Analysis Of The Book ' Jeannette Walls '

On the other hand, Rex and Rose Mary show their kids unconditional love and teach their kids some of the most important life lessons. When Jeannette

Though Jeannette gave her all to support her family, she did the same for herself without anyone’s support. She understood what it was meant to be poverty at a very young age and realised that she could not have what others did. While Jeannette didn’t have money, she was smart and resourceful to achieve whatever she could for herself. When Jeannette was young, she had already decided that if she wanted to do something for herself, she was going to have to do it herself. An example of this was when she herself to have buckteeth, and promptly said, “I decided to make my own braces,” and she did (Wall 200). In spite of Jeannette being underprivilaged and with less money, she found ways time and time again to succeed.

The novel, The Glass Castle, exhibits the human tendency to be selfish. This is manifested in both Rex and Rose Mary. Rex is characterized as a selfish father throughout the novel, and his paternal image is consistently skewed because of his actions. His addiction to alcohol ruins countless family events. One year the family’s Christmas is ruined when Rex drinks a great deal of alcohol and burns their tree and presents. Jeanette remembers, “Dad sat on the sofa [...] telling mom he was doing her a favor [...] no one tried to wring dad’s neck [...] or even point out that he’d ruined the Christmas his family has spent weeks planning” (115). Jeanette and her family are always left cleaning up their father’s drunken mess. Even when Rex is sober he does not apologize for ruining sentimental family events and continues to put alcohol before his family. Selfishness can also be seen in Rex’s relationship with money. He takes Jeanette into a bar in order to get money from his friend, Robbie. When Robbie asks if he can take Jeanette upstairs, Jeanette recollects, “So, with Dad’s blessing, I went upstairs” (212). Rex is so self-absorbed that he allows his daughter to go into a strange man's apartment, fully knowing his intentions. During Jeanette and her siblings’ childhood, they experience dangerous situations with their parents’ knowledge and approval. While Rex’s selfish nature is typically derived from his addiction, Rose Mary’s selfishness is simply a reflection of her personality.

While Jeannette was in New York she met new people and was bettering herself. Although, she did not live in a good neighborhood she did not let that effect her negatively and she said “I got jumped a number of times. People were always telling me that if I was robbed, I should hand over my money rather than risk being killed. But I was darned if I was going to give some stranger my hard-earned cash, and I didn't want to become known in the neighborhood as an easy target, so I always fought back” (Walls 248). #Jeannette stood up for herself in these situations and she did whatever it took to get through them. Most people would not fight back and just give the person what they wanted but she never did. She became familiar with this and used it to her advantage to defend

At this point Rex’s drinking problem is starting to get out of control. Jeannette wants to stop his drinking problem before it tears their family apart. Jeannette not only confronts her father but she also confronts her grandmother. Grandma Erma is playing around with Brian and Jeannette comes to his rescue no matter the consequences, “I don’t care what happened… But we were just protecting ourselves” (Walls 147).

To arrive in a bar alongside her father to obtain money is not a desire for Jeannette. When her father’s friend exclaimed, “I’m going to take your girl upstairs,” Jeannette becomes aware of the reason why her father had brought her which is to use her for distraction in order for the father to earn money. Though Jeannette realizes the reason, she forgives her father. When Jeannette discusses with her mother about the lack of responsibility her mother has, Jeannette receives a punishment of being whipped by her father. Jeannette states, “I expected him to turn and walk away but there were six stinging blows on the back of my thighs, each accompanied by a whistle of air.” (220) Due to the act of whipping by her father, Jeannette is unable to forgive her father for a period of time. However, the love Jeannette has for her father is extremely utmost that she forgives him for whipping her. Regardless the mistakes Jeannette’s father creates, Jeannette holds a place in her heart for her father thus enabling her to forgive her

When Rex asks Jeannette what she wants for her birthday, she asks if he “could maybe stop drinking”(151), leaving Rex in silence. While Rex keeps his promise for several months, he breaks his promise after he and his family is helped by a stranger, who gives a ride home and provides for them. He comes home and gets in a fight with Rose Mary, which within minutes ends with the two of them “falling in love all over again”(158). However, Jeannette says she “didn’t feel like celebrating”(158) and that she “couldn’t believe Dad had gone back to the booze”(158). Through this quote, it is evident that Jeannette’s view on her father has been diminished from a heroic, trustworthy man, to somebody who is incapable of showing self restraint and keeping a

