Ginnie Sue Analysis

The book goes through Jeannette’s life exposing the mistakes she, her siblings, and her parents made to become the family they were. As her life grows older, Jeannette finds herself in more responsible positions in the world, with editing school newspapers, to writing columns in a small New York newspaper outlet. Her troubles have raised the issue of stereotyping, a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. Due to her status in her childhood, it was not hard for her to fit in with the other members of the poor community. “Dinitia explained that I was with her and that I was good people. The women looked at one another and shrugged.” (Walls 191) The quote talks about how members of the black community in Welch accepted Jeannette to go swimming with them in the morning hours before the white people went in the afternoon. The people who knew Dinita, Jeannette’s friend, knew that Dinita was trustworthy, and let Jeannette pass. This relates to the thesis because it shows how she was accepted amongst the people who were

At one point in the memoir, Jeannette’s mother, Rose Mary Walls, told Jeannette to expect a check in the mail, but her father, Rex Walls, got to it before she did and denied the fact that he had the check. This money was for the food that they were desperately trying to buy. Instead of Jeannette saying a word to her dad, she knew that saying something would not get the money back, so she took initiative while her mother was gone and did her best to find a job and make up the “lost”

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

I believe that the quote on page five of The Glass Castle (“‘You want me to change my life?’ Mom asked. ‘I’m fine. You’re the one who needs help. Your values are all confused.’”) is very significant because the mother is correct, and makes a valid point. Of course, the mother’s life lacks some basic necessities, like proper food and shelter, but she’s content in the way her life is. Besides, even though it wouldn’t be a piece-of-cake to turn such a life around, it’s still possible, and the mother could achieve a better life if she really wanted, so it’s really not Jeannette’s responsibility to better her mother’s life. Also, like I said before, the mother is content and I don’t think you can change a person who doesn’t want to change. In fact,

Throughout her life, starting from childhood, Jeannette Walls suffered through multiple hardships that could lead her away from a successful adult life. Since she was young, her parents put her through things that a child should never be exposed to, which could lead her to make these same mistakes as she grew older. For example, her father was an alcoholic, and from this many problems sprouted. Furthermore, her mother never wanted to be tied down, and loathed the idea of family life, as she did not want the responsibility of raising a family. Rose Mary was depicted as self-centered in the novel, and did not think of her children, as she only thought of her own needs. This can be shown when she keeps the diamond ring her children found for herself. Instead of thinking of her starving children, she states that, “‘self-esteem is even more vital than food’” (Walls 186). In this moment, Rose Mary shows that she is not thinking of her children and what they need to survive, but only cares about herself and what she has. Under these circumstances, any other parent would use the ring to buy food for their children, but instead she shows her inconsiderate nature by keeping the ring for herself. Another example of an event that could scar Jeannette far into her life would be when her father brought her to a bar and allowed a strange drunk man to take Jeannette to his apartment. When she told her father that she had almost been raped, he does not listen to

In our society, we tend to follow certain many moral principles and if not followed, there could be many negative consequences. Based on the novel, we can tell that Jeannette’s parents were very unethical; in the beginning of the memoir, Jeannette shares

Jeannette listened to her parents, of course, as a child you feel dependent on them. They would often only spend months at one tons only to move to the next when the family’s father, Rex Wells, lost his job. Little Jeannette was left alone with her brother, who was only a year younger than her, they would go looking for trouble as young kids would. Their parents would allow them to do what they felt they wanted as long as they were home by the time the street lights came on. Her parents taught their children to not be dependent on them for everything, to learn harder schooling, and learn to be strong when the world seems to stop. All of these are great things to teach but the way the children

Jeannette’s father was a heavy alcoholic. He would often claim he was researching information for the prospector leave the house and come back drunk. After he arrived home he would get into fights with Rose Mary, over simple things which involved name calling and sometimes violence. In one of the fights

