The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls Personal Response

The book by Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle, tells about the hardships that Jeannette went through for the first part of her life. Jeannette’s father was unable to hold a steady job and this forced her family to move very often. Jeannette lived in many places and was often homeless as a child. While moving to those places, most specifically in West Virginia, Jeannette faced the problem of trying to make new friends while also being bullied. She also had the struggle of not knowing where her life would take her next or if they would stay in one place forever. It is easy to see that Jeannette only wanted a place that she could call home permanently. Jeannette’s struggles in this situation parallels my own external and internal struggles that

I may not know at the time, but each situation and struggle has allowed me to grow more than I ever would have if my family would have just stayed in one spot. I have a story to tell to anybody and most of the people I talk to have never had the same experience that I have had. I used to consider them lucky, but I can see now that my Mom and Dad have given me a life that no other could possibly come up with. I am not too bad with social situations but I am still learning and that is a part of life. It always hurts to say goodbye to good friends but I am confident that wherever my life takes me next, I will never be short of friends. Of course, my friends from Liberty Benton will remain some of the best friends that I have ever had and they will remain so for a very long time. In the very near future I will be repeating the process of moving and meeting new people at Miami University. A few people that I know will be going there with me, but I am sure most of the people at the University will be in my shoes. I am not worried about making new friends, more or less excited actually. I feel that the move to Oxford will not be my last move by a longshot. While I do not like moving, I like the adventure and challenge of the situations. There are a lot of places that I would like to experience, but my home will always remain at our farm here in

I could have decided to let my hardships drag me down, but I chose not to in order to progress further in life. I moved forward from all of my struggles by just being myself and not worrying about what others thought about me. I know that I will be calling Miami home for the next few years and who knows after that, but I am confident that eventually I will settle down and get to call somewhere my home. If I feel like it, I may even eventually move back here and live on the farm that I will not get to live on right now. I will not allow my struggles, internal and external, to be an excuse for myself. I may have it harder socially than most people, but I have experiences that nobody else does. It is important to embrace what I have gone through and continuously learn and progress. Allowing a struggle to become an excuse is a way of conceding and being defeated and I think that is the weak thing to do. To brush off what has happened with a smile and embrace new challenges is the strong thing to do and will only increase personal growth. My advice for anybody who will be moving soon to a new place, most likely college, is to keep an open mind and heart to people that they do not know. They may not know them now but they may end up being their best friend. It is hard to be the new person in a new place, but everybody else will be going through this at one point in their lives, so they might as well make the most of it and enjoy