Analysis Of Disengaging Parents: The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

In the text of The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the mother says, “I’m not upset because I’ll miss you, I’m upset because you get to go to New York and I’m stuck here. It’s not fair (Walls 237).” Jeanette thought her mom was sad because her daughter was leaving forever but she was just jealous that she couldn’t go to New York. This quote makes the mother look selfish and like she doesn’t care about her children. Jeannette’s mother had just started a teaching job that she didn’t like and had to deal with her father’s problems every day, so it was clear that she was under a lot of stress and was probably tired of living in Welch. But the mother also didn’t seem depressed when Lori left for New York when she should have been because her oldest

Parental Alienation Syndrome is defined as a syndrome where one parent (usually the custodial parent) alienates the child or children from the other parent. A child psychiatrist organized this syndrome by the name of Richard Gardner. The fact that Parental Alienation Syndrome is used in custody litigations makes it a very controversial issue. The syndrome tends to target one parent and favor the other, sometimes leaving the child in compromising situations. Also, Gardner's 'syndrome' lacks scientific background and is seen as nothing more than a theory by many other professionals. Parental Alienation Syndrome should not be considered in court custody battles, as it is nothing more than an inadequate theory.

“Children shouldn’t have to sacrifice so that you can have the life you want. You make sacrifices so that your children can have the life that they deserve.”- Unknown. In the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls readers are given a front row seat into a family that is constantly being destroyed by the parents. This book allows readers an inside look at having an alcoholic father and an absent mother. There’s no such thing as “normal”, but society often expects certain things from it’s citizens - things like holding down a job, responsibly raising children, and giving back in some way, but in The Glass Castle, Rex and Rose Mary Walls do none of these things. Rex and Rose Mary walls have trouble keeping their jobs, maybe it’s because

The novel, The Glass Castle, exhibits the human tendency to be selfish. This is manifested in both Rex and Rose Mary. Rex is characterized as a selfish father throughout the novel, and his paternal image is consistently skewed because of his actions. His addiction to alcohol ruins countless family events. One year the family’s Christmas is ruined when Rex drinks a great deal of alcohol and burns their tree and presents. Jeanette remembers, “Dad sat on the sofa [...] telling mom he was doing her a favor [...] no one tried to wring dad’s neck [...] or even point out that he’d ruined the Christmas his family has spent weeks planning” (115). Jeanette and her family are always left cleaning up their father’s drunken mess. Even when Rex is sober he does not apologize for ruining sentimental family events and continues to put alcohol before his family. Selfishness can also be seen in Rex’s relationship with money. He takes Jeanette into a bar in order to get money from his friend, Robbie. When Robbie asks if he can take Jeanette upstairs, Jeanette recollects, “So, with Dad’s blessing, I went upstairs” (212). Rex is so self-absorbed that he allows his daughter to go into a strange man's apartment, fully knowing his intentions. During Jeanette and her siblings’ childhood, they experience dangerous situations with their parents’ knowledge and approval. While Rex’s selfish nature is typically derived from his addiction, Rose Mary’s selfishness is simply a reflection of her personality.

Jeannette Walls, Shows in the book The Glass Castle that there are a lot of situations that happen in life where people make countless mistakes, but it is very important to forgive her father and her mother for many mistakes. She has to cope with many obstacles without her parent's help. In the author's memoir, we become attracted with Jeannette constant struggle between protecting her family and the pleasure that her family is based on the same hopes and senseless falsehood with her unbelievable storytelling method. The feelings of forgiveness hold the Walls family together. Jeanette was able to describe her family's childhood, relationships with one another. The children of the Walls family are forced to begin the independent life at an

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.

Would a good parent’s allow their three-year-old daughter to boil her own hot dogs? Parenting is one of the most important pieces in a child's life, and it shows a bond between parents and their kids. However people who don't give quality parenting lead their children through a rough life. In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, she talks about her life experiences and hardships she had from having inadequate parents. Despite the fact that her parents intention were to help their children unfortunately, they end up harming the children physically, emotionally, and mentally. Although she is not raised in the traditional way, Jeannette overcomes the challenges by persevering through the bad times, finding her place in society, and

Each and every parent has their own style of parenting. Each parenting style is based on certain beliefs and conventions that are used to teach children to become increasingly self-sufficient as they age. The novel “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, explores the unusual ways that Rex and Rose Mary Walls’ raise their children. Generally, parents will attempt to keep their children out of harm’s way by any means necessary, although, in “The Glass Castle,” this is not the case. Rex and Rose Mary Walls' unconventional, relaxed style of parenting teaches their children Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen to be self-sufficient at a young age.

