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The Hardships Of Upbringing In The Glass Castle By Jeannette

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Jeannette was neglected, beaten, and starved all throughout her childhood. She lived without a home, money, and enough food to get by and also managed, against all odds, to fight for her ambitions. The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, depicts the hardships of her upbringing by her nomadic, undependable parents, yet also her ability to persevere into a successful and aspiring young woman. As a young girl, Jeannette was always travelling due to her unstable parents and living on edge in fear of her parents’ outbursts. When she was the tender age of five, she actually recalls thinking fondly of her dad, always being his little “mountain goat”. She describes his ever changing and creative plans for their future; however, also remembers …show more content…

Later, when Jeannette becomes a preteen, she clashes with her parents’ viewpoints more, but manages to learn valuable lessons from their unreasonable cruelty. When her father has nowhere to go, he decides to take them into a town called Welsh, where his parents live. Erma, Jeannette’s grandmother is racist, hateful to her grandchildren, and is constantly beating them. Rose Mary, Jeannette’s mother, tries to explain that everyone has good qualities but Jeannette refuses to accept this idea and fires back: “Oh yeah? How about Hitler? What was his redeeming quality?’ ‘Hitler loved dogs.’ Mom said without hesitation” (Walls, 144) Although her mother is not nurturing and empathetic towards Jeanette, she truly believes there is good in everyone and overtime teaches this to Jeannette. This is critical to her growth, for it helps her tolerate her parents by seeing good qualities in them, keep hope when her opportunities dwindle, and find faith in herself when she cannot place faith in anyone else. Finally when Jennette becomes a young adult, she takes ahold of her life, leaves her impoverished parents, and travels to New York alone for journalism

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