Comparing The Glass Castle By Rex Walls And Rose Mary Walls

This fond memory of her childhood was a time when the Walls family was not starving or homeless, and Jeannette’s father had a true job that was providing food and shelter for their family. This period was one of the few times in Jeannette’s life during which the Walls family was at peace with one another. Education was the main way the family bonded, so the constant presence of literature and reading in this part of her life demonstrates that this could have been a time where the relationship between parents and children in the Walls family was at its strongest and

Children need a safe and steady place to grow up in. Kids looked up to their parents and aspire to be just like them when they grow up. Rex and Rosemary Wall have different beliefs when it comes to taking care of their children. Although they seem to love each other, Rex and Rosemary, from The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, create chaos and instability in their home with their volatile relationship. Creating an unstable environment making it difficult for the entire family, it always made the children terrified when they fought because it usually ended up Rosemary getting injured physically or mentally, as time passed by Rex began to leave more frequently and not come back for days, making Rosemary and the children without money for food and just worried about Rex in general.

And despite everything, her love for her father only accumulates for him. Throughout the story Jeannette at times has given up on her father but she somehow always rationalizes his actions and continues to see him as everything but a bad influence. For example, when Rex purposely throws Jeannette into the water forcing her to learn how to swim and saying, “If you don’t want to sink you better learn how to swim.” (Walls 66) Again this just proves that despite how reckless and inconsiderate her parents were at times eventually it taught her to be independent and survive. And in the end they needed this because living in poverty its almost difficult to make sure you will survive the next day. Regardless of Rex’s weaknesses in raising Jeannette soon enough it proved that Jeannette’s love and admiration for her father was impeccable and only proved that Rex played a huge role in her

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.

Jeanette represents Rex as a reasonable and loving father through Christmas time during which he gave the presents stars to them. She describes the memory with admiration and love towards her father. Although Jeanette says “we had no money at all” her family showed no regret, she instead showed how they absolutely admire him, by capitalizing “Dad”. Rex has an ability to brave the cold times because ”the cold never bothered him” as he said ( Glass Castle 39). Jeanette holds onto her father when other people ignore him because he makes her feel unique, as it gives her one of the most important moments of her life. It's clearly obvious that Jeanette admiration is growing as she continues to describe the experience in positive terms. The final quotation at

The Glass Castle, a memoir written by Jeannette Walls, is a story that discusses the insights of a dysfunctional, yet vibrant family. The four Walls children have two parents, Rose Mary who was an unconventional artist, and Rex who was an alcoholic father. The family travels constantly across the country, with their parents using their imagination as a distraction from their poverty. Despite the hardships the Walls family has faced, Jeanette writes her truth in order to reconcile with her past. She expresses through her story of how she has reflected upon her childhood, and how it has shaped her character in the present (The glass castle: Jeanette Walls, 2016). The majority of readers may believe that Rex Walls is an irresponsible, neglectful parent. However, Rex’s viewpoint of how he cares for Jeanette and her siblings can be portrayed as supportive, intelligent, and sensible.

Perhaps one of the most immensely striking stories in The Glass Castle, is the story of how Walls parents came to be engaged, let alone married with children. Walls begins the story by prefacing it with the fact that that particular anecdote was her father's favorite to tell. Again, Walls utilizes the reader's emotions. The reader wonders how her parents, two starkly different yet strikingly similar, ended up married with children. Her father met her mother while on leave from the air force and fell in love immediately. Even though twenty-three men had proposed before him, Rex, the father, told Rose Mary, the mother, that he was different, because he didn’t propose, he told her he was going to marry her. They married six months later. Jeannette thought that the story was the most wildly romantic one she’d ever heard, her mother, however, did not enjoy hearing it saying, “I had to say yes. Your father wouldn’t take no for an answer. Besides, I had to get away from my mother, she wouldn’t let me make the smallest decisions by myself. I had no idea your father would be even worse.” (27) Walls seizes the reader's emotions with this line. It changes the dynamic of the story by showing that Jeannette's mother’s most likely wasn’t in love

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.

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

In this response to The Glass castle by Jeannette Walls, I am going to talk about the selfishness and the neglect Rose Mary & Rex Walls put upon these poor children.

In the same fashion, dealing with Maureen Walls, the youngest child of the Walls family, had to rely on her friends and people she hardly knew to provide for her. This situation went as far as Maureen going to her friend’s house to eat meals and

The parenting styles of Rex and Rose Mary were significantly different from the norm. While many parents believed in “setting rules and punishments for breaking the rules” (Walls 91), the Walls believed that “the best way to let children fulfill their potential was by providing freedom” (Walls 73). In fact, Rose Mary had her children “suffer when [they were] young”, believing that it helped “immunized [their] body and [their] soul” (Walls 28). In addition, Rex and

Love is a dirty four-letter word to truly endure. It is an affection that one can truly suffer, undergo and witness. In her impactful memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls depicts the naked truth of the strange love in her family's abnormal take on life. The Walls's live life the rough way, by personal choice, scattering town to town, with a father who drinks like a fish   and wanna be Georgia O’keeffe, mother. Raised by Rex and Rose Mary Walls, Brian, Jeannette, Lori, and Maureen live a unusual life with a limited love. Jeannette fights to keep Lori, Brian, and Maureen Walls alive and nourished. Parents are supposed to be loving and nourishing to truly love their children, not be neglectful. Rex and Rose Mary's love for their children is far from unconditional, especially since they choose to neglect their children by being an alcoholic father, and s self-interested mother with restricted love by letting their young children starve in an unsafe environment, with an unstable income.

Rex shows the kids important values with many positive parenting traits. He is like any other father that is caring, sweet, loving and heartfelt. One way

The memoir took readers through the roller coaster ride Jeannette Walls’ knew as her young life. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Rex and Rose Mary Walls’ parenting styles are quite similar to how Walt Disney believed children should be brought up. His belief was that “ Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality”. Both the Walls and Disney believe children shouldn’t be sheltered from the harsh realities of the world; they should learn about life the hard way. Nowadays parents shelter their kids, but Jeannette Walls’ parents and Walt Disney believe in an opposite way of parenting.