The Glass Castle Stereotypes

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

a first hand experience. A large amount of her childhood and adolescence, Jeannette and her siblings struggle to find enough food to keep from being hungry. Her father struggles with alcoholism and her mother is an aspiring artist who likely struggles with mental problems of her own and has difficulty maintaining a steady job.

Jeannette and her siblings learn to provide for themselves and try to avoid the continuous problems caused by their parents and others around them. The effects of poverty, as witnessed through The Glass Castle, are still felt throughout America today.
Poverty in America is a very complex issue that can be looked at from many directions. There are a plethora of statistics and theories about poverty in America that can be confusing and at times contradicting. It is important to objectively view statistics to gain a better understanding of poverty and to wade through the stereotypes and the haze of cultural views that can misrepresent the situation.The official poverty line in America begins with a person making at or below $12,060. To calculate the poverty line for a family, an additional $4,180 is added to the base of $12,060 for each additional member(“Federal Poverty Level Guidelines”). According to the last U.S. census, over 45 million or 14.5% of Americans are at or below the poverty line(Worstall). At this level, the U.S. poverty level has not changed much from the 1970s when the government began a “War on Poverty.” However,

according to some economists, the blanket measurement of poverty is inaccurate and does not truly represent the full story of poverty in America. According to a source, the metrics that measure poverty do not accurately account for assistance that people below the poverty line receive in welfare benefits and other forms of assistance(Worstall). There have been efforts by groups to gain a better understanding of poverty in America by finding and using different measurements that paint a more detailed picture.

Many of these groups utilize surveys and other census data to compile a greater amount of statistics. These studies find that a large amount of Americans that are in poverty today actually have far greater privilege in household appliances and conveniences than did those in poverty in previous years. According to surveys from 2012, 80% of households in poverty have air conditioning as compared to only 36% of all homes in 1970. About 75% have one vehicle and around 31% have two or more vehicles. Over two-thirds also have cable/satellite TV and DVD/VCR machines(Sheffield). Some commentators chalk this up to the devaluation of goods and the commonality of many of these household appliances but others see this as an increase in quality of living. Most people thinking of poverty also think of hunger and malnourishment. In the memoir, we see that the kids often go hungry do to lack or mismanagement of money by their parents. A quote from the book, “When other girls came in and threw away their lunch bags in the garbage pails, I’d go retrieve them” displays the struggle the writer had in finding enough

to eat at home(Walls, 173). She had to dig through the trash can in the bathroom of her high school to find enough food to eat. However, according to one survey, 96% of parents in poverty report their children never went hungry throughout the year. Government surveys also show that average nutrient consumption among children is nearly the same among American children of varying economic class throughout the United States(Sheffield). Another important characteristic of poverty is housing conditions. Homelessness is still a problem for a small percentage of people in poverty that can be improved. However, many other housing problems linked with poverty in the past have nearly disappeared. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, large cities had problems with overcrowding and often had up to 4 or 5 people per room. Today, the problem of overcrowding has nearly been eradicated with only 2% of Americans living in a habitation that has less than one room per person. In fact, almost 65% of poor households have two or more rooms per person(Sheffield). In fact, the average living space of poor in America is greater than the average living space of general population in many European countries including Germany, Sweden, France, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, about 41% of poor households own their home(Sheffield). These statistics can cast a different light on the typical connotation of poverty in America. Many different interpretations of these statistics have been put for by various analysts. Some of these analysts believe that these stats show that the census report of over 35 million Americans can be misleading because the census report only addresses income level and not the actual living conditions of these people. Other analysts believe that even more Americans than are listed in the census report may be considered poor comparative to the many Americans of extreme privilege(Worstall). Statistically, it is difficult to truly prove either side of the argument, or the varying beliefs that lie somewhere in between.
Trying to gain an understanding of poverty in America is very difficult, something that can be even more difficult to try to understand is the cause of American poverty. Many analysts reference wages as a source of poverty. Several claim that there just are not enough good paying jobs available to people looking to provide for themselves and their family. According to a news source, over half of American jobs pay below $34,000 a year and a quarter of American jobs pay less than $23,000 dollars a year which is below the national poverty line for a family of four(Edelman). An additional concern noted is the increasing number of single parent households. Single parent households bring in an annual income that is significantly less mostly due to the fact that there are not two wage earners within the household. Single parent households also have difficulties working certain hours and often incur additional costs in childcare(Richards). An article from 2014 sites another possible cause. It stated that it is difficult to accumulate long-term wealth. The article cited falling home and stock prices, though home and stock prices have risen since the time this article was written, as a cause of difficulty in wealth accumulation. The article also states that a considerable percentage of Americans are unemployed(McWhinnie). Some people take the stance that welfare programs that are designed to help people in poverty are actually enabling the problem more than helping to solve the problem. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, that is commonly known for providing food stamps, has expanded from $16 billion in 2001 to over $74.5 billion in 2013(McWhinnie). Some people believe that welfare incentivizes unemployment and also encourages families to split up in order to receive certain benefits that are directed at single parent homes(Richards). Every person and family that is in poverty of course has a unique set of circumstances that places them in poverty or keeps them from rising out of poverty.
Poverty has been a problem from the beginning of history and likely will continue to be a problem for the foreseeable future. As long as poverty is a problem, people will try to find ways to combat and eliminate it. Many people have differing opinions on the best ways of fighting poverty. A combination of government assistance programs, religious and philanthropic organizations, and self improvement gurus among many others will continue to aid those in poverty. Understanding the problem plays a key role in solving it, perhaps one day the problem of poverty in America will be resolved.