The poverty rates are growing by the year as many families struggle to afford sufficient housing, this ultimately impacts the quality of life for their kids. In the novel The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, it shows the life of Jeannette as a child growing up in a house with a constant cycle of poverty, and homelessness. To push past her families issues, Jeannette thrived in her schoolwork and became a writer for her school newspaper. As she grew older and worked harder, Jeannette moved to New York with her siblings to pursue her career in newswriting. Soon after, both of her parents followed and were homeless for many years. Her father had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and eventually passed away from a heart attack. Jeannette grew apart from her mother after her father’s death. Although Jeannette grew up in a very bad environment, she lived a very successful life because of her hard-working personality and her dreams. …show more content…
This is supported by the following quotes, "I never wanted to be away from the excitement and energy of my parents, but I also knew I didn't want to be like them. I wanted to be better. I wanted to be better-educated, I wanted a better job, and I wanted to make a better life for myself. And I knew that the only way to do those things was to work hard" (Walls 74) and, "I was determined to get out of Welch and to build a better life for myself. I didn't know how I was going to do it, but I knew I had to try" (Walls 99). In these quotes it shows that her work ethic was a leading reason for her successful life. Jeannette's constant hard work and determination were essential in her living a successful
What would it be like to grow up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father and a mother who doesn’t even want to be responsible for her own children? The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls is a memoir based around growing up in such a family. There are six members in the Walls’s family, Rex and Rosemary Walls are the parents of Lori, eldest child, Jeanette and Brain, middle children, and Maureen, youngest. Jeanette’s father played a big role in his families success, when sober Rex was a charming man able to capture the imagination of his children, but when he drank he became destructive, as for her mom a true free spirit artist making life harder on the children. The children soon began to have to take care of their own selves.
[“I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes.” In the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls she writes about her life growing up as a kid.] From moving around her whole childhood and not ever having enough food, to growing up to being a successful writer. They somehow make it through, proving that money can't buy happiness…but it can pay the rent and buy clothes and food, which helps.
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.
Not being to conform to society her parents are homeless once again. Jeannette’s dad Rex has a heart attack and dies. She was devastated her his death, but in the end her family was relieved he was
The bigger picture was her mom’s childhood and the difficult circumstances she had to live through. It can be seen that while Jeannette was writing this memoir she realized that her
Jeannette found ways like working for the school paper so she can stay warm and have access to the cafeteria. Her determination to escape Welch was inspiring because it wasn’t easy; she had to save and save all on her own. With her alcoholic father, Rex, it was hard because he took all of the children’s savings one time. Jeannette is a smart girl because even though she loved her parents, she just knew it wasn’t healthy to
However, Jeannette flew out of the car. This situation represents the erratic and unsafe conditions of their entire childhood. Despite these conditions, Jeannette remained strong and continued to come up with a plan to allow her parents to find her easily. She also forgives her parents immediately and continues to love them. Love and forgiveness are important themes of this
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.
Jeannette had an alcoholic father and a self-intrigued mother who
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
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.
The Glass Castle is unlike any other ordinary book. This true story holds almost every detail of a poor family’s life. It holds in its pages hardships, adventures, fighting, longing, and loving. With an artistic mother named Rose Mary, a smart daughter named Lori, a beautiful daughter named Maureen, a country son named Brian, a drunk father named Rex, and herself, an adventurous hard-working daughter named Jeannette, they were those very people who made up the Walls family. They faced more challenges than the average family would.
The Glass Castle: A Summary In The Glass Castle: A Memoir, author Jeannette Walls belongs to a family that is constantly picking up and moving. Walls learned a lot from her dysfunctional family and used their example to motivate herself, ultimately leading to success and happiness in her adult life. Some of the greatest lessons came from Walls’ alcoholic father, as he taught her who to be and demonstrated at times who not to be. Originally, Walls remembers living in the desert as her father tried to make a fortune developing a product to find gold.
She struggled with how the society and her family shaped who she was. She was exposed to her family first which made her behave the way she did under her family’s house. Jeanette struggled with her family by taking care of the house, beings told bending the rules is okay and the acceptance of her Mom’s and Dad’s homelessness. When Jeannette left her family and went to live in New York, she becomes an individual. She fends for herself and gets her life together.
After graduating middle school her friend lost touch with her and eventually left her life for good: “By the time she got to Welch High Dinitia changed.” Jeannette was also sexually harassed by one of her friends in Phoenix while playing hide-and-seek: “Billy smushed his face against mine… ‘Guess what?’Billy shouted. ‘I raped you’” Lastly, while going to school in Phoenix Jeannette was bullied for being smart and skinny: “The other students didn’t like me much because I was so tall and pale and skinny and always raised my hand too fast… A few days after I started school, four Mexican girls followed me home and jumped me in an alleyway…”