The Glass Castle By Rex Walls And Rose Mary Walls

When society thinks of the word “childhood,” they imagine it as a precious time for children to be in school and freely play, to grow and learn with the love and support from people dear to their hearts. It is also known to be a cherished period where children are to be innocent and live carefree from fear. However, in the context of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, childhood is viewed as a tough hardship that Jeannette and her siblings have overcame, and the memories they carry has greatly impacted their lives that it has molded them to who they are

Jeannette Walls had to experience adult things while only a child. More specifically, Walls and her family have been victims of sexual abuse. Sexual abuse is a large underlying theme in The Glass Castle. An example of this is the patriarch himself, Rex Walls. Rex was abused by his own mother when he was young. Though he does not speak about this and Jeannette Walls does not dive into this, it is apparent that his mother abusing him had a psychological effect on him. This can be seen in his actions such as cheating on his wife and offering his daughter as a prostitute. The latter takes us into our next incident of sexual abuse. Walls was offered by her father to have sex with one of his friends in return for money. Luckily, she was able to avoid having sex with the man, stating that she is “not that kind of girl.” Another instance of sexual abuse in The Glass Castle is when Walls’ Uncle Stanley touches Jeannette inappropriately. After telling her mother of this incident, Jeannette receives no sympathy. In fact, Rose Mary ends up giving her sorrow to Stanley, claiming that she feels bad for him because he is “lonely.” Rose Mary also states that sexual assault is a “crime of perception.” This dismissal and victim-shaming is prevalent in today’s world. Unfortunately, even our youth experience what Jeannette Walls experienced. By including this in her memoir, Walls provides children with the signs of sexual abuse and possibly a way to protect themselves from

Most of the characters fall into multiple categories of character types. Rex Walls, for example, is a protagonist when he gets money for his daughter to stay in college, but is an antagonist when he steals their New York money. Rose Marry Walls is the same, working a job to get the family money, but doesn’t sell the million dollar land she owns to get the family’s life back on track. Almost every single character is a dynamic character, besides Uncle Stanley (big, strong uncle) or Robbie (bar player) for example. There are a few character foils including Rose Mary Walls & Jeannette Walls. The Mother was lazy and refused to go to work, while Jeannette was going to work to support the family and get herself away from her family.

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. While struggling to life in Welch, Rose Mary quit her teaching job before it started. She proclaimed she was an artist, not a teacher: “She intended to quit her teaching job and devote herself to her art… ‘It’s time I did something for myself

To begin, Rex Walls’ internal conflict comes from his inability to provide for his family. Being a father, Rex Walls has an obligation to look after his family and to make sure everyone is looked after. However, he spirals into alcoholism; recklessly spending money on liquor rather than on provisions that would help sustain his family. His compulsive spending on alcohol is, unfortunately, a major factor keeping the Walls family in a continuous cycle of impoverishment. As a result, Jeannette Walls is forced into a life of responsibility; having to be the one who looks after her siblings, as well as being the one to regulate what little money the Walls family had; this eventually drives her to head to New

“Life’s too short to care about what other people think” (Jeannette Walls). It is good to not care what other people think, so stay true in life and live it to the fullest. The book, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, is a memoir that tells the story of Jeannette’s difficult family and her poor living conditions, that cause life to be difficult for her. She struggles to move past all the hardships in life and she learns how to overcome the majority of them, so she can develop into her own person. Even though her family can be a little peculiar, they possess a strong bond with each other and they always seek to help one another out. Although Jeannette’s childhood is difficult, she overcomes poverty through her skills of being hardworking and

To begin, the lack of financial stability in the Walls family has always been problematic, however as the mother of her children, Rose Mary never contributed much to the family income due to her stubbornness and free-spirited nature. A prime example of Rose Mary not providing for her family is a constant lack of food in the house. The children’s hunger is apparent when Jeannette says, “We did eat less. Once we lost our credit at the commissary, we quickly ran out of food. Sometimes Dad’s odd jobs would come through, or he’d win some money gambling, and we’d eat for a few days. Then the money would be gone and the refrigerator would be empty again” (Walls 67). Rose Mary did not provide an income for the family, she spends most of her time immersed in various artistic projects, though never ones that could support her family. She also did not like to cook and often told her children to cook for themselves; it is due to her careless attitude that Jeannette burned

The most influential novel that I read this year is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Walls’s memoir had moving themes of strength, perseverance and forgiveness. It also caused me to have passionate reactions. Finally, The Glass Castle impacted me the most because it forced me to reconsider my opinion of homeless people. This novel was a beneficial reading experience.

