Character Analysis Of Rex Walls In The Glass Castle

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.

While her father’s dismisses his destructive nature, Jeannette becomes conscious of his actions which motivates her to make amends in hopes of leaving their desolate life. Instead of getting help for his childhood trauma, Rex immerses himself in alcohol causing him to become

There are many conflicts present in the book The Glass Castle. To begin, there the external conflict present between the Walls family and where they live at any given moment. The Walls family, not having a lot, are forced to adapt to the less than ideal situations wherever Rex would take them. While they are at Battle Mountain, there were excess animals there and Rose Mary, “refused to kill the flies that always filled the house; she said they were nature’s food for the birds and lizards” (Walls 64). The Walls family face external conflicts with where they are located.

Rex Walls, just like his wife, was totally unfit to be a parent. Over and over again he failed to provide for the family and instead caused physical and emotional pain. He was always coming home drunk, and one night he even forced his daughter to distract a man and then go up into his room with him. Jeannette barely made it out of the man’s room without being raped. Afterwards when telling her dad what happened he said to her, “I’m sure he just pawed you some … I knew you could handle yourself” (Walls 213). Any father who thinks it is acceptable for his own child to be sexually assaulted, should not have any children. Along with that he was always doing things, what he called, “Rex Walls style,” which is just another term for illegally. Jeannette had been in the hospital for six weeks and without knowing if she was recovered, her dad broke her out of the hospital. It says, “A nurse yelled at us to stop, but dad broke into a run. He pushed open an emergency-exit door and sprinted down the stairs and out into the street” (Walls 14). He didn’t care whether or not his own daughter was fully recovered or not. He just wanted to sneak her out of the hospital so he wouldn’t have to pay the bill. I find these actions irresponsible and repulsive. One thing that I do find admirable about him is that he was very smart and creative. He tried to make a machine to separate rock from gold, and he even designed a whole house made entirely of glass. The problem is that he was always too

Jeannette recalls a memory one Christmas, when they managed to buy a few gifts for each other, and even a Christmas tree. Rex, angry that he didn’t get the gifts for them, and extremely intoxicated, lights the tree on fire, burning all the presents along with it. This shows his true selfish egomaniac character. If he can’t provide the family with presents, they simply don’t get any. Rex is the perfect example of selfishness ruling over someone’s life. His selfishness not only affects his life negatively, but his entire family. His wife is too afraid to lose him, so she puts up with his constant selfishness and stubborn behavior. In contrast with Amadou and William Sine, their selflessness and sacrifice makes them and others around them very blissful, whereas Rex struggles with everything around him. He can’t hold a job, and his family is in despair. Yet, when Rex does something selfless, such as when he gave Jeannette $1,000 for college, even though it’s probably all he has, he makes a great and strong impact in her life, and he is proud of

Usually in society parents are to be blamed for failing to raise their children in the right way. It is very easy for the society to criticize parents when they mistreat their child or not take care of his/her needs and wants. It is easy for a parent to get judged in society comparing to a child because parents are role models for children’s. Even when a child has been mistreated by her/his parent, it is easy for the child to forgive their parents. The reason behind that situation would be a parent’s unconditional love that a child sees, despite what he/she has been through. In the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, she portraits a situation like that where the character spends her childhood memories with her father. Even though Jeannette’s father Rex Walls was an irresponsible father and failed to protect his children, Jeannette still loved her father dearly.

For example, the father of the family, Bailey, who show that he does not care too much about anything and that he doesn’t treat his mother kindly. In fact, he ignores her most of the time and shows her little to no respect. In addition, he does not discipline his kids and continuously lets them talk back and disrespect him, as well as other people. We are also introduced to Red Sammy, who seems like he was the only male figure closest to a “good man”, but when his wife looks at him and tells the grandmother that she can’t trust anyone, it makes you think twice about his character. Also, we have the son, John Wesley, who is rude, obnoxious, and loud. The misfit, who seemed to be a good man, turned out to be the worst of them all, murdering the whole family, that including an innocent baby. The grandmother makes reference to the title multiple times throughout the story, by telling Red

