The book The Glass Castle mainly focuses and revolves around Jeannette and her family. They are a homeless family that struggled to make ends meet and struggled to pay for basic necessities. Along Jeannette's path to a better life she met some great people along with some not so great people. All the amazing people she met made her hard life more enjoyable. One of the people that made Jeannette's life one worth living was Miss Jeanette Bivens.
The memoir, The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, has many conflicts between parents and children. Rex and Rose Mary Walls both have their good but also have a lot of bad and are incredibly irresponsible sometimes. They also neglect their children throughout the story, make poor decisions, and believe a lot in self-sufficiency. At the beginning of the book, Jeannette Walls is three years old cooking hot dogs all by herself. She is using the stove unsupervised at an extremely young age, with her mother in the other room focusing on her painting.
Jeannette Walls opens her memoir, The Glass Castle, with a story of her childhood in which she is cooking hot dogs on a stove and her dress catches on fire. This story sets the stage for the rest of the book in several ways. Firstly, the story immediately introduces the reader to the chaotic and dangerous environment in which Jeannette grew up. Her parents were neglectful and often put their children in harm's way, as evidenced by the fact that Jeannette was left alone to cook hot dogs at a young age.
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.
Jeannette Walls shares that her earliest memory is when she was three years old. She was on fire. Her pink tutu dress had ignited as she was cooking hotdogs for her family unsupervised over the stove. She describes in detail how the flames attacked her side viscously and crept towards her face mercilessly. Her mother was in another room, working on a painting.
Success: An Escape from Privation 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.
It is evident that her childhood may have impacted her in a more severe psychological way. The book The Glass Castle is a very interesting narrative. The author Jeanette Walls is able to bring new light to circumstances that many people choose to ignore or overlook by writing about her own childhood. This gives the book a new perspective and allows the reader to gain insight.
“Believe in miracles…. Hope is never lost” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland). Believing that the worst is behind them and that they will come upon a better life is the only way that Jeanette Wall’s family is able to stay afloat. In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, the symbol of hope is portrayed through a Glass Castle: a real home in which everyone is important and loved.
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.
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.
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. Growing up poor was already difficult, but growing up with a selfish parent, specifically an unfeeling mom, made life hell for the Walls children. The family barely had one source of income from Rex Walls, and instead of helping out with the family’s finance issues, Rose Mary spent her days at home painting.
Jeannette Walls also uses the symbol of the Glass Castle, which develops throughout the memoir to show how she slowly loses trust in her father as she realises that she can not depend upon him or anyone else for happiness. The symbolism evolves throughout the memoir as Walls evolves as a person. In the beginning of the memoir, her description of the Glass Castle is naive and hopeful. Her naivety is most apparent when Walls writes, “All of Dad’s engineering skills and mathematical genius were coming together in one special project: a great big house he was going to build for us in the desert… All we had to do was find gold, Dad said, and we were on the verge of that.
In conclusion the “Glass Castle” should be read during a hot summer day, when all the thoughts are coming down and are feeling down because of a situation. This is a beautiful, inspiring book that is also based on a true story. There is no doubt that this book will inspire you to do better and it'll open up your mind to view life differently. As a result of reading this book, the reader will relate to Jeannette situation and take a walk in her shoes.
The Glass Castle is the life story of a girl, Jeannette Walls, and her siblings who grew up in poverty unnecessarily because of their parents’ irresponsibility. One of its themes is that strength and perseverance can significantly improve your chance at success and your future. The Walls children did not allow their childhood struggles prevent them from creating better and brighter futures for themselves. They all grew up impressively sane considering their living conditions.
