Forgiveness In The Glass Castle

As a child, Jeannette Walls moves around constantly with her family. The Walls family would move to different desert towns and settle as long as Mr. Walls can hold a job. When sober, Mr. Walls represents a charismatic father who loves his children and teaches them important life skills. He encourages imagination inside of the Walls kids and often captures their dream and creativity. Together, the family had planned to build a glass castle that contains all of the family’s hope and inspiration. However, at the same time, Mr. Walls is the biggest problem in the family. Mr. Walls is a heavy alcoholic that drinks all of the family’s money away. When desperate, Mr. Walls would even steal money from the family. The drunk Dad would curse at Mom and

The novel Unbroken is set in Torrance, California in the summer of 1929. Louis Zamperini is a twelve-year-old delinquent who is struggling to find his way as an Italian immigrant in a small town. The theme of redemption and forgiveness are shown throughout the book and in each area of Louie’s life. Every aspect of Louie’s life shows how he redeems himself and how the ultimate act of forgiveness is the most powerful resource for redemption.

Forgive, not because they deserve forgives, but because you deserve peace. It’s not easy to stop blaming someone’s fault, especially for someone who do wrong to us. In the book The Sunflower written by Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the Holocaust during World War II, he described his conflict with Karl, a dying Nazi soldier who killed many innocent Jews and begging for forgiveness for his outrageous crime at the end of his life. At the end of this sad and tragic episode, Simon did not response to Karl’s request directly; instead he left us a tough question: “What should you have done?” Based on what Karl had done during World War II and his repentance, each person might have their own point of view about where should we draw the line of forgiveness.

The second reason is, Jeannette and her family having no home sweet home. One of the

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.

It was in the middle of the night, the uneven desert sand lurching the speeding car up and down. Threatening to run Mom over, Dad hollered, “You crazy b****… Get your godda** a** back in this car!”. “You make me, Mr. Tough Guy!” [Mom] screamed back as she desperately ran away. In the memoir, The Glass Castle by author Jeanette Walls, Jeanette often experiences such abusive, violent acts from her father. Her father, Rex, has a severe alcohol addiction that significantly impacts the family’s lifestyle. Rex’s alcoholism leads to emotional instability and frequent, hostile aggression towards his family.

The most common form of abuse Jeannette faces during her childhood is neglect, which is forced upon her by both Rex and Rose Mary. Neglect can be defined as refusing to intentionally or unintentionally care for a child and his or her needs. According to a study conducted by

Upon reading The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, the reader will quickly notice all of the responsibilities Jeannette; the author and narrator of the novel, takes on throughout her life. The book itself is a memoir of Jeannette’s life that takes place from 1963 to 2005 and takes the reader through the ups and downs of Jeannette’s life in poverty and somewhat neglect. While reading the novel, the reader will be shown situations where they will be shocked and heartbroken. Jeannette’s family isn’t the average family from the south. With her father; Rex Walls being an alcoholic that couldn’t keep a job, her mother; Rosemary Walls who refused to get a job, her older

As Jeannette matures her connection with her parents, particularly her father begins to diminish. Jeannette didn’t grasp that the way her parents raised them or viewed the world wasn’t normal and as she got older she recognized how selfish her parents were. Jeannette was constantly close with her father, and always showed compassion for him, but when they relocated to Welch it appeared as if her father had changed. Jeannette eventually obtained work and began to save up money so she and her siblings could survive, but her father didn’t approve and eventually sabotaged that plan. Eventually, Rex went to Jeannette and requested money from her, he did promise to pay her back. She later discovered that it didn’t go towards anything useful, but

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

Nicholas Sparks once said, “I don’t know that love changes. People change. Circumstances change.” In the memoir, The Glass Castle author Jeannette Walls shows how her father Rex Walls changes with everything thrown at him as a father or four. In the beginning of being a parent Rex shares his intelligence with his children. As Rex’s children get older rex get more and more worried about the kids. In the end of Rex’s parental run Rex becomes more productive with the way the kids run their own lives. Throughout The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, rex changes from an intelligent drunk to a paranoid person to a helpful father.

Inevitably, the conflicts people face at multiple points in their life is a determining factor in shaping individuals into the person they will eventually become. Namely, these conflicts direct people 's behavior over the course of time; contributing to a person’s ability to achieve success. In particular, Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle is an honest depiction of her life and the conflicts that arise throughout her state of impoverishment, as well as the success that stems from her hardships. 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.

In this world, there’s learning things the hard way and the easy way; in Jeannette Wall’s world, there’s only learning things the hard way. The Glass Castle is an adventurous story that reveals the painfully miserable story of Jeannette Walls. A selfish mother, a careless father, and terrible social encounters- these are some of the elements of a harsh reality Rex and Rose Mary Walls failed to shield their children from.

once said, “He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.” Ironically, that’s exactly what Rachel begins to understand. Depriving her father of forgiveness only makes herself feel worse, and after carefully thinking, Rachel realizes exactly this; everybody deserves a second chance. “He left us behind and is going to start a life with someone new. And here I was stupidly thinking that I could fly down to visit him and patch everything up. As if one little trip could make any difference… But what if I’m wrong? I have to give it a shot anyway. He’s my father for Pete’s sake. He deserves more,” (Page 181). Rachel’s father is given a second chance, not because he is a good person, but because Rachel is a good enough person to forgive him. Abandoning your family, without warning for another person is an inexcusable act. But Rachel teaches us the power of forgiveness in people you love and how second chances are so important. In the next example, Rachel is the one given a second chance. After Rachel apologizes, she says, “I stare at Marisol, waiting for some kind of reaction. Hoping my apology is enough… She smiles. ‘I’m really sorry too.’ Relief floods through me. I throw my arms around her and hug her so tight that she actually lets out a little squeak,” (Page 222). When Rachel and Marisol, two long time best friends, get in a major fight, the only thing left to do is turn around and forgive one another - which is

The following passage epitomizes the Walls’ lifestyle, Jeanette's parent’s teaching mantra being, “If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim.” This attitude towards life reminds me of when Rose Mary says, “Suffering is good for the soul” earlier in the story. In this scene in particular, Rex Walls attempts teaching Jeannette how to swim. However, he takes a different approach than most parents would, continually pushing her away from him, and allowing her to thrash around in the waters, drowning until he brought her back to the shallow end of the spring. Although a memorable section of the text, this wasn’t the only occurrence where the parenting of the Walls’ bordered neglect. Rose Mary and Rex barely restrict the affairs of their children, but it is uncertain if their motive is to teach their kids independence, or if they truly don’t care as long as they come back safe. When Jeanette flew out the doors of the Green Caboose, left for hours in the desert, she was convinced she’d be left to fend for herself,