Analysis Of Jeannette Walls's The Glass Castle

Writer, Jeannette Walls, in her memoir, The Glass Castle, provides an insight into the fanciful and shocking life of growing up poor and nomadic with faux-grandiose parents in America. With her memoir, Wall's purpose was to acknowledge and overcome the difficulties that came with her unusual upbringing. Her nostalgic but bitter tone leaves the reader with an odd taste in their mouth. In some memories, the author invites her audience to look back on with fondness; others are viewed through bulletproof glass and outrage.

Imagine living as nomads, without any sense of a real home. In addition to that; living with a troubled family that suffers from poor living conditions, alcoholism, and family drama. To what extent would you go to fix your family, or even moving away from them? The book The Glass Castle portrays the bizarre, impoverished upbringing Jeannette Walls and her siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen had to endure due to her dysfunctional parents. The author of the memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, writes about everything that occurred in her life from when she was 3 to when she was old enough to have her second husband; in which I would imagine in her thirties. Her stories consist of many adventures, both meaningful and traumatic. The reasons

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.

Colson Whitehead once said, “Let the broken glass be broken glass, let it splinter into smaller pieces and dust and scatter. Let the cracks between things widen until they are no longer cracks but the new places for things”. In the memoir “The Glass Castle,” author Jeannette Walls faces despair and turmoil as a result of her impoverished and dysfunctional upbringing. As Jeannette grows up, she watches her father Rex fail to reach his full potential and his dream to build a Glass Castle shatter as his alcoholism takes control. Aware of the devastation her father was causing, she begins to slowly lose faith in him but doesn’t fail to escape her destructive household and pursue her dreams of becoming a journalist. Due to her parent’s lack of parenting and being forced to fend for herself, Jeannette developed a sense of responsibility to care for others and make amends to improve the family’s lifestyle. Despite the turbulence and destruction her parents had caused over the years, unlike her father, Jeannette was able to find the strength to overcome obstacles, developing characteristics that ultimately lead her to achieving her dream, thus illustrating that adversity has the power to shape one’s identity.

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

As flames engulfed her dress, they burned down her stomach as she screamed for help. This was the first memory Jeannette Walls had in The Glass Castle . The plot of the story reveals her childhood of poverty as she moved around the country with her delusional family. Her alcoholic father and mentally ill mother created a very different lifestyle for their children, and raised them like no other. The unique plot, strong characters, and many settings make the novel successful. In this autobiography, she perseveres through tough times and leads the reader down the path she took to adulthood.

“Don’t call me Grandma. Name’s Erma.” (Walls, 131). This is the first thing Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle, hears out of her grandmother Erma’s mouth when they go to stay at her home in Welch, West Virginia. The Walls family has come across hard times and they need somewhere to live. “She don't like it none ‘cause it makes her sound old.” This was the response of Grandpa Ted, Erma’s husband, a more even tempered and gentle man. Does this make Erma an upper social class woman concerned of appearing less beautiful? Or a hardworking woman torn down by poverty who doesn’t want to feel less able than she was when she was younger.

Jeannette Wall’s memoir, The Glass Castle, displays Jeannette’s life growing up as a child living in an impoverished family. It is surprising to see that Jeannette is truly loving and caring towards her family despite how completely irresponsible and negligent both her parents were. Rose-Mary and Rex Walls are unfit parents to their children.

A trauma narrative is a narrative that describes an experience or experiences that cause someone to be destressed and cannot be incorporated into their memory easily. Throughout her own traumatic narrative, Jeannette Wall’s describes different aspects of her everyday life that showcase various levels of significance. She is able to show how certain life events impact her plans for escaping her current socioeconomic status and her plans for the future. The text is also able to tell us about trauma, poverty, ourselves, and our society. Furthermore, the text demonstrates the impact that trauma and poverty can have and how they can have lasting effects. These concepts help us to think about our own life experiences and situations and they also show us how to be analytical about our society. Lastly, this narrative is able to reveal to us the different aspects of a traumatic childhood and how important and impactful this type of upbringing can be. Jeannette Walls uses her own traumatic autobiography to show that despite her adverse upbringing in poverty and passive and unattached parenting she was able to become successful. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, shows the benefits and the value that can come from having a traumatic narrative. This is significant because it shows that an experience can shape a person, but a person can also shape the experience.

