Jules Piver IP Spring 2024 Final Paper May 01, 2024 The Glass Castle The Glass Castle written by Jeanette Walls is a childhood memoir that follows the tumultuous adolescence Walls experienced and how it shaped the person she is today. From dealing with an extremely dysfunctional family to constant moves and not knowing if there would be food on the table, Walls survived it all and tells her story through the eyes of her childhood self. Throughout this paper, Jeanette's childhood and resilience development will be analyzed to show how her experiences and relationships allowed her to survive while many others wouldn’t have. The Glass Castle will also be compared and contrasted to Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson through both the writing …show more content…
Most parents when their child, especially a toddler, is in need would put aside their “hobbies” and aid their child in what they need, especially if it is related to a basic need such as food. However, in this case Jeanette was left alone at three years old to cook. It is moments like these that speak volumes to the struggles and dysfunction of the Wall family. The hot dog incident is only one of the many instances of neglect inflicted on the Walls children by their parents. Neglect and instability are common themes caused by the parents throughout The Glass Castle. Moving was a common occurrence in their family history. Most of the moves the family made were instigated by Rex. Whether it be to avoid authority, running away from the family's financial and personal struggles, or for the prospect of potential opportunities, Rex was always the one to instigate the family's relocation. When these moves would occur, it was often with extremely little notice or time for the children to process what was …show more content…
However, in other places, they didn’t even have food or a place to stay. When analyzing Jeanette through this lens, it is clear that depending on her family's condition, her different psychological needs were not always met due to the instability of her home life. While there is a lot to critique on the parenting styles of Rosemary and Rex, there were some moments that Jeanette recalls that gave her and her siblings hope during their childhood. One example of this is Rex’s talk about the Glass Castle he was going to build for the family. The idea in itself was grandiose and may have been a figment of Rex’s narcissistic tendencies. However, it gave the kids a belief in their future. It was a symbol of hope throughout the memoir and their childhood. The idea of the glass castle itself was fanciful. It promoted the idea that the entire family would emerge from the awful situations they were in to be in a beautiful home with a great life. However, the idea of the glass castle also represented
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a memoir told from 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. One of the ways Jeannette survived her tough childhood was her ability to stay positive. Throughout The Glass Castle, Jeannette was put in deplorable houses, and at each one she tries to improve it. “A layer of yellow paint, I realized would completely transform, our dingy gray house,” (Walls 180).
Rex Walls has a big imagination throughout the memoir. He has a plan to “find gold” and build their dream house, “ the Glass Castle,” (Walls 25). Rex Walls made that plan because “people were after” him and he needed a cover up. He used the Glass Castle as a disguise to keep the children fro worrying about why the traveled so much. Jeannette Walls believed there was a demon underneath her bed. Rex Walls expressed how the demon had “evil eyes with fire in ‘em,” to go along with Jeannette’s imagination (Walls 36). When dealing with kids, imagination plays an important role.
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).
Every day the safety and well-being of many children are threatened by neglect. Each child deserves the comfort of having parents whom provide for their children. Throughout the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls explains the childhood from being born into the hands of parent who neglect their children. Many may argue that children need to grow with their parents; however, the removal of children is necessary if the parents disregard the kid’s needs and cannot provide a stable life for their children.
Throughout the Glass Castle there is a constant shift in Jeanettes tone through her use of diction. Her memoir is centered around her memories with her family, but mainly her father Rex Walls. Although it is obvious through the eyes of the reader that Rex is an unfit parent and takes no responsibility for his children, in her childhood years Jeanette continually portrays Rex as an intelligent and loving father, describing her younger memories with admiration in her tone. The capitalization of “Dad” reflects Jeannette’s overall admiration for her father and his exemplary valor. “Dad always fought harder, flew faster, and gambled smarter than everyone else in his stories”(Walls 24). Jeanette also uses simple diction to describe her father, by starting sentences with, “Dad said,” over and over. By choosing to use basic language instead of stronger verbs, she captures her experience in a pure and honest tone.
Jeannette Wales, author of The Glass Castle, recalls in her memoir the most important parts of her life growing up as a child that got her where she is now. Her story begins in Arizona in a small house with her parents and three siblings. Her parents worked and didn’t do much as parents so she had to become very independent. Her parents and siblings were the highlights to most of her memory growing up. She is able to recall memories that most small children wouldn’t be able to recall with as much detail.
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.
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
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.
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.
Focusing on some of the major events in the lives of the members of the Walls family, it has shed light to many of the unconventional ways the family lives. Also, it has portrayed the essence of being resilient and finding one’s self despite all the odds and diversities. The story is portrayed through the point of view of the second daughter, Jeanette. Through the course of the book, her respect, love and admiration for her father, Rex Walls, is highlighted. Despite all the times Rex has failed her, she still holds on to that last strand of faith that her father would redeem himself, that maybe,