The Consequences of the Walls Children's Insufficient Upbringing
In Jeannette Walls' memoir, "The Glass Castle," the author reflects on her childhood and the impact of her parents' unorthodox parenting style. Throughout the book, Walls recounts instances where her parents, Rose Mary and Rex Walls, neglected, starved, and failed to provide a stable home for their children. As a result of their irresponsible behavior, the children in "The Glass Castle" suffered from a lack of basic necessities, emotional trauma, and long-lasting scars. Although Jeannette’s parents’ parenting style can be clearly identified as horrific as it left Jeanette and her siblings afflicted and broken, their unconventional methods can be argued that it actually had a few
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They learned a strong sense of independence and self-reliance. They learned to take care of themselves and each other while having parents who were toxic, selfish and neglectful. Because of the family’s financial situation, Jeanette started to babysit to make a little money on the side that she could use to survive, which showed she took care of herself by being independent. She used this money to feed her family and help them survive in their challenging circumstances. She also later wants braces, but learns that she actually needs them, Jeanette made her own braces. “Mom and Dad had no money for braces, of course—none of us kids had ever even been to the dentist—... I decided to make my own braces.” (PDF Walls 127). Her decision to make her own braces exhibited how she was independent and how that if she wanted something, she had to be independent and figure it out herself, whether it was work and save money or take a more do-it-yourself approach. They also learned to be more resourceful by living with only what they have, even if it isn’t sufficient. When the Walls family didn’t have food to eat and Jeanette didn’t have money to buy food, she would look through the garbage at her school, in Welsh, West Virginia, for food, “When other girls came in and threw away their lunch bags in the garbage pails, I'd go retrieve them.” (PDF Walls 108). Her actions show her resourcefulness, although unhygienic, and how she provides for herself and her family. Her resourcefulness and survival skills also exhibits her selflessness and how much she cares about her family and siblings, which helped her in her life later in New York. Rex also taught the children to think outside the box and be curious about the world around them. This curiosity and mindset was instilled into the children and stayed with
The Walls family faced a poverty crisis and the occasional drinking problem their father had. But whenever the family weren't in an argument they would try their best to lighten the mood. One chapter in the book really captivated me; It was christmas and Rex Walls was giving out his present to everyone he explained them the reality that santa, “he doesn't exist.”. Rex told Jeanette “ ‘Pick your favorite star!’ I said ‘No one owns the stars.’
Jennette exemplifies compassion with boundaries because she can relate to her past life. She may be free, but she has not freed herself from the scarcity mindset, which is her only foundation. Her foundation, like that of a Joshua tree, is considered flawed because it grows irregularly. Jeanette is the middle child, so it's safe to assume she's seen the consequences of domineering people abusing their patience. Jeanette experiences feelings of insecurity and instability as a result of her abrupt abandonment, leaving her with feelings of insecurity and instability that she carries with her into adulthood.
She loved the adventures they brought and how fun they made every trip. Jeannette was a very mature and responsible child. At the age of 3 she was cooking hot dogs on the stove by herself. She always helped her mom cook, or even cook by herself. She had to take care of herself most of the time, her parents always wanted the best of their kids but they never had enough money.
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.
In the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Walls calls back on memories and realizes her father Rex Walls was a huge reason why they were so poor. Throughout the book, Walls recalls the times they had money that could help them escape the prison of poverty. Her father Rex Walls as portrayed in the book was a smart man, but selfish and worried about his own desires, and he could never leave the bars for long. Which led Rex to take the money for himself and escape the bitter taste of reality he lives in. As Jeannette Walls portrays, Rex Walls had a problem that left him to ignore his responsibilities, and forced his own children to take them up for him.
The Glass Castle is an eye opening experience about the bonds between family and how much one can take from their family. The Glass Castle tells the story of Jeannette Walls, the second oldest of four children, and their struggle of growing up in a nomadic and illegal lifestyle. The patriarch of the Walls family is Rex Walls, a drunken yet brilliant ex-Air Force pilot who loves his children almost as much as he loves hitting the bottle. The matriarch of the Walls family is Mary Rose, a starving artist who would rather focus on her art than her children’s dinner. Throughout the entire novel we see acts of Rose Mary’s selfishness “Mom had us climb on top of the roof of the car a pull down tufts of spanish moss” (130).
As her family travels to Las vegas, the children are left in a hotel room without their parents. Jeannette begins to play with matches and soon after a fire starts because of Jeannette, and the entire Walls family leaves Las Vegas. Shortly after, Jeannette and her family learns that her mother is pregnant. That Christmas, the family has no money because Rex is fired from his mining job after arguing with the foreman.
The 3 Wall’s children were frequently in harm’s way, therefore child protective services would have found a number of very serious situations. Raised in a neglectful household, Jeanette Wall’s authored a narrative of the abuse she has received. The Glass Castle shows experiences, accidents, at the moment of encounters with never-ending abuse. Although Jeanette shares the suffering her parents had handed her throughout her childhood, she also paints a picture of an emotionally caring family; thanking her mother for believing in art and truth; thankful for her father for dreaming big dreams, always wanting to be the father that his children can rely on, making sure they can use imagination in replace of material joy. Even in the mistreatment
Once she moved away from her parents she was able to finish out high school and even was able to put herself through college. She worked many jobs, one being an editor where she was able to make good money and figure out that is her main interest. But, their mother and father eventually found their way to New York City and made things difficult once again. But this did not change much for Jeanette as she was still able to thrive in the city. But all the constant change in Jeanette's life is what led her to be exactly where she should be.
When Jeannette writes about how her parents allowed her and her siblings to do anything they wanted, she explains how her, “Mom believed that children shouldn’t be burdened with a lot of rules and restrictions… She felt it was good for kids to do what they wanted because they learned a lot from their mistakes. ” (Walls 59). Jeanette’s mom is not the type of mother that gives their children rules, but by doing so she is putting her children in more danger. So from a young age, Jeannette has already had many dangerous experiences, which makes her a stronger person over time.
It is crucial to Jeanette’s development that she recognizes the need to be independent and to acknowledge the drive and determination required to succeed in life. Without the ability to persevere and push oneself past their fears, a person will inevitably fail, something Jeanette will not tolerate. In another example, while
While some of these skills may have been a little too out of control and could have been harmful for their children at times, some of these skills helped them become more independent and self reliant people. Without the rough childhood that Jeannette went through, who knows if she would have been able to become the successful person that she is
Jeanette’s childhood was shameful due to her parents careless way of living. Throughout The Glass Castle Jeannette hides her childhood just like she from her mother because she is ashamed of what people might think. Jeannette Walls lived a tough childhood because of her parents. They were always moving around trying to find a place to build a glass castle. They never gave any of their children a set home while they were growing up.
Jeanette wanted to escape Welch because of her unstable lifestyle, but she had fully given up on her parents. As she created her plan to escape, she said: “I had been counting on Mom and Dad to get us out, but I now knew I had to do it on my own” (Walls 221). She had finally realized that she could not rely on
When she was moving from house to house she always had to be the bigger person to help her family and her siblings, nothing was easy for her but she learned how to manage finances and how to keep her family afloat. For most of her young years, she had to mentor her siblings and be that strong role model that shaped her siblings into the adults they turned out to be. Jeanette also had to face her past in many ways throughout her life and find ways to move past the painful memories and difficult traumas. She also realized as she got older that her parents were not even close to other children's parents and that with each day that went by her parents were failing her.