The definition of a good parent is simply one who cares about their child’s well-being more than their own. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, neither of Jeannette’s parents are fit to be parents because they can’t even take care of themselves properly let alone four children. However, if the argument was to be made which is the lesser of two evils, Jeannette’s father, at least, has some redeeming qualities. Rex Walls is a smoker, an alcoholic, a gambler, and a danger to all of those around him; but, when he is uninfluenced and acts like himself, he becomes someone that his kids can look up to and love to be around. Rex Walls, at his best, exhibits the qualities that all good parents should have; he was always imaginative and loving towards

After reading The Glass Castle, I felt I could relate to the Walls family in some ways. Although there is no question her childhood was much worse than mine; I have been through my fair share of challenges. Overcoming various struggles throughout my childhood made me the person I am today. Like Jeannette, our fathers are similar to a certain caliber. Like Rex, my father used to drink frequently. Of course I never knew that because I was just an oblivious child. Even though he drank I never suspected it, for he was always very nice to me and took care of me before himself. I could never distinguish his personality from drunk to sober; he behaved the same. Another parallel between Rex and my dad, Jeff, both men never made the wisest choices. He married five women and has one or more children with three of them. Even though my dad made poor choices, he is undeniably a great guy. Just like in The Glass Castle, alcoholism, and specific family dynamics have affected my family and me in multiple ways.

Many would argue that Yourself and the mindset you have in life most affects the kind of person you become because, If you treat yourself poorly and look at everything negative while you're young you will not be successful later in life. However, the short story The Glass Castle by, Jeannette Walls reveals that your environment and the way you grow up affects the kind of person you become because People that grow up in bad environments can still be successful. One reason the short story The Glass Castle by, Jeannette Walls reveals that Yourself and the mindset you have in life most affects the kind of person you become is when Jeannette said, “I figured you didn't need a college degree to become one of the people who

In the book The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, Walls recalls her life and the significant experiences within it. She goes through the perils of being poor, not having a stable home, and having changing beliefs of the world around her. With an alcoholic and paranoid father, an irresponsible mother, and many nights with an empty stomach, Jeannette Walls grows up loving and supporting her parents as a young child only to realize the neglect that she and her siblings have gone through as she got older. The Glass Castle is a book full of life lessons, unique and baffling experiences, and eye opening scenes of the world and the many different people within it. This book shows the ups and downs of one’s life, showing dysfunction, misfortune, and how these impact someone over time.

The memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, explicates the author’s dysfunctional childhood and how it resulted from poor parenting. Throughout the beginning of the book, Walls continues to be optimistic and grateful for the few objects she owns and what little parent support she receives. This contributes to the tone of how positivity can aid those in coping with problematic events. Although Walls is unable to escape her source of problems, as a child with irresponsible adults, her undying faith in her parents caused her to make injudicious decisions. This contributes to the tone of how false positivity can lead to oblivion.

What is it to be a ‘good’ father? Is it a father that sets regulation and pushes their child or a father that allows their child to shape their own future with their own hands? In Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle the character Rex Walls is often depicted as a father who tries to be better, yet is constantly bested by several demons that plague his life. Rex Walls was able to ―despite his flaws and shortcomings―teach Jeannette and influence her to aspire to achieve success. The first aspect of Rex’s influence is his use to lessons to teach his children science, reading, writing, and the morals which she would uphold for the rest of her life. Rex teaches the benefits that come with working hard and persevering to achieve your goals. Finally,