Jeanette Life The Walls Analysis

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

In this section, Jeannette Walls starts off, in the present time by telling the readers about her seeing her mom on the street, that she hasn’t seen in a long time. Jeannette uses emotional words like blustering and fretted to show that seeing her mom was an emotional time. Later in the section, she goes way back into her life to when she was three years old and when her family and her was living in the desert. She started off telling a story of when she was on fire. This story was intense, it was really dramatic on her parents part, her dad was screaming at her and the doctor a lot. Then she talked about when they moved to Las Vegas, her family lived in a motel room, which didn’t last long, they had to leave Vegas in a rush, because her dad was cheating in blackjack and the dealer found out. The last story in the section is where her family drove to San Francisco and stayed in another motel. One night her dad was at the bar, across the street. He left Jeannette and her three other siblings in the room. Jeannette got bored so she decided to play with fire and that let to a big disaster resulting in the whole hotel burning down.

……. . it was rare when the walls parents had jobs, when they did they'd end up spending it on something else other than their needs. Rex would end up going to the bar and spending half his paycheck there and then bringing the very little that was left back. sometimes rose mary and rex walls would be great parents because they are letting their childeren be independent, but simotaneously, that's not good because that one time rosemary let jeannette be independent and cook herself a hot dog at age 3. Jeannette caught herself on fire.

While Jeanette was young she was a “daddy’s little girl”. She had always been her father’s favorite. He payed more attention to Jeannette than his other kids. Jeannette loved her dad very much. She would always believe in his dreams and his adventurous side. She looked up to him. Whatever her father told her she believed. Rex tends to create unrealistic explanations to keep his children from considering herself lesser than others because of their lack of money. His stories made his actions seems okay. Jeannette always believed him, she was still too young to see things at another perspective.

Jeannette is at the point in her life where she’s grown up enough to look back at her life and realize that some of the experiences she had as a child were actually scarring and dangerous and the severity of those situations were masked by her adoration for her father who she realized as she grew wasn’t everything that she thought. Still Jeannette could never hate her father as she illustrates in this quote, “As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had.” This quote also shows that Rex always making Jeanette feel special and always encouraging her had a profound effect on her. Jeannette definitely took notice of the way Rex held her self-worth in high regards to his own feeling of fulfillment. This exchange is especially important because there was no one else that Jeannette could have this closure with about her childhood because there was no one else that for her was at the heart of the chaos in

Analysis: This is another simile and it is connecting to two significant times Jeannette’s dad Rex Walls let her down. It describes how Rex thinks and how he believes Jeannette needs to learn from herself on how to handle situations like that after Rex setting up Jeannette with Robbie to for money, even though Jeannette was hurt and offended by Rex.

Rex and Rose Mary Walls often neglected their children, showing bad parenting. Throughout the book, there are many examples of this neglect. One example is when Rex lets Jeannette handle a gun while he is drunk, claiming it will teach her not to be afraid (Walls, 21). This was very dangerous

Jeanette Walls and her out of the ordinary family live their lives surrounded in pure craziness and poverty. Jeanette has been raised to be as independent as her age allows her. At age three she could make herself a hot dog and by the age of eighteen she had started a new life in New York away from the craziness that followed her parents throughout the kids nomadic childhood. Jeanette and her siblings Lori, Brian and Maureen live their childhoods with almost nothing. They were always wondering where their next meal would come from and where there parents had mysteriously disappeared to. Rex Walls, the father and husband was a severe alcoholic who spent most of his money on gambling or a beer from a local bar. Rose Mary Walls, the mother and wife was not better, never being to hold onto a job for long enough to get paid and support her family caused many problems for Rose Mary, Rex and most importantly… the kids. The kids all had the dream of escaping the prison their parents called home and heading to New York or California where they could feel endless happiness. The kids grow up with almost no parents, which forces them to become independent from the day they were born. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeanette's parents teach her to only rely on herself and never get attached to something you can lose, forcing Jeanette to become strong and independent throughout her childhood.