One of the most important theme in The Glass Castle is forgiveness. Jeannette and her brother and sisters spend their whole lives forgiving their parents for their irresponsibilities. They still love them and welcome them into their hearts even though Rex and Rose Mary didn't deserve it. By forgiving them, she feels less angry and her attitude as a whole is much more positive. When she is three years old, she burns herself cooking and her mother doesn't take care of her. After being in the hospital for 6 days, she let her cook again and says “Good for you, you have got to get right back in the saddle (15). ” Another example of forgiveness, is when she is trying to learns how to swim and her dad drops her in the water making her almost drown. She thinks he did this so she can learn, so she forgives him. Jeanette says, “I figured he must be right, there was no other way to explain it(66).” This means that she thought he didn't have an intention to harm her, but he tried to make her learn. At the end of the story, she meets her father for the last time and forgives him for all the bad things that had happened in her life and all the chaos. Although all of these bad things happened to her and her brother and sister because of him, she says she knew he loved her like no one else ever had. Jeanette said she forgives him for “all the hell-raising and destruction and chaos he [has] created in [her life].” On the other hand though, she says, “I could not imagine what my life would be like- without him in it. As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had(279).” This means that she knew that he made all those mistakes throughout his life, but she still found a way to forgive him and look on the brighter side of things.

In the novel The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, the uncertain future of the Walls’ children was questionable from the start. From a drunk father, to never having a steady home, the author tells of her idiosyncratic youth to describe the bitterness and longing for an ordinary childhood.

A parent’s parenting styles are as diverse as the world we live in today. Nowadays, parents only want what is best for their children and their parenting styles plays a crucial role in the development of children which will in the long run, not only effect the child’s childhood years, but later prolong into their adult life as well.

One example of this is seen when each of the six girls get jobs (at different times and years) at a local restaurant waitressing. The mother was, “angry that my sisters should even conceive of working in such a place, and more angry when my father made no move to prevent it, and she was worried about herself and about her family and about her life” (113). This passage highlights a couple of things; the anger the mother feels that her daughters are not sharing her views on working, as well as her attitude towards her husband not standing up for her. In traditional families, usually the role of disciplinary falls onto the father, however, the mother’s anger at her husband seems to stem from something deeper.

As Panken emphasizes in The New York Time Magazine, ‘Neglect is not merely failure to provide the physical needs. . . . Failure to provide proper supervision, leadership and guidance within the home is a more serious form of neglect.’ The dangers of emotional neglect are also illustrated in the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause. All of the delinquents featured in this film are teens who, while provided for monetarily, are emotionally starved due to the neglect of their parents and, as such, turn to delinquency. Judy is rich, but is emotionally denied by her father, evidenced in the scene in which he slaps her after she tries to kiss him. Plato is abandoned by his parents and left to the care of a maid, Stark states that his parents ‘buy him many things,’ yet he still describes his home life as a ‘zoo’ and expresses frustration at the lack of understanding he receives from his parents. As a result of this neglect, Plato shoots puppies, Judy spends her time with a youth gang, and Stark drinks and fights in every town he moves to. These contemporary representations of youth assert that no amount of money can replace personal family

In her memoir The Glass Castle, author Jeannette Walls uses situations involving fire for the purpose of illustrating the fundamental difference between her maturing self and her parents; Jeannette, unlike her parents, is able to understand the consequences of her actions, which contributes to her atypical relationship with her parents in comparison to society's expectations for the child-parent relationship. The story begins with three-year-old Jeannette suffering from severe burns after attempting to cook a hot dog for herself. After having called to her mother for help, she noted the peculiarity of her mother's reaction: "Mom, in an unnaturally calm voice, explained what had happened..." (9). At the young age of three, Jeannette had begun to question her mother's behavior, as evidenced by her description of her mother's voice as being "unnaturally calm."

For instance, within the primary dysfunctional family, many relationships are developed, which include two unbearable children, a power hungry dad, a hectic wife tending to her baby, and an unendurable grandmother. These relationships bring out other dynamics within the characters and the family (Lambert 2009). For instance, although both the father and grandmother are strict in ensuring that the children be respectful, on their part, they do not set an example that can be emulated within the family. First, the grandmother advises her grandchildren to be respectful, and then she goes ahead, making a profane racially prejudiced remark almost immediately (McCann, Jr 2011). At the same time, the head of the family—the father of the children, Bailey, requests the children to conduct themselves accordingly. However, confronted by a tense situation, Bailey loses his temper and threatens the family telling them that if they did not shut up, they would not go anywhere (Katharina 4).