Castles Made of Sand Essays

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 last line of stanza is sung as “So watch my back and keep the blade i think it got you laid.” This means instead of their family hurting them they should watch their back and by doing so it will be good overall which means the laid part.

The Castle, directed by Rob Sitch, is an Australian comedy, which delves into the lives of a stereotypical Australian family, the Kerrigans. The film touchs on issues close to home in a humourous way. The audience is introduced to the classic Aussie family, narrated in the viewpoint of the youngest of the Kerrigans, Dale.

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

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.

The second most important image is the “surf-tormented shore”(line 13) as the speaker himself is standing next to one, and is unable to control the waves, thus becoming a metaphor again for time and life. The unpredictable quality of life and the chaos within his life demonstrate how little he can do to manipulate it as a very inactive verb “standing” is used. In the following lines as he loses the “golden sand” (line 15), the “pitiless waves”(line 22) represent life again as he’s asking God why he can’t do anything to stop these “pitiless waves”(line 22) that he knows are pitiless because they will not stop for him. This extended metaphor conveys the deeper meaning of life that passes by really fast and is just an illusion. These metaphors lead back to the main argument of life being nothing more than a dream, meaning the outer dream, which is what we see is life, and the inner dream, which is what we seem is our memories, and are all just dreams and illusions that we are unable to manipulate.

In the first stanza it is the semantic field of water: ‘waters’ (twice), ‘sea’, ‘drowning’ and ‘being drawn’. As I mentioned earlier, water is often the symbol of life but it also evokes tears, sadness and despair.

The novel House of Sand and Fog, written by Andrew Dubus III, is a story about how society, events from the past and present situations can affect people’s persona, anima/animus, shadow and self which eventually influences their decisions about life. Dubus explores the conflict between two completely different people with opposite persona. Colonel Masoud Behrani, once a wealthy man in Iran, is now a struggling immigrant willing to bet everything he has to restore his family’s dignity. Kathy Nicolo is a troubled young woman whose house is all she has left, and who refuses to let her hard-won stability slip away from her. These two characters are drawn by their competing desires to the same small house and domed by their tragic inability to

Similarly, the phrase ‘the next moment, you are no longer there’ is perhaps suggesting that he was shocked at seeing her go so suddenly. However, the fact that when she next reappears she is ‘perfectly framed shows us that the joy of seeing her after thinking she has gone for good is a surprise to him. ‘Fragrant survivors of last night’s frost’ shows us that the flowers are strong, which is a suggestion that their love is strong. In the fourth verse the phrase ‘my heart misses a beat at love for you’ shows us that the love was so intense that time seemed to stop too. ‘Knowing a time will come when you are no longer there’ shows us that he is not looking forward to that time and that he knows it is inevitable. ‘Meanwhile let us make sure we clasp each shared moment’ shows us that he wants to make sure they use their time together wisely, and ‘in cupped hands, like water we dare not spill’ shows us they know that their time together is precious.

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.

In stanza 12, she tells us that he has “bit her pretty red heart in two.” Next, she states that he died when she was ten, and when she was twenty years old, she attempted suicide - “…I tried to die, to get back back back to you.” In stanza 13 is where she starts talking about her husband. She says that instead of dying, her friends “stuck her together with glue,” and since she could not die to get back to her father, she would marry someone who was similar.

The first stanza is addressed to ‘old men’ and how they should not simply slip away and die quietly, they should fight death until the end. Poetic techniques

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

Darryl’s life is worth fighting for. “You can’t buy what I’ve got.” ‘The Castle’ directed by Rob Sitch, about one man, his family and neighbours on the verge of being homeless. Darryl Kerrigan, the “backbone of the family” won’t stand for that. Of course no one can buy what he has. He’s spent almost his entire lifetime building what he has, why should he give it up? Darryl’s way of life is simple yet filled with family values. 3 Highview Crescent is the home to Darryl, his wife Sal and their 3 children: Wayne, Steve, Tracy and Dale. (Wayne currently being in jail.) The house is made up of love, and simple family values. Darryl’s also added bits and pieces to it. He’s added on so much to the house, his own personal touch. His neighbours,

“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