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The Prospector In Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle

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In the Jeannette Walls memoir 'The Glass Castle', Rex Walls is a highly intellectual father with a lot of ingenious dreams, but they are never completed due to his extreme personality that cause his family to struggle financially. Among Rex's numerous intelligent dreams is the Prospector which is designed to help his family accumulate gold nuggets to be used in place of cash. Though never completed, it had high intentions being described as "..a big flat surface about 4th high and 6 ft wide ...The Prospector would scoop up dirt and rock and sift them....when ever we needed groceries we could go outback and grab ourselves a gold nugget" (Walls 23). The finished product of The Prospector would have brought their family huge success, but per usual …show more content…

Despite the fact that Rex does indeed have intelligence, he often allows his extreme personality and dreams guide the way for his life. Everytime he runs out of luck or looses a job he gathers his family, basic survival needs and they skedaddle to the next town with gold. After being questioned about a skedaddle they were preparing for Rex replies "Don't you worry' dad said. 'You leave that to me. Don't I always take care of you?". Rex let his dream of striking gold guide him to the next city telling his family to trust him because he is in the verge of striking gold. The frequent relocation caused by Rex Walls' extreme personalities, limited the income of the family and put major strains on the lives of his family. The intellectual personality of Rex Walls could have brought huge success to his family, but it is greatly over ran by his personality that includes: never finishing something he started and struggling with authority leading to major financial issues in the Walls

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