer and journalist, in her memoir, The Glass Castle, shares her vividly stunning childhood growing up with her family. Due to her misguided and dysfunctional parents, Jeannette and her siblings had to suffer through poverty, negligence, and abuse. Jeannette Walls states, “Some people think my parents are absolute monsters and should’ve had their children taken away from them. Some think they were these great free-spirited creatures who had a lot of wisdom that a lot of parents today don’t [have].” Although a handful of individuals believe that the Walls’ parenting style was justified and has led to the sibling’s success, their children should have been taken away to be raised properly because their parents were unfit, and they experienced an immense amount of physical and sexual abuse and neglect throughout the process.
In “The Glass Castle”, the author Jeanette Walls describes her childhood and what motivated her to chase her education and move out to New York City with her siblings and leave their parents behind in West Virginia. The main struggle Jeanette and her siblings had was the conflicting point of view that they had with their mother on parenting. Despite their father Rex Walls being an alcoholic, constantly facing unemployment, and being a source of hope for his children, Rose Mary Walls had her list of attributes that shaped her children’s life. Rose Mary had a very interesting view on parenting in Jeanette Wall’s memoir and this perspective of parenting influenced her children both positively and negatively.
In the book, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls there were many conflicts throughout the book, and the people in the situations made different decisions and actions depending on how they were involved in the conflict. The title of the book itself is a metaphor that signifies false promises and hopes. The author uses Mary literary devices to show adversity. The person that stood out the most in how he dealt with things was Rex Walls, since he’s the one who took different actions and decisions when a problem came their way. Jeannette Walls uses a lot of literary devices to show the adversity of building a family and how people’s actions and decisions depend on the conflict.
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 novel The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, brings to the surface many of the the struggles and darker aspects of American life through the perspective of a growing girl who is raised in a family with difficulties financially and otherwise. This book is written as a memoir. Jeannette begins as what she remembers as her first memory and fills in important details of her life up to around the present time. She tells stories about her family life that at times can seem to be exaggerated but seemed normal enough to her at the time. Her parents are portrayed to have raised Jeannette and her three siblings in an unconventional manner. She touches on aspects of poverty, family dynamics, alcoholism, mental illness, and sexual abuse from
...d to share their deepest and most private moments with their audience members, and this in turn will create a genuine, quality story. When asked if Jeannette Walls has fulfilled the duty given to her by William Faulkner, one should not even come close to hesitating with their response. In The Glass Castle, Walls shares some of the most personal and emotion-evoking moments of her life, and they clearly include the essential characteristics of writing as defined by Faulkner. With the expert use of Walls rhetorical strategy, she makes the reader see, hear, feel, and sense the emotion as if it is occurring firsthand. So, to conclude, Jeannette Walls has most definitely fulfilled Faulkner’s expectations of a writer by crafting a memoir stuffed with superb rhetorical strategies that thoroughly translates the events in Walls’ life to the readers in a very detailed manner.
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.
Towards the middle of the memoir, the theme is shown through the irony of Jeannette’s mother’s situation as well as Jeannette’s feelings towards
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.
It was a relief that the director incorporated the part where Rex says, “Brian's head is so hard, I think the floor took more damage than he did” (13). The plot is still the same. The movie matched the book well in this scene. In the movie, this was true as well.
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a harrowing and heartbreaking yet an inspiring memoir of a young girl named Jeannette who was deprived of her childhood by her dysfunctional and unorthodox parents, Rex and Rose Mary Walls. Forced to grow up, Walls stumbled upon coping with of her impractical “free-spirited” mother and her intellectual but alcoholic father, which became her asylum from the real world, spinning her uncontrollably. Walls uses pathos, imagery, and narrative coherence to illustrate that sometimes one needs to go through the hardships of life in order to find the determination to become a better individual.