She has more insight to racism when she attended school and the kids began bullying her because of how skinny and unhealthy she is. Another example of racism is when a young African-American named Dinitia also begins bullying her until she sees Jeannette being compassionate to a young African-American boy. Jeannette has a new understanding with sexuality when she experiences different situations. The first example is when she is forcedly kissed and almost raped by Billy Deel, the second when she sees Erma, her father’s mother, sexually molesting Brian, and the final example is when she distracts an older man when her and Rex was at the bar. Another reason that does not happened to her or what she witnessed, but it affects her, is when she finds out that Dinitia is pregnant and is sent to jail when she stabs the person that had gotten her

This discussion happens promptly before Jeannette's depiction of her adolescence. Her mom carries on verging on like a dream conjuring Jeannette's story and giving her the certainty to let it know. This quote additionally uncovers some of Jeannette's fears about letting her partners and companions know reality about her life growing up. Indeed, even in adulthood, she experiences serious difficulties reality of her childhood and fears that the past will by one means or another harm her present

At this particular part she was on her way to a party. ” I was in a taxi, wondering if I was overdressed for the evening, when I looked out of the window and saw mom rooting through a Dumpster” (Walls 3). She wants to help her mom but she did not want to incase someone from the party saw her. When Jeannette started working for this journalism and people asked about her family she made up a story.

By insisting that experiencing hardships result in beauty in an individual, Jeannette’s mother reveals that she believes in being optimistic and finding something good within struggle. She raises her children to be tough, because their struggles and mistakes will make them special. In contrast, as a child, Jeanette believes that all things must be “nice and tall and straight” so that people will like them. Jeanette’s instinct to protect the plant and “water it every day” so that it will grow nicely suggests that she wants to raise perfect plants, which differs greatly from the way Rose Mary chooses to raise her children. “During one particularly fierce rainstorm that spring, the ceiling grew so fat it burst, and water and plasterboard came crashing down onto the floor.

In New York, Jeannette seems hardened when she effectively ignores her mother’s scrounging for food. Thus, there is a role reversal between Jeannette and Rosemary. As Duckworth says of gritty people: “when you look at healthy and successful and giving people, they are extraordinarily meta-cognitive” (Scelfo, New York Times). Indeed, Jeannette is metacognitive; after all, she wrote this book about her own upbringing and present life, but she is not “giving” and neither were her parents. If Jeannette’s drive was due to grit, one certainly must question what her successes were. She achieved her “singularly important goal,” but lacks successful interpersonal relationships having failed to help her family. It seems Jeannette has not changed, but simply grown further into her parents lessons and roles. Like Rosemary, she does not give. Like Rex, she has high ambitions. Granted, without the abuse of alcohol, Jeannette is able to hold a job, which may be a result of witnessing alcohol’s effect on her father. That positive effect, however, is the result of observation, not Rex’s parenting. The effect of the laissez-faire parenting style was the self-reliant ability to flee to New York and do as she pleased, but the neglectful

Jeannette Walls was a young girl. Moving around constantly her entire life always on an adventure. Her family never had much money, and she had a hard time finding food. She was a skinny, tall girl with red hair, pale skin, and buck teeth. She was very optimistic in every hard situation she was put in and never gave up faith in her father, for a while anyways. Her father was who she had to put all her faith into. He made the decisions and he was the one who made all these empty promises to janette and her siblings. Janette lived life to the fullest, always being positive and never complaining and to be grateful of what she had, like her parents had taught her. She rarely cried, she was tough. She tried not to care what people think, because her mother taught her that it didn't matter. She stood up for herself, and her family, even in rough times. Even if it was up against someone that isn't in her favor. Through the rough times in her

How did I get pulled in so deep, how can I go back. These thoughts seeped through Ginny's mind as she lay there in the shadows. Rowins dead, Jack is gone and who knows when Blake is coming back. I need to leave, now! As Ginny ran to her closest to throw her things together. A moonray fell upon a time worn photograph, drawing memories out of