Many people who read Jeannette Wall’s autobiography The Glass Castle were shook at the Rags-to-Riches story and the stories her childhood in poverty provided. Growing up with neglectful parents, however had the result of three out of four successful adults who once slept in cardboard box beds and used a yellow bucket for a toilet, causing a controversy of how independent should kids really be. The Glass Castle overflows with symbolism, emotion, and tone. However, the tone of her father is particularly peculiar and as the book progresses, the word choice describing her father changes from one of hope and heroism-like traits to slowly seeing Rex Wall’s calamitous characteristics while loving him the entire time.
All of Rex’s children looks
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As she gets older, her prideful tone changes as she realizes the reality of her existence and the many flaws built into Rex as well as the fantasy of the Glass Castle. Jeannette’s opinion on her father takes a sharp turn during their stay in Welch. She wanted to get away, saying he was going to destroy himself and “...he was going to pull us down with him,” (188). The way she says this is undeniably harsh, especially compared to the soft and gentle tone to Rex in the beginning. “Pull us down” is no light way of saying he is a liability. Walls still loves Rex, nevertheless, also saying “I didn’t have it in me to say no,” (209). Gaining her independence from her parents was not done yet, as she was left with more and more responsibility. The bitter loneliness of the way she was left in charge particularly stood out on page 203, “...they left me, at age thirteen, the head of the household,”. Especially at the young teenage years, the generally factual way of stating Jeannette’s story was not shown at the way the author almost displayed the unbelievable fact of being left to her own devices. Compared to her hero of a father in Part I, this section showed how real life is not an adventure and she has to fight for her
The memoir, “The Glass Castle”, written by Jeannette Walls, is a novel filled with hardships and obstacles faced by the author and her dysfunctional family. Living with her depressed mother who weeps and sobs about her struggles in her teaching job, her alcoholic gambling father who, on a daily basis, would not arrive home, and her two sisters, Lori and Maureen and brother, Brian. Though their constant moving and chasing from the debt collectors, one person who has affected Walls life would have to be her father, Rex Walls. Although his constant gambling and consistent job loss, he has become a significant figure in Walls life. He has shown her the problems of alcoholism, the struggles, and corruptions of the world, and especially allowed
In the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, the author, was most influenced by her time in Phoenix, as indicated by how she describes the living situation in her grandma's old house with the money, and the time they had to tie her dad down because he was going delusional. It is evident throughout the story that living in Phoenix had a great impact on Jeannette Walls, She had spent more time there than any other place and she even came back after leaving. The first time was just to visit Grandma Smith, but the second time they came back to stay for awhile in Grandma Smith’s old house. The family’s time in Phoenix is described mainly about the house there and what happened in or around that house.
In the book Glass Castle, Jeannette and her family don’t let all of the circumstances around them stop them from dreaming any smaller. Perseverance is the persistence of taking action, especially in spite of difficulties. Perseverance is overcoming the tough things in life, and not letting them get the best of you. In fact, for the most part, the Walls’ kids all worked a little harder to reach their goals. Lori, Jeanette, and Brian save up money so Lori can pursue her life outside of Welch, and move to New York City.
Tough Love In The Glass Castle the Walls family has lots of ups and downs, as most families do. Every family has a story and every family has their ups and downs, this story is about the down parts in my family’s lives. When we were little, we always have big dreams about what we were going to be when we grow up. Everyone thinks their family is perfect and when they hear bad stuff about other families they always think, that could never happen to me.
In her memoir The Glass Castle, Walls reminisces about her youth and her dysfunctional family. Though a very unique experience, Jeannette Walls’ childhood may be able to relate to the lives that some students are living today. The Glass Castle should be offered as a summer reading because it brings very real issues to life. By discussing issues such as poverty, parental neglect, and sexual abuse, Jeannette Walls exposes students to important
In the memoir, Rex Walls’ internal conflict, Jeannette Walls’ conflict with Rose Mary, and Jeannette’s conflict with society push her to become the person she is today. Therefore, Jeannette Walls’ owes her success to the hardships she had as a child. To begin, Rex Walls’ internal conflict comes from his inability to provide for his family. Being a father, Rex Walls has an obligation to look after his family and to make sure everyone is looked after.
When Jeannette is on her way to the bus station to go to New York. Rex is giving Jeanette is favorite knife to protect her, “Dad reached into his pocket and pulled out his favorite jackknife, the one with the horn handle and the blade of blue German steel that we'd used for Demon Hunting. ‘I'll feel better knowing you have this.’ He pressed the knife into my hand” (Walls 240). This Rex is being helpful to Jeannette so that she can have a long life and be safe in New York.
According to Jeannette Walls, Rex was a very fun and loving father while she was growing up. Alcoholism affects the good people and the bad people, many in the same ways. However from an outside perspective, Rex Walls' behavior put his children at risk. In The Glass Castle, Rex has many moments where he puts his family's lives in risk, maiming Jeannette's. In one scene, Jeannette and the family go to a water hole to go swimming.
In The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls faces harsh stuff through her childhood because of her parents. In the beginning of the book she finds her mother digging through trash. She feels embarrassed, so she turns around and goes home without saying hello. Jeanette then calls her mother and asks to have dinner with her. She offers her mother help because she feels guilty, but her mother rejects her help.
Jeannette described that this experience made her feel used by her father and gave her a sense of self-worthlessness. Rex knew that Jeannette had a soft spot for him and he took advantage of this. Jeannette has a psychological scar from this for the rest of her life, and it produced long-term effects of distrust and diminished self-worth. As a child she had been through more than most adults, and in one case she even wakes up in the middle of the night with a child molester in her bed. “One night when I was almost ten, I was awakened by someone running his hands over my private parts” (Walls 103).
Survival in the Glass Castle Survival is on top of the priority list for everyone, whether they are rich or poor. That was the case for Jeannette Walls. In her memoir, “The Glass Castle”, we can see how Jeannette becomes a strong and independent woman, despite of her harsh past. Her childhood was filled with adventure, obstacles, and poverty. Her mother, Rose Mary Walls, was indulged in her arts that she didn’t bother taking care of her children.
The Walls family lived a very out of the ordinary life compared to most families. They lived all over the West side of America from Phoenix to San Francisco. Yet, one of the most important areas they lived in was Battle Mountain. Jeannette spent a huge chunck of her childhood here. Battle Mountain was where she started to grow up, experiencing learning to swim to kissing a boy.
In the Jeannette Walls memoir Glass Castle, the author expounds on situations about education found beyond the classroom walls by using life lessons such as survival skills and moral lessons such as acceptance and forgiveness through figurative language by using imagery. One way Jeannette walls describe education beyond the classroom walls is through a life lesson such as survival skill. At a tender age of five jeannette learned to shoot guns and throw a knife; skills like this could be helpful if you were surviving in the wilderness. The author stated specifically “He also taught us the things that were really important and useful, like how to tap out Morse code and how we should never eat the liver of a polar bear because all the vitamin
Jeannette Walls’ Memoir, “The Glass Castle”, tells a story of a dysfunctional family who uses magic, fantasy, and life lessons to get through their hectic lives. Jeannette starts off her book with such a story about seeing her mother ramming through garbage in New York City. Jeannette feels a sense of shame about her Mom’s life and begins to reflect on her childhood and how her parents’ choices affected her. If you ask me I would say it was very dramatic, which grabs your attention knowing someone is telling about their own life intrigued me to keep reading.
When Rex Walls would announce that they had to leave, the children would not become irritable because, to them, this meant a new adventure was ahead. As she grew up, Jeannette brought