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The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls Analysis

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In the memoir, The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, Jeanette and her family reference the building of the glass castle. In my opinion, the glass castle is a metaphor of hope for the Walls family that they will always be together when they plan their dream house. Even though Jeanette’s dad, Rex, knows he is not going to build the castle, he keeps referencing it to give the kids a reason to keep moving forward and to have something to be excited about in their different lives. One of the first mentions of the glass castle was on page 14 of the memoir. As Jeanette Walls claims, “When Dad wasn't telling us about all the amazing things he had already done, he was telling us about the wondrous things he was going to do. Like build the Glass Castle. It would have a glass ceiling and thick glass walls and even a glass staircase. The Glass Castle would have solar cells on the top that would catch the sun's rays and convert them into electricity for heating and cooling and running all the appliances. It would even have its own water¬ purification system. He carried around the blueprints for the Glass Castle wherever we went, and sometimes he'd pull them out and let us work on the design for our rooms. All we had to do was find gold, Dad said, and we were on the verge of that. Once he finished the Prospector and we struck …show more content…

Rex gave the kids lots of hope that once they built the castle, everything would be normal, but that never happened. The family spent most of their time together, running away from the police and planning the Glass Castle. In conclusion, the Glass castle was a metaphor for the hope and strength the family had together and a symbol of reassurance for the family that everything will be

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