The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a memoir about the author’s childhood which includes all of the adventures, struggles, and misfortunes that she went through. Her family was constantly on the move going from city to city, in hopes of finding a safe place for them to stay and progressing towards her father’s goal of finding gold. Throughout their journeys, they encounter numerous difficulties such as poverty, lack of food and supplies, trouble with the law, and being able to survive as a whole family. This story is highly motivating and should be read for summer reading because of the lessons this book teaches. More specifically, this book teaches the importance of staying together as a family and how to survive through struggles. Sticking together as a family is a key element in everyone's lives since it teaches us how working together and assisting each other helps you progress towards success tremendously. This books has multiple examples of how the family sticks together and were able to benefit from it. “The plan was for Mom …show more content…
I disagree with that statement because if the book was only about creating a sad lifestory, then the author would’ve left out many of the good memories she had in her childhood. “Dad joined the local electricians' union. Phoenix was booming, and he landed a job pretty quickly. He left the house in the morning wearing a yellow hard hat and big steeltoed boots, which I thought made him look extra handsome. Because of the union, he was making steadier money than we'd ever seen” (Walls 63). This excerpt shows one of Walls memories of where her family was succeeding financially. If her intentions were to make the audience feel bad for her, she would’ve left these parts out and only have stories of struggle and
The Glass Castle is a memoir about the author, Jeannette Walls, she is raised by her nomadic and senseless parents which create conflicts for her siblings and herself, which transforms the kids into successful and mature adults. The Walls family Consisted of Jeanette being the middle Child, then Lori being the oldest, Brian being the youngest, and of course their parents Rex Walls and Rose Mary. In The memoir Jeannette tell the readers about the setting in various places such as, Small towns in Nevada, Phoenix, West Virginia, and many other places. Moving from place to place never gave the children a chance to get used to where they were living or make friends.
Two readers, two different age groups, two different opinions, and one text. The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. In this nonfiction story, Jeanette and her family are homeless and move all around the country for a place to stay for a few months before they have to “skedaddle” and move to another location, and repeat the process all over again. In this text, maturity plays a big role, in which the children, Jeannette and her siblings must make big decisions ordinary children wouldn’t be able to make because their parents are incapable of doing so, even if we, the readers, don’t approve of them. In The Glass Castle, the text can be interpreted by two different readers based on their age because the opinions of the readers
Introduction: The glass castle by Jeannette Walls is the book I chose to read for our summer reading assignment. The glass castle is about 3, eventually 4 kids who have always been told to chase their dreams no matter what happens or where it takes them. The parents which consists of a selfish mom who does stuff to benefit her own needs and a dad who’s a drunk, live by this quote and unfortunately chasing their dream leads them to live their life in poverty, filled with lies, misery, and struggle but with a little hard work, and perseverance the walls children flourish. Summary: The story starts off with little Jeannette walls at the age of three making herself a hotdog.
The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. The book switches back and forth between her childhood adventures and her current life in New York City. During the childhood adventures, Jeannette describes growing up with her mom, Rosemary Walls; her father, Rex Walls; and her three siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen Walls. Life is not pleasant or comfortable with this family. They are constantly short on food and money.
In “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, she shows moments of her life to explain the truth of her life and how she and her siblings fought through the hardships and persevered. One moment in the book that shows this is when their parents are away from Welch and Lori slaps Erma back after Erma molests Brian when Jeannette explains, “Lori heard the commotion and came running… Erma reached over to slap me, but Lori caught her hand… Erma jerked her hand out of Lori’s grasp and slapped her so hard that Lori’s glasses went flying across the room. Lori, who had just turned 13, slapped her back” (Walls 146-147).
In the excerpt from Jeannette Wall's autobiographical memoir, The Glass Castle, I noticed many strategies that she used while developing her story line. First, I realize that she uses very little humor due to the circumstances that she and her family are going through at the time, however, I did notice one example. This was when Jeannette's mother put mayonnaise in her hair before a school photograph and forgot to wash it out which made her hair more stiff, messy, and tangled than usual. Next, Jeannette uses many details throughout her writing to portray the struggles and hardships that her family is having to deal with, including money issues and her father's drinking problem.
In the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, the author, was most influenced by her time in the desert, as indicated by how she describes the time live in different places and how it has shaped her into the woman she is today. Jeanette’s time in Welch changed the way she viewed the world. Jeanette was harshly bullied by many different girls at her new school in Welch. One time she was surrounded by six girls and one girl said, “You think you [are] better than us?” and Jeannette replied with “No... I think we’re all equal.”
In the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Walls calls back on memories and realizes her father Rex Walls was a huge reason why they were so poor. Throughout the book, Walls recalls the times they had money that could help them escape the prison of poverty. Her father Rex Walls as portrayed in the book was a smart man, but selfish and worried about his own desires, and he could never leave the bars for long. Which led Rex to take the money for himself and escape the bitter taste of reality he lives in. As Jeannette Walls portrays, Rex Walls had a problem that left him to ignore his responsibilities, and forced his own children to take them up for him.
“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls Is a memoir about a woman who fights for a better life and to end her poverty-stricken life forever. By beating all odds against her, even without the help of her parents. With its adventurous stories and hardships, I learn that in life you can’t lean on anyone except yourself. That hard work pays off. But mainly, her story gives insight about how difficult life is for people who have no job.
The Glass Castle paints the childhood story of Jeanette Walls. This memoir tells the story of a deeply dysfunctional Walls family. Her father, when sober, gave them his version of education, teaching them physics and geology at an early age. He always told them to live life fearlessly, but when he was drunk, they lived in fear of him doing too much destruction. Her mother encouraged them to view their struggles as an adventure.
Throughout her novel, Jeannette Walls recounts the experience growing up in extreme poverty due to her father’s alcoholism and gambling addiction and mother’s hazardous, self-serving tendencies. The story chronicles the course of Wall’s life, from her earliest memory, through her time as daddy’s idealistic little girl to her years as a strong, yet timid, preteen to her ascension into an extremely determined and unshakable high schooler, set on achieving her dreams of attending college, to eventually, a middle aged woman, happy with who she has become. Wall’s personal evolution is clear throughout the novel as she slowly begins to stand up for herself and her siblings and call out the self-destructive behavior of her parents, who put themselves over their children. Ultimately, it is clear that Wall’s great hardships motivated her to chase a new future for herself and her siblings, and in turn, motivated her to chase the self-assured, resilient woman she is today: the truest version of
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.
Shame and guilt can go hand in hand, as seen in; Flight, The Glass Castle, and The Joy Luck Club. As the three novels progress, many of the characters suffer with inner shame and guilt. While the characters suffer with these things, it somehow seems to shape and change them. Through the characters hardships and struggles, the theme of shame and guilt emerges.
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.
Neumeier 1 Sam Neumeier Professor Mamary Intro to Liberal Arts 17 October 2016 Jeannette’s Identity Could the dysfunction of the Walls family have promoted the amazing resilience and strength of Jeannette through various daily challenges? It is easy to see that Rex and Rose Mary did not provide a safe and nurturing environment for Jeannette and her siblings. This forced her into a few unique situations, which resulted in her having to fight for herself, and become her own hero. This helps Jeannette generate an identity for herself. As she learned new social and survival skills in the hopeless town of Welch, Virginia.