Because of the way Erma raised Rex, he became an abusive alcoholic who runs away from any conflict that is thrown at him. He tries to be there for his kids as much as he can but doesn’t really know how. In part two of the book, Rex tries to teach Jeannette how to swim but he takes a weird route of doing so. He picks Jeannette up and throws her in the deep part of the water and says, ‘“Sink or swim!”’ (pg. 66) The way Erma raised Rex is also a big factor in why he isn’t very self-sufficient. Grandma Smith also influenced Rose Mary in a negative way but also in a positive way. Because Grandma Smith had set so many rules, Rose Mary never really had rules and standards for her kids. She felt as if they didn’t need them if they were going to grow up to be independent. They should experience things on their own and make their own mistakes to learn

Throughout the Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls reveals every intricacy of her childhood. She spares little to no element from the judgment of the reader, especially the shortcomings of her father. Rex Walls is a highly intelligent man. At first, he is continually encouraging himself and his children to dream. He believes in himself and aspires to be better than he is; which you can tell by the contraptions he continues to spend time building in order to get rich. His major shortfall is his dependence on alcohol. This dependence leads to him lose jobs and subsequently their home, eventually forcing them to move in with his parents. After moving his family to his hometown, Rex is driven to drink more and new revelations have a major impact on his family. Ultimately, his past abuse and troubled childhood leads him into alcoholism, making him incapable of upholding his ideals of autonomy. Despite his ideals of masculinity and fatherhood, he always comes up short due to his alcoholism, which conversely drives him deeper into depression and more drinking.

This trend continued in Welch where not much changed for the family other than their continually deteriorating conditions. The kids had started at a new school and were having trouble assimilating, Jeannette in particular was having trouble with a group of african american kids who would beat her up every recess because of her apparent differences. However because of her past experiences with bullying she did not want to tell her parents because she thought they would “... only make things worse” (Walls 141). Jeannette is afraid of what her parents would do if she spoke out about her bullying, their neglect had made the children believe that they were better off getting beat up than ask for assistance from their parents which was probably in most cases. This further cements the idea that her fears and bullying are rooted in the neglect of Rosemary and Rex. Jeanette's problems continued to grow. Once Rex took Jeannette on his business trip, and in between games when he was hustling Robbie she danced with him. Then, not wanting to upset anyone she said nothing when Robbie groped her. All the while Rex neglected to intervene and later Robbie took her upstairs and tried to force himself on her, eventually deciding she wasn't good enough. When Jeanette told Rex about what happened, hoping he would set Robbie straight, all he did was tell her, “‘I’m sure he just pawed you some,’ Dad said as we pulled out of the parking lot. ‘I knew you could handle yourself’” (Walls 213). Rex completely neglected her the whole night, not even lifting an eyebrow when Robbie took his daughter upstairs, and because of his neglect in the past she was almost too afraid to say anything. Rex is lazy and neglectful, so in most cases he wouldn't have done anything. In this case he only said something.

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.

Such an idea of a dismissive parent is witnessed in the father, Rex Walls, of the children in the Glass Castle. Rex embodies the characteristics of a dismissing parent, as observed in the scene between Rex and Brian, Jeannette’s brother. While Rex and Rosemary Walls went back west to retrieve the rest of the family’s belongings, the children were left in the care of their paternal grandmother, who is depicted as a

Acting as an evil force, the aggressive nature of his young childhood created his capacity for violence later in his life. As he grew older, the environment in which he lived did not become better. Later in the novel, Catherine’s return from Thrushcross Grange to Wuthering

It is most demonstrated through Celie a woman who is sold off like a piece of property by her monstrous father to an even crueler man, named Albert. Celie’s father showed no remorse for his daughter, he was quick to belittle her, saying to Albert, “She ugly. Don’t even look like she kin to Nettie. But she’ll make the better wife. She ain’t smart neither, and I’ll be fair, you have to watch her or she’ll give away everything you own. But she can work like a man” (Walker 18). Albert did not care for Celie’s father nor did he care for her. The only intention Albert had on taking Celie as his wife was for her to take care of his many children, do rigorous household chores, and do back breaking work on his farm. Celie escaped one monster only to be tortured by another cruel man. Albert controlled every aspect of her life, he treated her like a piece of property he owned. He verbally degraded and physically abused her daily. He never respected her as a woman or human being for that matter. He was the alpha husband and she was the lowly obedient wife with no status that followed him