Jeanette Walls's Development

Her dad carried her away from the hospital without payment, and then her mom permitted her to cook again, moreover she said, “ Getting right back into the saddle” ( Glass Castle 47). Jeanette was not angry at such young age and soon the family had to pack their belongings into bags and “do the skedaddle” as her parents always said. The parents were fleeing from bill collectors. Although Jeanette's father was an alcoholic, he could get work almost anywhere, often in small towns. The family was moving because of these things, she never complained when they did not have enough food. Jeanette always forgave her parents, she understood what they were going through.

The Walls family does not have much money and live in poverty because Rex Walls, Jeanette’s father, tends to lose jobs quickly. Jeanette and her family can only live in cheap, unsuitable living conditions in communities made up of other poor people. Along with the inadequate living spaces, Jeanette’s family can not afford nutritious food. Sometimes, the Walls do not have food to eat at all.

The story starts with Jeannette being old and living in Ney York City. Later in the second chapter she tells a story from when she was three years old and there is when her story continues. There is also a set of scenes in which Jeanette talks about her journeys that she lived and places were she moved out when she was a child and an adolescent. Jeannette explains how they as kids were forced to look for food she describes how they lived as a dysfunctional family, and how she ended back again into her adulthood life in New York City.

Jeanette Walls tells of her life journey in her book, The Glass Castle, from Arizona to New York. In her book Walls recalls major events her life that have shaped her and guided her through her abnormal upbringing; an upbringing so shocking and unforgettable to anyone.

They all learned to work together and support each other no matter the circumstances. *When a family faces a difficult situation it brings them together not tear them apart. * The Walls children had a good connection, although Maureen was mostly the one out of the four children to be selfish and would look out for only herself, not her siblings. There was one scene in The Glass Castle where Jeannette was in bed sleeping and a man was touching her inappropriately.

Jeannette Walls uses imagery to give the reader a clear insight to what she is think and what is going on in her mind. An example of this would be when she said, “Until then, when I thought of writers, what first came to mind was Mom, hunched over her typewriter, clattering away on her novels and plays and philosophies of life and occasionally receiving a personalized rejection letter. (204) In seventh grade Jeannette is the first person her age to work for the school newspaper, The Maroon Wave and this depicts the imagery in her head. She uses her own experiences with her family to influence and inspire her writing making her a great writer. The imagery in this book takes the reader to another level with understanding how the author truly sees the world.

Jeanette Walls’s memoir The Glass Castle highlights her upbringing and the resilience she gained from growing up in her dysfunctional family, constantly on the run from the government, and often living below the poverty line. Rex Walls unknowingly contributes to the resilience of his children through his harsh parenting, like almost drowning her in the pool while trying to teach her to swim and manipulating her into giving him money. On the other hand, Rose Mary's self-centered and negligent actions, such as invalidating Jeanette's feelings about sexual assault and putting herself before her kids, detract from their sense of resilience. The Walls children display resilience to their difficult upbringing by actively planning and working toward

Even though her family was home and could have helped her make them, they decided not to. This is Jennette fending for herself and showing independence at a quite young age showing off self reliance. Another piece of evidence to support this theme is when Jeanette said, “Brian and Lori and Mareen and I got into more fights than most kids.” (164) When Jeanette explains this to us she gets into lots of fights with her and her siblings. This shows that the walls children had to learn at a young age to fend for themselves and that they rely on their parents to be there to stop the fight or back them up to keep them safe, they had to do it all on their own.

Their poverty is caused by their own decisions. Their stay at Battle Mountain ended when Grandma Smith passed away in Phoenix. She had left Jeanette’s mom a house where they settled in for a while and some land she refused to sell ever. They remained at Phoenix for some time until they decided to move to Welch. Their new home in Welch was a lot smaller and had many inconveniences. Many things occurred in Welch that made life very difficult for the Walls, specially the children. There was usually very little food and many problems involving the dad and his alcohol addiction. This was the most dramatic part of the story. Lori, the oldest, got fed up and decided she would pursuit her dreams without her parents help. Jeanette and Brian decided to help her move to New York. After months of pointless saving up, because the money somehow “disappeared”, a deal was made with someone that would give Lori the opportunity to go to New York. Soon after, Jeanette followed to New York to establish a name for her as well. By the near end of the story, almost all the children are nearly grown up. Everyone had eventually moved to New York. Maureen had spent a year in jail and decided to move to California. Brian and Lori had established their own lives in the big city while their parents still refused a lot of help from them. Rex Walls passed away from a heart attack; the rest of the family barely sees each other afterwards. The story comes to an end

Describe Jeannette’s childhood, specifically her socialization or the process by which she acquired family values, information about social expectations, and survival strategies.

