Child Neglect In The Glass Castle

People often say that your childhood is the most important part of your life, and it is the part of one’s life that affects them the most. In Ellen Foster, by Kaye Gibbons, Ellen is forced to become independent as a result of a challenging childhood, that also affects her view of others and herself. Her father 's actions had a large impact on Ellen’s quickly developing independence, while the loss of her mother and grandmother exposed her to people who influenced the way she viewed others and herself. Ellen displayed independence when she was given the responsibility of tasks her father began to abandon.

The Children's Bureau publicized in their last pole that every year 754,000 children are abused or neglected by a parent. This consists of abuses such as physical, mental, and neglect. The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, tells stories that Jeannette remembers as a normality. However, it truly opens the reader’s eyes to a new standard for parental neglect. It seems that Jeannette grew up in cases of extreme abuse and neglect, and this causes her to rely on her siblings and gives her motivation to be successful. Jeannette’s parents, Rex and Rosemary Walls, most certainly had an interesting lifestyle causing short and long-term effects for all four of their children. Throughout the book, Rex’s substance abuse and Rosemary’s neglect

In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the Walls family is considered homeless and they are constantly moving from place to place. They constantly find themselves either with a somewhat decent amount of money or at times, no money at all. Jeannette, being one of four children always follows along with and listens to her parents and eventually notices that their family does things very differently than most other families. As Jeannette explains her childhood and how she is being raised by her parents, it is clear to see how different Rex and Rosemary’s parenting style is compared to the parenting style of other parents. Since their parenting style is so different, it seems that it affects their children in a negative way throughout their childhood, but in the end it makes Jeannette become a better and more successful person.

In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it tells about how the Walls family move to different desert towns, settling in for as long as their father, Rex, can hold a job. However, his perspective of the state and society, and his alcoholism led them to move frequently. The children - Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and little Maureen- experiences unusual childhood, where they travel like nomads to find new money source. This lead to the theme, sometimes you can be mature and responsible at a very young age. The theme is developed by how Jeannette learns how to take care of herself and her younger siblings, and the way her parent taught her.

In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Rose Mary is the mother of the Walls children who often does not act as a true adult. Rose Mary’s attitudes and behaviours are childlike, and therefore her children must take on responsibility for the lack her own. Rose Mary ignores her obligations as a parent and chooses an irresponsible way of life which endangers her children. Rose Mary has never properly matured into adulthood due to her lack of financial stability, bliss ignorance and optimism, and her selfishness nature.

There are many other times that the reader will find an act of responsibility that Jeannette had but those were just a few that stood out in the novel. With her family being the way it was, there were two things that could have happened to Jeannette, she could have turned out like her parents or turned her life of poverty into a life of wealth. Jeannette is an inspiring author and also a motivational speaker with a story that needed to be told that wasn’t just told, but printed to hundreds of people that needed to hear her story

Parental Influence Parents are the biggest influence upon their children. From the time a child is born to the time they leave the household, the values that the parents hold are instilled into their children. Parents are required to make crucial decisions about how to raise their children in order to guide them through the inevitable obstacles and hardships of life. In The Glass Castle, many would argue the lack of care and responsibility the Walls had for their children. The author, Jeannette Walls, uses Rex and Mary Walls to demonstrate that their strong traits of non-conformity, self-sufficiency and perseverance are passed on to their children, allowing them to develop to their full potential.

The most exemplified parenting style implemented by Rex and Rosemary Walls in The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls is permissive parenting. Rex and Rosemary have very few demands of their children “They are very indulgent, and nurturing” (Cherry, “The four styles of parenting”). “When Jeanette catches herself on fire, her mother does everything she can to get Jeanette to the hospital, she rushes to the neighbors and takes their car and speeds there.”(9) Jeanette’s mother cares very much for her children, otherwise she would have done nothing. Rex and Rosemary rarely discipline their children, “they have low expectations of maturity and self-control from them” (Cherry). One night Jeanette gets scared that there is something under her bed and

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. Jeanette’s mother then tells her that her values are all wrong. Jeanette opens up to her mother about being embarrassed and passing her up in the streets. When her mother asks her why, Jeannette says, “I was too ashamed, Mom. I hid”(5). This quote also relates to her childhood. Jeanette’s childhood was shameful due to her parents careless way of living. Throughout The Glass Castle Jeannette hides her childhood just like she from her mother because she is ashamed of what people might think.

Overcoming advers requires being brave and noble. Also, being able to look on the positive side in life in tough situations. Overcoming illnesses, disabilities, or disfunctional families can be very hard to deal with. Sometimes you just need to keep going and not look back and by doing so a lot more opportunities may appear in life. Christy Brown in My Left Foot, Bethany Hamilton, and Jeanette Walls in The Glass Castle are all examples of people who had to deal with great hardships in order to push them to become the successful and mature people that they are today.

Gibbons combines these elements with sensory imagery described by Ellen to further capture the reader’s attention and to make them relate and empathize with every situation Ellen describes. Gibbons subtly added her opinion on sensitive topics through the main character of Ellen Foster. She mentioned several different types of abuse in her book. The main character, Ellen, experienced this abuse and witnessed the way it affected a loved one. Ellen grew up knowing abuse was not normal, but thought the way her abuser lived was.

Ellen and Scout both are different than others because they have a unique sense of style. Ellen states“‘I decided this was not going to be something that I was going to live the rest of my life being ashamed of”’ (Weaver, Hilary). The social norm where Ellen lives is that the girls tend to wear dresses or jeans and blouses, but Ellen likes to wear blazers and khakis. With her choosing to dress likes these people don’t always think that it's okay.

When Jeannette’s mom gives birth to her fourth child; named Maureen, Jeannette says to her, “I promised her I’d always take care of her” (46). She promises to take care of Maureen, and to take care of her Jeannette has to keep motivated and hope for the best, but also remain dedicated and try her hardest. Making that promise shows Jeannette is mature and she will accomplish whatever is possible for Maureen. As life moves on, Jeannette wants to feel like she knows what is going on in the world, “But a newspaper reporter… I decided I wanted to be one of the people who knew what was really going on” (204).

This grim situation is depicted in the writings of Jeannette Walls. In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls illustrates a perfectly dysfunction childhood characterized by persistent poverty and the chaos of her parents who were stuck in their broke lifestyle. The amazing thing about

The Glass Castle and the Rite of Passage both view children like adults. In the Glass Castle both jeannette’s mom and dad trust her more than they should. Some examples are, “I cooked myself some hot dogs. I was hungry, and mom was at work on painting and no one else was around” (Walls pg 15 line 1-3).