The children made massive efforts to leave Welch and the family. They were determined to not end up like their parents. Jeanette wanted to start being accepted by people, she wanted to be like everyone else. In this following quote is shows the new values Jeanette has adopted of wanting a better life, “ I was convinced that people might be more accepting of us if we made an effort to improve the way 93 Little Hobart street looked. “ , “ I had been counting on mom and dad to get us out, but I knew I had to do it on my own.” ( page 364 and 512 ). This showed that Jeanette wanted to actually do something about their living status, she wanted to live a better life. The children saw no future in Welch, their father's drinking was worse and mother was going crazy. They even lost all complete faith in the Glass Castle. The children worked tirelessly raising up money for themselves to leave. Jeanette worked at a jewelry store, Lori sold posters, and Brian did labor work. The children sought the inspiration of going to New York and leaving the harsh life in Welch , they saw New York as their new Glass Castle. The children used their adventurous values to make New York happen, the children were almost colonizing New York. it took great courage and

Quote : “ Lori, Brain and I , and even , Maureen could go pretty much anywhere and do just about anything we want “ (pg.59) Jeannette’s mother and father let her cook herself hot dogs on the stove . Quote: “Good for you, “mom said when she saw me cooking “you’ve got to get in the saddle. (pg.15) last thing Jeannette success is her hardship , Hardship tough times Jeanette and her family had a very rough time in their life , They didn’t have much money for Christmas or birthdays presents but her parents always did something to make it up the kids will find any way to get money for food but not in an unsafe way . Quote:” when we wanted money we walked along the roadside picking up beer cans and bottles that we redeemed for two cents each. They all went through a tough time but they all will grow up with a lot of goals they want to make and make their self’s happy again!! Jeannette and her family have been through a lot everyone is okay Jeannette didn’t have a great life she had problems with Education, Hardship and Freedom but she came out a wonderful

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 later follows after she graduates high school, and attends Barnard College. She later because a writer and an author. Brian achieves his goal of being a cop and then later a teacher. All of the Walls’ kids knew the

Imagine if your parents didn’t care enough about you, well that’s how Rex and Rose Mary Walls were with their children. In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls shows how her parents, Rex and Rose Mary were not suitable parents because they didn’t put all their effort into taking care of their children.

“The Glass Castle” is a biography, drama written by Destin Daniel Cretton; it portrays a young girl (Jeanette Walls) and her family as they struggle in poverty stricken towns with a mother who is an eccentric artist and her alcoholic father who she blindly puts her faith in. The film was released on August 11, 2017 and features Brie Larson, Woody Harrelson, and Naomi Watts among others. The big question, “What do I think about “The Glass Castle” film? The film was dissatisfying overall, I did not feel same emotional attachment that I felt with the book. They did not show enough of Jeanette and Rex’s connection to each other. It seems to only portray the bad events of their childhood, and mostly portraying Rex as a villain. They did not show

The children were in the back of the U-Haul during one of their many moving trips and they almost fell out because of the carelessness of their parents. Due to the fact that the kids fell out, there was much chaos because there was “little communication.” (Cherry). “The driver must have signaled Mom and Dad because the U-Haul slowed to a stop.” (50) Rex was full of anger and frustration towards his children even though the whole situation was his and Rosemary’s fault. Not only do the parents protect Jeanette and her brother from dangerous situations but they also don’t keep them away from dangerous people. “While these parents fulfill the child’s basic needs, they are generally detached from their child’s life.” (Cherry) When the family moves in to huge home in Phoenix, all the windows and doors are kept unlocked and opened. One night, the neighborhood pervert comes into the house and touches Jeanette. “I was awakened by someone rubbing their hand on my private parts.” (103) she screams in fear but the only people that come to her rescue are her brother and sister. Later that evening Both Jeanette and Brian go out and try to hunt the man down, not the

Over the years Dallas began to grow a drinking problem, he couldn’t cope with the fact he had killed many children. He often questioned his parenting. “ How could a good father kill so many innocent children?’ To his children he was a hero with a problem., Crystal moved in with her grandma she didn’t want to deal with constant fights and drinkingwanna have to deal with the constant fights and drinking, but for Misty she stayed she couldn’t leave her mom to cope with this on her own. She always had the fear of coming home to find him drunk, and almost everyday she did. Even though there was so many problems they still had a happy life, they all loved each other