An Analysis Of Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle

Most of us are lucky enough to have a home. A place one can come to, and find those close to us. We often take this for granted, and stay blissfully unaware of how fortunate we are. Jeannette Walls’ life has been far from easy. From the day she was born, she and her family had combated constant forces of turbulence and order. When Jeannette is nearly killed in a fire, her father describes the area outside the fire as the boundary between these two forces. In this boundary, no rules exist, and if they do, nobody yet understands them. As the story moves along, the Walls family inches closer and closer to this place, eventually resulting in complete chaos. Jeannette’s parents Rex and Rose aren’t in any sense “helicopter parents”. Both are confident

While their poverty, nomadic lifestyle, and frequent illegal activity endanger Jeanette and her siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen, it is all that they know. The following of it brings a sense of order to the family. This way of life somewhat brings the family close together early in the novel. Some examples being the camping trip and stargazing early on in “The Desert”. Also, during this time, Rex fantasizes about a “Glass Castle” with Jeannette: A home for the family that he would build as soon as they “struck it rich”. The family’s slight belief in this provides a false sense of security, since they know the vision is mostly fueled by Rex’s alcohol abuse. Their move to Welch makes things harder for the family. Rex’s mother sexually abuses Brian, causing tension within the family. The town is poor, and the people do not show kindness to the Walls’ when they first arrive. They struggle to survive, and Rose fails to realize just how bad their situation is until a child welfare officer visits the house. She gets a job, and this brings some regularity to the household for a while. It isn’t long before they go back to living just how they did

His alcoholism is another important source of turbulence towards the end of the novel. A lot of the family’s actions have been driven by his alcoholism, and his deteriorating state made things harder and harder for his wife and children. The parents attempt to move to New York to be closer to their children, but eventually face homelessness when unable to adapt. However, they seize every chance to reconnect with their children, and eventually rebuild a sense of unity. When Maureen graduates high school, and turns to her parents for help, she lives with them. When Rose tries to kick her out, she retaliates by stabbing her. This disturbs the momentary peace reached by the family. This is followed by Rex’s realization that he is dying, and Jeannette’s visit. When Rex finally dies, Jeannette again finds herself at the boundary between chaos and order again. She reevaluates her life, and changes everything, divorcing her husband, and moving to another part of the