Addiction In The Novel 'The Glass Castle'

It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities. This is evident in Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, which reiterates the story of Jeannette who is raised within a family that is both deeply dysfunctional and distinctively vibrant. Jeannette is faced with numerous barriers throughout her life. Despite the many obstacles set forth by her parents during her childhood, Jeannette develops into a successful adult later in life. One of these obstacles is the lack of a stable home base moulds her into the woman she grows up to be. Throughout her life, Jeannette must cope with the carelessness of her

The memoir entitled The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls is a story of the eventful life Jeannette endured growing up with her three siblings and her parents. Jeannette lived a tough life, she was constantly moving, never had nice clothes to wear, and had to grow up faster than most children. The reason for the constant struggles in Jeannette’s life led back to her parents. Her father Rex Walls was outrageous, always making spur of the moment decisions which had taken a toll on the family as a whole. He was a severe alcoholic who made way too many promises he knew he couldn’t keep. Throughout the novel, the idea of the “Glass Castle” appears quite often. The Glass Castle is

A. Jeannette Walls, in her memoir The Glass Castle, demonstrates Erikson’s eight stages of development. Through the carefully recounted stories of her childhood and adolescence, we are able to trace her development from one stage to the next. While Walls struggles through some of the early developmental stages, she inevitably succeeds and has positive outcomes through adulthood. The memoir itself is not only the proof that she is successful and productive in middle adulthood, but the memoir may also have been part of her healing process. Writing is often a release and in writing her memoir and remembering her history, she may have been able to come to terms with her sad past. The memoir embodies both the proof

Bad Parenting is the act of not showing the responsibilities that should be taken as a mother or father. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls reveals the faults of parenting through the use of symbolism , imagery and characterization. Rosemary and Rex’s Struggles to show their children (Jeannette, Lori, Brian) the importance of the appearance and guidance of being by their side as a parent. Jeannette and Rex show their faults by destroying everything the children try to accomplish because of their personal bad habits.

What coping strategies should a child use when exposed to stressful situations? This is answered and explained in the memoir The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls as well as by other sources. The memoir is about a girl named Jeannette who was born into a poor family and the struggles her family goes through. The memoir continues to explain how she copes with each stressful event that she goes through. Successful coping strategies involve staying calm, and thinking positively, but failing coping strategies involve alcohol abuse.

The journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found a link between abuse and alcoholism. They found the more severe the abuse, the more severe the drinking. Neglect and abuse were the top traumatic experiences that leads to alcoholism. Even though the book only hints that he was sexually abused, this study shows the potential reason behind Rex’s heavy drinking. According to Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research there are two important reasons for this studies. “First, it supports the notion that genetics alone are not sufficient to account for a person’s vulnerability to addiction. Second, the results point a direction for areas that need to be explored in treatment.” In The Glass Castle, three out of the four kids did not drink like Rex. Moreover, if alcoholism was genetic they all would be alcoholics. Fortunately, as far as we know, their life’s turn completely around for the better.

Poverty is a main part of life for many people in the world, more importantly the United States. Jeanette Walls shows how big of a problem poverty is in her memoir “The Glass Castle”, with her stories of how she grew up and her family’s struggles. How her family was treated along with what the people living around them found important clearly shows their economical class. The problem of food scarcity, or not having the bare necessities are some of poverty’s main problems. In “The Glass Castle”, the issues of poverty are displayed through not having the basic necessities, not being able to provide for children, and how there is not always enough food to feed everyone in the family.

People often fall into some sticky situations, but how they deal with them is the thing that matters most. In The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, she takes the readers through her life, starting at her earliest memory as a three-year-old, constantly living in a state of homelessness. Throughout the story, Walls experiences countless situations from her father being an alcoholic, to everyday school bullies. She uses a series of coping mechanisms to deal with, and sometimes terminate these issues. In fact, everyone of her siblings and parents uses various coping methods for these same situations. These methods may not always be the most effective, but people, including the Walls family, nevertheless use them to get by on their

According to a 2017 study done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “More than 10 percent of U.S. children live with a parent with alcohol problems.” The author Jeannette Walls uses the book, The Glass Castle, to talk about her childhood struggles of growing up with an alcoholic father. The reason this book was appealing was because I grew up with an alcoholic father as well and I found it interesting to read about someone who had gone through similar situations. In the first 90 pages the author tells us about her chaotic family life. Her father, who is weary of civilization and authority, packs up the family camp often to roam around the desert. Due to their frequent moving her father is not able to keep a stable job,

In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette finds herself caught between colliding ethnic cultures when she makes a new friend who is African American and her grandmother, Erma, does not approve. Jeannette is confronted with Erma’s opinion when she says, “Keep this up and people are going to think you’re a nigger lover” (143). This quote shows how Jeannette was caught between the approval of a family member and what she considered was the right thing. It is obvious Erma is very racist and this greatly bothers Jeannette, whose parents have taught her to see no difference, but regardless she is not swayed by anything Erma says. Jeannette later recalls, “That didn’t seem like Mom. She and Dad happily railed against anyone they disliked or

long term stable job; after he got drunk, he damaged household facilities, hurt his wife and children, and sometimes got some street fight and hurt himself. He is a man full of knowledge and life skills, he could have had a good career and a perfect satisfied family, but alcoholism ruined his life and he died indirectly from it.

According to the text addiction is the “physiological and psychological dependence on a behavior or substance. Behavioral addictions (sex, gambling, spending, obsessive Internet use) and consumptive addictions (alcohol, drugs, food) often have similar etiologies, prognoses, and treatment procedures” (Wormer & Davis, 2018 p. 9). Nick Hasley in the movie was an alcoholic that displayed issues in the workplace and personal life. Nick lost his job due to working while intoxicated, damaging company property, and failing to meet mandated treatment. Nick provided 16 years of service to the company and was terminated due to his alcoholism.

Throughout the world so many people become addicted to drugs, they try to hide and numb their feelings through the use of drugs. Just because people use drugs once, it does not mean they will automatically become addicted to the substance. There are actually only a small number of drugs that people take compulsively, which consist of alcohol, narcotics, nicotine, marijuana, and others. The more you consistently you use a drug the easier it is for your brain to become addicted to that substance. It becomes so comfortable and used to the feeling while under the influence that it begins to think the brain needs the substance to function.

Smashed is a 2012 film, directed by James Ponsoldt and written by Ponsoldt and Susan Burke. The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Kate Hannah and Aaron Paul as Charlie Hannah. They play a married couple who are both alcoholics. Kate is an elementary teacher and Charlie is a writer who works from home. The movie begins with both of them hungover in bed as the alarm rings.

Addiction is the term used when a person takes part in an activity, or ingests a substance that gives them pleasure, but then the continuous use of it becomes compulsive and starts interfering with their everyday life. The behaviour of an addict can easily be recognised as it represents confusing human activity. (Shaffer, 1996). These behaviours can include gambling, excessive sexual behaviours, smoking and drug and alcohol abuse.