At this point in the story, Jeannette is being assaulted by a boy in her neighborhood named Billy Deel. It marks her first non consensual sexual experience. She tries to cope with it by cutting him off but he hammers home the point that she was taken advantage of with a spiteful “I raped you!” Throughout the novel, she has been abused more than a few times.and it reaches to a point where it doesn’t seem to phase her anymore. Despite the stigma attached to this particular

Later on though, the lies and actions done to deceive the children become more apparent to them and they begin to question their parents actions. Soon enough, the lies are slowly revealed to the kids the truth about the parents they once loved so dearly. Rose is shown to be a selfish, overactive, lunatic that worries about her artwork to much. Rex is shown to be a selfish, ignorant, manipulative, drunk that can not seem to get over his dreams and will never realize what he could have been for his family. Jeannette was the last one to realize this with her father.

Jeannette is at the point in her life where she’s grown up enough to look back at her life and realize that some of the experiences she had as a child were actually scarring and dangerous and the severity of those situations were masked by her adoration for her father who she realized as she grew wasn’t everything that she thought. Still Jeannette could never hate her father as she illustrates in this quote, “As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had.” This quote also shows that Rex always making Jeanette feel special and always encouraging her had a profound effect on her. Jeannette definitely took notice of the way Rex held her self-worth in high regards to his own feeling of fulfillment. This exchange is especially important because there was no one else that Jeannette could have this closure with about her childhood because there was no one else that for her was at the heart of the chaos in

In Welch, after Rose Mary had left to a college in Charleston for the summer. When Rose Mary left she put Jeannette in charge, so Rex then began to start begging Jeannette for money and because of that Jeannette ended up giving Rex money. After that Jeannette was disappointed and said “for the first time, I had a clear idea of what Mom was up against. Being a strong woman was harder than I had thought” (Walls 214). Jeannette had told her Mom before that she had to be a strong woman to Rex and not let him get what he wants. At the time Jeannette had never had to do anything like that, so then when she was taking over her Mom’s spot she came across the same situation her Mom encounters which was Rex asking for money. After she gave the money to Rex she realized how difficult it was to say no to her father asking for money. Since Jeannette understood how hard it was to say no to her father she was able to understand why her mom was struggling to face him. The Walls family had not really understood each other until they had to do the same thing the others had to

Through her youth, Jeannette faced many hardships due to her negligent parents. Even so she always had an sanguine outlook on life. Jeannette fell out of a moving car and was abandoned. Her father didn’t even notice until hours after. Instead of being shocked or terrified of the situation, she laughs it off.

Their playful wrestling is to the point where it becomes dangerous for the boy, which is why his mother scowls at them. The boy waltzes and plays with his dad, and when it is time for him to go to bed, he is grasping his shirt and doesn’t want to stop. When Jeannette was little, she looked up to her dad, not realizing that his drinking, roughness, and carelessness would soon ruin their relationship. The differences between the kids’ dad’s is that when the boy’s dad plays with him while drunk, he isn’t mean and destructive. He is a little too rough, but roughness is better than neglect.

101. Rex was angry at himself because he wasn’t able to afford presents for his kids but they could afford presents for him. He thought that he was supposed to be taking care of his children instead of his children taking care of him.

Jeannette displayed an uncanny representation of the Promise of Hard Work in her constant effort used while trying to raise money to fund her own family when her parents refused to. When Jeannette was a little girl, younger than thirteen years old, she brushed off the crazy living styles of her parents and disregarded it as a fun time. The moving from house to house was seen as an adventure, and the laying on the ground at night watching the stars was the alternative version of a classroom education. However, once Jeannette reached her teenage years, she realized that how her parents’ money problem was something of seriousness. Her father stealing their money was causing such financial stress, that Jeannette had to start supporting her family of six. Walls remembers, “I was afraid that Mr. Becker wouldn’t give me the job if he knew I was only thirteen, so I told him I was seventeen. He hired me on the