How Are Rose Mary And Rex Walls Fit Parents

In parts of the book, the Walls parenting style seems extreme. The Walls kids have to take on loads of responsibility. When Rose Mary goes away, Jeannette is responsible for the monthly budget while Rex Walls is off drinking and spending the family's monthly allowance on booze (209). Throughout the book, Rex Walls seems more involved in his drinking than in his family. Rex Walls should have the desire to quiet drinking in order to create a better life for his family and less responsibilities for his children.

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.

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.

Finally, Rosemary and Rex show the faults of parenting throughout Walls use of characterization .For example, When “Lori heard about a scholarship sponsored by a

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.

Secondly, self-sufficiency is illustrated through motivation. One afternoon when Jeannette was at home by herself child services came to talk to her about her living conditions and her parents. Jeannette told the man to come back when her parents were home. When Jeannette’s mom came home she told her what happened and that she needed to do something so child services wouldn't take them away, Jeannette’s mom then said, “Jeannette, you're so focused it's scary.”(195) Rosemary says when Jeannette is focused she can get intimidating. Jeannette is motivated by the need to protect her family, which shows her self sufficiency because it's up to her to keep the family together, because she knows her parents are unreliable. Additionally, Rosemary has been known to feel sorry for herself and expresses how she hates her life. When Jeannette sees her mom wallowing she stands there in disgust watching her mother give up on life when she

Jeannette’s parents did many things to her as a child that damaged her, but forgave them for what they imposed on her. She had the knowledge that they still loved her, no matter the choices that they made. he reason that she chose to forgive her father for everything would be because she still loved him and if Jeannette had not forgiven him, then their relationship would grow apart. This can be manifested in the statement, “‘ But, you always loved your old man, didn’t you?’ ‘I did dad,’ I said, ‘And you loved me’” (Walls 279). It was all because of Jeannette’s love for her father and the good heart she has that gave her the ability to let go of what he did, and to go further, the ability to be optimistic about it. Furthermore, Jeannette had also forgiven her mother for the mistakes she made when Jeannette was a child. For example, Rose Mary Walls had been depicted as extremely selfish throughout the

In these two books "The Glass Castle" Jeannette Walls and "Angela's Ashes" by Frank McCourt both of them had to deal with alcoholic fathers. Growing up I can relate to this struggle, as a child my father drank a lot every night. The best was to survive was to avoid him all together. As my father reflects back on his past, he tells me this was because he was unhappy with his life. He knew his marriage was over. My mother was unfaithful many times, when he left our house he continued to drink. He explains this was because he felt that we were never safe in that house living with my mother and stepfather. From these two books I was better able to relate to Jeanette Walls character because she also experienced neglect. As a child I never thought anything of my mother locking out of the house, we had to fend for ourselves. I would say it was around the age ten when I suddenly got a “beggars complex”. I often would ask neighbors for food or to use their bathrooms. There were days that I would not go to school because my mom didn’t wake us up. Jeanette’s mom didn’t seem to care if she went to school or not. Jeanette is encouraged by her favorite teacher Mrs. Blivens to write for the school newspaper. Realizing that she has a talent for this, Jeanette had the big dreams writing for “the phoenix” a Brooklyn newspaper. Mrs. Blivens was a remarkable role model for her,

The parents of the Walls children, Rex and Rose Mary, began their life of extreme self-sufficiency even before their children were born. Rex, coming from a relatively unfortunate home life,

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 Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette Walls and her family struggle day by day short on cash and food, constantly moving around the country trying to re-settle. Jeannette is raised by her dad, Rex Walls, and her mother, Rose Mary Walls, who force their children to learn to take care of themselves by feeding, clothing, and protecting each other. Rex Walls, the father of Jeannette, is suppose to be the role model of the family but he somehow seems to tear the family apart based on his decisions and actions. Rex Walls qualities make him a bad parent. One quality Rex walls possess that makes him a bad parent is being irresponsible.

A Mother’s Instinct In Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle, Rose Mary Walls, the mother, lacks maternal instincts based on her selfishness, immaturity, and apatheticness. A maternal instinct is a generalized term for the way a mother is supposed to act, and is usually defined as a mother being selfless, mature, and emotional caring for her children. While the Walls are living on Little Hobart Street in Welch, West Virginia, they are very poor and there is little money for the necessities, let alone any kind of indulgence. Rex, the father, is gone most days, out drinking and gambling, whereas Rose Mary stays at home painting or writing.

Throughout the Glass Castle, the reader is able to recognize a development of self sufficiency and self growth in each character. This occurs due to their parents giving them limited opportunities. There are many examples of these themes, and many relate to how the kids were raised by their two unreliable parents. Rosemary Walls, Jeanette’s mother, is the more difficult out of the two parents. This is because of her constant neglect of the kids needs and her tendency to put herself before anyone else, and it is worse because she truly believes she does not do enough for herself.

The parents from the glass castle Rose Mary and Rex Wall were quite different parents. They weren't quite clean, and having a job to Rexs Walls is gamble and make money. But children were children wanted a normal life so when there with friends they didn’t really mention their life styles. There irresponsibility of the parents and the children wanting to take care of themselves led to the children breaking apart from their parents early.

scorned by the public at the zoo, Rex informs his kids “that these fools were