Analysis Of The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Opposite of Jeanette, her father Rex does not have a successful life. A factor that may have contributed to this is his natural aversion to authority. According to Outliers, this aversion may have been a result of his lower-class upbringing. Gladwell suggests that in lower-class families, children are not raised to expect to be treated by authority figures with some degree of respect and are not taught how to influence a social situation to fit their own needs. Rex Walls is constantly running away from the “FBI,” and distrusts even doctors and nurses in hospitals. He most often chooses to flee rather than face confrontation about his problems. These both align with Gladwell’s claims; therefore, his lack of success in his life can partially be attributed to his

As proven by the different challenges faced by the Wes Moores and Jeannette Walls, while a strong father figure is always important to have in life, it does not determine how far you go or how successful you become. Moore’s father was deceased and was not able to be there for him by unfortunate circumstance, but Moore himself found it in him to strive to make his father proud, regardless. Walls’s father, on the other hand, was an alcoholic who chose not to be emotionally there for her. He constantly not only neglected her, but abused his role of authority by forcing Jeannette to participate in acts she never should have. In one scenario, Rex brings Jeannette to a bar and used her to basically get a man drunk so he would lose a pool game to

In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls the most exemplified parenting style shown by Rex and Rose Mary is Permissive Parenting. The Walls parents have few demands, they don’t discipline their children, and they interact with the kids as if they were friends.

“Things usually work out in the end." "What if they don't?" "That just means you haven't come to the end yet.” That small but powerful excerpt comes from the incredible biography “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. The Glass Castle is a 269 page Memoir about the unconventional, poverty-stricken, and dysfunctional life of Jeannette Walls and her three siblings.

In the Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls uses logic to get herself and her family out of situations while weighting out the pros and cons. For example the one time when Jeannette was turning ten and her dad, Rex Walls, asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said “Do you think you could maybe stop drinking”. His first response was, “You must be awfully ashamed of your old man.”, and of course she responded back with “No… It’s just I think mom would be a lot happier. Plus we’d have the extra money.” She asked him, because she was thinking of her dads health, and the families well being. You can tell that she thought long and hard about how she was going to ask her dad, and about why she wanted him to quit.

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.

Rex Walls takes Jeannette out of the hospital against medical advice, saying “You’re safe now” to Jeannette. By opening up with this memory Walls introduces her dysfunctional and unorthodox childhood. This dramatic beginning prefaced what her daily life would

The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, is the memoir of a girl who faced many hardships from the start of her life due to her parents’ insufficiencies. The daughter of penniless but strikingly independent nomads, she struggled to keep her family afloat. Despite the adversity the main character continuously faced, she eventually achieved her goals by never giving up. Instead, she moved forward and gained not only strength, but wisdom from the many challenges she encountered. The quote from St. Francis of Assisi, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle” is a model for the life Jeannette achieved, learning from her suffering.

Imagine you’re driving down a road and arrive at a red light. As you glance to your right, you see a woman standing there with a sign that reads, “Without work, anything will help”. Do you stop and give the spare change in your purse? Do you look the other way? Poverty is a difficulty that affects numerous families not only in the United States, but around the world. Jeannette Walls shows in her memoir, The Glass Castle, which describes her hardships as a child, that some poverty-stricken families chose to remain silent, afraid of the embarrassment they feel they’d face, or in denial of their situation. Despite the various drawbacks that weighed down the families hopes of survival, it only lit a fire in Jeannette to become a strong woman who appreciates what she has, knowing it could all disappear in an instant.

A traumatic narrative is a narrative that aims to describe an experience of extreme horror or shock that cannot be incorporated unproblematically within memory. 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, our selves, and our society. Furthermore, the text demonstrates the impacts of trauma and poverty and how they can have lasting impacts. 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.

In life, you will encounter many complex situations some of which you would hope to repeat and others you would rather never speak of again. Jeannette Walls wrote about the good, the bad, and the ugly in her memoir, The Glass Castle.

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 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.

A few times in the book she would be inappropriately touched, or beaten up, and her father would do nothing to avenge or just protect his daughter. Brian came to her side a couple times and defended her against bullies, but Rex would never be empathetic. She had a little brother, but what she needed, was a preventive father. When Rex came home drunk most of the nights, he was violent and rude to his children. To try and make a difference for the whole family, and to get them to believe in Dad again, her birthday present she wished for was for her father to stop drinking. He lasted a couple months, but the disappointment and betrayal she felt of her father was immense and “...she couldn’t believe Dad had gone back to the booze” (Walls 123). She was the last to believe in him and with the overwhelming dishonesty and deception, at last, she had finally lost faith in her Dad.

Oscar Wilde once said, “Children begin by loving their parents, as they grow older, they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.” This quote represents Jeannette Walls relations with her father, Rex Walls, in her memoir, The Glass Castle. Jeannette's relationship with her father is symbolic of Oscar Wilde’s thought. Early in her life, Rex is a good father, teaching Jeannette and caring for them, but toward the end of his life, Rex is seen by Jeannette as a distraction and a bad influence. She slowly learns more and more of her horrific drunk dad, and her overall relationship with Rex changes quite a bit throughout her life captured in The Glass Castle.