While she is in the hospital, her mother does not stay with her. Instead she visits a few times and gives her oranges, seeming to be disappointed in the fact that it is an illness. At this point in the story, the reader can begin to feel sorry for young Jeanette. She is left all alone in the hospital while her mother is busy helping the church. Jeanette wants to be a missionary, just like in the stories her mom has read to her. In the beginning of the book, it appears that Jeanette’s mother does love her. However, it appears that she only loves her based on if she fulfills her expectations or not.

From a scientific perspective, memory is not a reliable source. Although the big picture might be accurately recalled, the specifics of the event often lose its precision as time progresses. In addition, human memories often vary because of differences in interpretation, beliefs, and values. As a result, it would not be surprising if Jeannette Walls remembered events differently from her siblings. For example, since “Maureen always had plenty to eat” (Walls 173) and “was more or less living with neighbors” (Walls 249), she likely views life in Welch more positively compared to her siblings. Further, one person may think an event was more significant than another. Even though Jeannette’s story may not be completely accurate, it is truthful in her perspective. In other words, since Jeanette believes that her memory is accurate, then she is being truthful. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men…” (Emerson 1).

Jeanette Walls’ The Glass Castle influenced my ideas about poverty by showing me that poverty can yield positive results. Before reading The Glass Castle, I believed that all poverty was tragic and life ruining. I thought that nothing positive or advantageous could come of out poverty. Reading The Glass Castle changed my opinion. In The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls and her siblings are resilient and brave. When the Walls family moves to Welch, West Virginia from Phoenix, Rex and Rose Mary Walls, Jeanette’s parents, travel back to Phoenix to pick up some of their old belongings and bring them to West Virginia. While Rex and Rose Mary are gone, Jeanette’s grandmother assaults Jeanette’s brother and banishes the children to the freezing basement. However, in the face of cruelty and cold, Jeanette and her siblings persevere and survive until their parents return. Poverty gives Jeanette and her siblings the ability to endure horrific circumstances. Because of their previous experiences with poverty, Jeanette and her siblings can withstand conditions and treatment that would have killed or crushed the spirit of a

The Walls children are not only raised by parents that can’t hold down a job, but by parents who are also mentally unstable. In a recent study by Princeton University it was said that “ Long work hours, lack of autonomy, job insecurity, and a heavy workload are also associated with adult mental health problems.” (Princeton). No matter how bad of a “childhood” the Walls children had it’s worse because both parents can’t hold down a job. With both parents rarely working the children are left to fend for themselves, essentially raising themselves. The Walls children have a poor quality of life and a huge factor of their quality of life is because their parents can’t keep a job. For example if Rex Walls kept a job and didn't spend his money on booze the children would have food to eat. At one point in The Glass Castle it says “whenever Mom was too busy to make dinner or we were out of food, we’d go back to the dumpster to see if any new chocolate was waiting for us.” (Walls 125). Jeanette’s parents were so selfish that the children had to go to the dumpster to get a meal, and that problem could’ve been solved if either parent was dedicated to keeping a job and putting food on the table. The children also spent most of their childhood wearing the ripped and tattered clothes because their parents were unable to afford new clothes. Not only is this extremely sad, but if their parents had steady

Her Mother seemed to be more put together than her father at times, even getting a job at one point helping the family out. Though her mother was a hedonist and did not contain the motherly love and sacrifice for her kids, this job helped Jeanette’s future. She helped grade papers which increased her knowledge of the outside world and “...the world was making a little more sense” as she read the papers and projects of her mother’s students (Walls 205). Her parents had such an opposition to the outside world that she hadn’t gotten every aspect of