One of the earliest memories she had that describes the way she grew up, was getting burns all over her body after trying to roast hot dogs over a fire, and getting sent to the hospital for it. Freedom was present in the family, discussing how the parents and children would go out and explore around in the middle of the night, look at the stars, and take drives or walks whenever they felt like it. Despite this, her family lived a very poor and unconventional childhood, which included events like her dad claiming the FBI was after them, living in a house with no sewer and fire system, or scraping maggots off of old food and still eating it. If they had a bloody cut from falling on the ground, normal parents would wrap them up in a bandage and tell them to stay home, but the Walls’s would wrap up the wound, and send them back outside to play again, which perfectly describes the philosophy her parents raised them up in. Rex promised his children he would build The Glass Castle if he struck it rich in the gold mine, which would be a building completely made out of glass and be ran on solar panels. Some of the most memorable memories included a point where a neighbor almost raped Jeanette and the time child services came and tried to take them away. Eventually, Jeanette along with her oldest sister, Lori, started working and

While Jeanette is preparing to leave for New York and her father, Rex, attempts to talk her out of it by showing her the updated plans for the Glass Castle, Walls, through Jeanette, uses an implied metaphor to show how all her father’s promises are a Glass Castle without the use of like or as. Walls uses this to illuminate how her father’s promises are broken easily like how a Glass Castle can be broken easily as it is made of glass, which is fragile. Walls also highlights how throughout the memoir her father promised to protect her, not only by building her a home like the Glass Castle, but also by protecting her from men who force themselves upon her as seen when the father states, “Anyone who… laid a finger on… Rex Walls's children was going to get their butts kicked,” (Walls, 24), but the father later goes on to allow her to be inappropriately touched by Robbie just to make some money. This shows that the father makes promises he is unable to and often does not want to fulfill throughout the memoir, which leads to Jeanette having to face adversity as her father is not protecting her. As a result of her adversity, Jeanette reaches an epiphany and learns to look out for her own well-being as she understands that her father is no longer willing to do so. She also understands that her father will never build the Glass Castle and that all the promises that her father ever made to her are like the Glass Castle, easily broken. This ultimately to Jeanette developing from a character who depended solely on her father, to one that could make the decision to go to New York without her father’s permission after the 11th grade. Finally, by going to New York, Jeanette is able to provide for her own well-being by working at a job and renting an apartment and departs from the conventional means of wellbeing. Through the use of metaphor, Walls conveys the theme that often for one to persevere against adversity in his or her lives, he or she must learn to go against conventional means of well-being, like family, and find his or her individual means of well-being.

That was probably the only good thing that came from their parents not being responsible. Many people tried to help the Walls out by giving them clothes so they could save their money and buy other necessities like food or just save up the money but Rex and Rose-Mary wouldn’t allow that. It seemed like Jeannette’s parents want to be poor and didn’t want the best for their children.In the novel Jeannette says,” Although we were the poorest family on Little Hobart Street, Mom and Dad never applied for welfare or food stamps, and they always refused charity. When teachers gave us bags of clothes from church drives, Mom made us take them back,”(Walls,159). This shows that the parents are too prideful for their own good and to the point where they won’t even do what’s best for their children. The Walls children barely have enough to eat day by day. While Rose-Mary and Rex can’t even accept a little bit of help that is needed in their household. One of the reasons they might have not applied for finical aid was because they didn’t want the bill collector to find them. Still that’s no excuse as to why they can’t feed their own children and accept hand outs that could help them in life. Jeannette’s parents go about life in

With no limits or boundaries, Walls is thrown in a big body of water without knowing how to swim. Rex and Rosemary has a sense of doing it by yourself or not at all asserting “But the Hot Pot didn’t have any ehat edges like that swimming pool. There was nothing to cling to. I waded up in my shoulders. The water above my chest is warm and the rocks i was standing on felt so hot [...] Dad who watched me unsmiling[..] “you’re going to learn today”(65). Rex, in athrows Jeanette in water with no edges, knowing she can’t swim.He puts Jeannette in a live or die situation. Rex shows the faults of parenting because the parents have no regards on Jeannette’s safety or life and wall states”You’re going to learn today’ declaring “Dad pried my fingers from around his neck and pushed me away. My arms flailed around and i sank into the hot smelly water. Water surged in my nose and down my throat. My lungs burned[...] He pulled back and did it again” (65-66).Putting a child in a dangerous situation to show them a lesson shows bad parenting.Rex and Rosemary causes the reader to reflect on their lack of responsibility as being a parent so that they can understand from both sides of view of the poverty situation.

“I’m fine. You’re the one who needs help. Your Values are all confused.” (pg. 5)

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.

Oscar Wilde once said, “Children begin by loving their parents, as they grow older, they judge them; sometimes they forgive them.” This quote represents Jeannette Walls relations with her father, Rex Walls, in her memoir, The Glass Castle. Jeannette's relationship with her father is symbolic of Oscar Wilde’s thought. Early in her life, Rex is a good father, teaching Jeannette and caring for them, but toward the end of his life, Rex is seen by Jeannette as a distraction and a bad influence. She slowly learns more and more of her horrific drunk dad, and her overall relationship with Rex changes quite a bit throughout her life captured in The Glass Castle.