The Glass Castle Essay

Jeanette Walls had a sense of responsibility when her parents didn’t have any. When it came down to Walls’ younger sister she says, “At times I felt like I was failing Maureen, like I wasn’t keeping my promise that I’d protect her.” (Walls 206) Structure. Through misguided trials with the family the children picked up on things they knew or at least felt what a family should be and act like. She strives for protection.

The Glass Castle's Themes Everybody has someone who has raised them, and the results of how someone was raised whether it be good or bad can result in how the child ends up as an adult. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls has to deal with a lot of things growing up such as Peculiar Parenting Styles, alcoholism, and living in poverty. Because of the things she had to go through growing up, it made her self-reliant and very independent. Sometimes though, many kids dealing with such harsh living conditions may have an opposite effect on people such as Jeanette's sister, Maureen.

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.

In society, there is no “normal” but there is often a certain expectation from the member in it like holding down a job, raising children, and many other. Yet Jeannette's parents do none of these things, instead they consider it to be positive that they live outside of society. To begin with the opening of the novel Jeanette is all grown up and a full member society and a complete opposite of her younger self. Jeannette illustrates ,“ I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster” (1). This is the opener of the memoir and is setting up a large class difference between two characters. Jeanette may never have been supported in her childhood but she has made her way to a high place in society, unlike her mother who never changed in her ways. Here Walls is creating a vivid picture of what society deems as correct and incorrect drawing the reader in to find out the cause of two members of the same family being so far apart from each other in society. In the same way when Jeannette is young and, is explaining how she receives her education. Jeannette admits, “ We might enroll into school, but not always. Mom and Dad did most of our teaching” (20). Most children in society have an education from some sort of school, but since the Walls family exists outside of society in many ways. Including how they receive their education, early on in life, the children are not inside a school system. Instead they are taught how to live outside of society like their parents even if they do not want to live that way. Later on, Jeanette has moved away from her parents and has the proper schooling she is a full member of society which is everything her mother did not want. Her mother argues, ‘ Look at the way you live. You’ve sold out. Next thing I know you’ll be a Republican.’ She shook her head. ‘Where are the

Before the Walls children are even conceived, Rosemary finds her mother overbearing and controlling. Consider that her mother, Grandma Smith, is a force of order herself. She made Rosemary get herself a teaching degree in case her artistic career didn’t succeed, which Rosemary had to fall back on eventually during their times in Battle

A child can end up with a troubled future if they were neglected in the past. This can be seen in The Glass Castle and in multiple other cases today. Jeannette Walls’s youngest sibling Maureen is an exquisite example of what can happen if a child is neglected during childhood. When the Walls family had been living in New York, a disastrous event happened. Jeannette says, “Six months later, Maureen stabbed Mom. It happened after Mom decided it was time for Maureen to develop a little self-sufficiency by moving out and finding a place of her own” (Walls 274-275). Maureen stabbing her mother seems like the effect of drugs and alcohol at first, but it is indeed the product of neglect. Maureen always practically lived with different families during her childhood because her neighbors felt responsible to raise her correct because they knew her parents would not be able to. This led to Maureen becoming reliant on other people while the rest of the Walls family were learning how to be self sufficient. This self sufficiency immensely helped the other Walls kids when they moved to New York, but Maureen was under a lot of new found stress because she could not fend for herself in a city full of people that do not care about you. This stress led to her taking drugs, smoking cigarettes and ultimately stabbing her mother. Maureen is not the only case of this happening. In

Jeanette Walls and her out of the ordinary family live their lives surrounded in pure craziness and poverty. Jeanette has been raised to be as independent as her age allows her. At age three she could make herself a hot dog and by the age of eighteen she had started a new life in New York away from the craziness that followed her parents throughout the kids nomadic childhood. Jeanette and her siblings Lori, Brian and Maureen live their childhoods with almost nothing. They were always wondering where their next meal would come from and where there parents had mysteriously disappeared to. Rex Walls, the father and husband was a severe alcoholic who spent most of his money on gambling or a beer from a local bar. Rose Mary Walls, the mother and wife was not better, never being to hold onto a job for long enough to get paid and support her family caused many problems for Rose Mary, Rex and most importantly… the kids. The kids all had the dream of escaping the prison their parents called home and heading to New York or California where they could feel endless happiness. The kids grow up with almost no parents, which forces them to become independent from the day they were born. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeanette's parents teach her to only rely on herself and never get attached to something you can lose, forcing Jeanette to become strong and independent throughout her childhood.

Throughout the book there is an underlying theme of chaos. Jeannette’s first memory is of her, at the age of three, cooking hot dogs and catching on fire. As the book continues, fire persists as an important theme. Jeannette Walls is fascinated by fire and continues to push the boundaries of it. When her and her brother set off their own explosive device and almost kill themselves, Rex explains to them that the boundary between turbulence and chaos has no rules. The Walls family seems to live in that boundary

Rex Walls had grown up in a poverty stricken town of Welch. He grew up in “big worn house” on the “downhill side of the street” (Walls 130). It smelled of “mold and cigarettes and unwashed laundry” (Walls 131). However Rose Mary Walls grew up in a very structured home in Texas where her mother made her follow

Jeannette Walls uses juxtaposition to exaggerate her point of her family’s view on life. They are not the typical family that would live in a home with the parents working. Their living situation involved living in their car and in many crippled housing till they were wanted and had to escape or got kicked out for not paying rent. The juxtapositions show her life. The quote, “If you don 't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.” (66) shows the comparison of “sink” and “swim”. Rex, her father, teaches Jeannette how to swim by literally forcing her to sink or swim. He repeatedly throws her into a sulfur spring in the desert, rescuing her when she sinks only to throw her back in the water again. Using these

To make things more difficult, Rex Walls is an alcoholic who spends what little money they do acquire on alcohol. Rosemary Walls is a free spirited artist who deals with her husband's abusive nature, refusing to leave him. Throughout the

Any man that has children has the responsibility to be the best role model they can be. Been the best role model for a child is going to shaped how that child is going to be when they become an adult. But, if they are bad role model to their children, then, the children's future would not turn out to be successful, but very few can be successful. In the novel, The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, Rex, Jeannette’s father, is an unsympathetic character because of his horrible example to his children. This can be viewed throughout the book because he is an alcoholic, uncaring, and selfish person. Rex is a very irresponsible person that only very few can relate.

Within a short amount of time after moving in, Jeanette's father, Rex, loses his job. This is not uncommon for Rex Walls as he frequently evades being dragged into the “Rat Race”of America. However, this particular instance proves hard on the Walls family. They quickly run out of food and with Rex’s drinking problem,

……. . it was rare when the walls parents had jobs, when they did they'd end up spending it on something else other than their needs. Rex would end up going to the bar and spending half his paycheck there and then bringing the very little that was left back. sometimes rose mary and rex walls would be great parents because they are letting their childeren be independent, but simotaneously, that's not good because that one time rosemary let jeannette be independent and cook herself a hot dog at age 3. Jeannette caught herself on fire.

“ Dad turned into an angry-eyed stranger who threw around furniture and threatened to beat up mom or anyone else who got in his way” (Walls 23). #This drinking habit from Rex is the opposite of a good parental role model. This drinking problem later on in the book causes him to leave to go to the bar and not come home for days at a time, leaving the kids on their one to fight for themselves. In most families, the parents try to be the best role models that they can possibly be for their children.