When I read Jeannette Walls’ literature regarding her cooking at such a young age, I was appalled. She was the age of three and cooking with open flames. She could feel the heat rising from the boiling water which engulfed her hot dogs. While she was cooking, she could smell the boiling water that surrounded the hot dogs flaring up. She sensed the abnormally hot air in her nose as she breathed in the warmness. Personally, I can’t imagine being only three years old and cooking. First of all, why is she cooking while her parents aren’t watching? “I could hear Mom in the next room singing while she worked on one of her paintings” (Walls 5). Her mother is paying no attention to her three-year-old daughter cooking. It’s absurd to think about it. …show more content…
She must have also been in charge of walking the dog down the streets alone, or maybe in charge of lighting bonfires. The responsibilities of this three-year-old are unheard of compared to today’s standards for raising a child. I would never, under any circumstances, let my three-year-old daughter use a stove. A big reason for this is evident when the author says, “I was still standing on the chair, swatting at the fire with the fork I had been using to stir the hot dogs” (Walls 5). First of all, she was not taught the proper way to fight a fire. Instead of the “stop drop and roll” method we were all taught, she swats at the fire with a fork in panic. By swatting at the fire, she hoped the fork would damage the entity that surrounded her and put an end to the pain. She was feeling the moisture from her skin being drawn out from her. She smelt her dress being burned right off her as well as the fire on her bare skin bubbling up and filling the room. In her head, she could hear the screams she wanted to say immediately, but did not have the words ready. At the time, she could taste her saliva building up tremendously as the fire retained its fearsome
The book starts off beginning when Jeannette was three-year-old and standing on a chair trying to boil her own hotdog, her dress catches on fire, and she gets
Question 2: Why would Jeannette’s mom let her cook on the stove when she was only three years old?
Walls often cooked meals for herself as young as 3 years old. Now, in a middle class family a 3 year old would never make their own meals, in fact, they’d probably get fed until the early teenage years. Jeannette, just 3 years old, is already taking initiative to feed herself. You have to eat to survive and that’s exactly what the reader notices; 3 year old Walls learning to feed herself so suddenly in life as a means of survival. One time while doing so she actually caught herself on fire, but instinctively called to her mother, who ran to her daughter and wrapped her in a blanket to put out the fire. Some may overlook a small factor of this part though; Walls was alone. She wasn’t being supervised or watched, but rather she was doing her own thing. The family, living in the outskirts at this time, actually had a neighbor drive them to a hospital. While in the hospital for a short time, Jeannette experiences what it’s like to have three meals a day and an actually clean bed for the very first time. The shock and glorification she gets from these minor things shows how minimally they lived. As the reader, survival seems to be the only fitting way to describe this families lifestyle. Young Walls seems anything but phased by the rarity of her childhood even when nurses and doctors alike were concerned. After sneaking out of the hospital to avoid bills and then randomly waking the family in the middle of the night to
Mai Ngai’s book, Impossible Subjects, powerfully studies the unfortunately understudied period between 1924 and 1965, the lifespan of the national origins quota system. This era begins with the passage of the Johnson-Reed Immigration Act in 1924 and ends with the lifting of national origins quotas through the passage of the Hart-Celler Act of 1965. The era from 1924 to 1965 remapped the nation by developing both a particular racial and ethnic identity and a "new sense of territoriality" (Ngai p.3). This period demonstrates the most widespread immigration restriction in U.S. history that literally "remapped the nation" (Ngai p.3). Ngai argues that widespread immigration exclusion created an intensified sense of national borders as well as increased security on those boarders. This helped produce what is now defined as the illegal alien (Ngai). Impossible Subjects primarily concentrates on immigrants categorized as illegal aliens, alien citizens, colonial subjects, and contract laborers. Because these are immigrants whose experiences are not greatly represented in our national narrative, the regulations that have governed them have never greatly been exposed, resulting in a collective oblivion within United States history. Ngai turns her research to important analytical use. Ngai’s most interesting lines of argument lie within her analysis of the creation of illegal immigration from Mexico and her analysis of Japanese internment during World War II.
Jeannette’s view on fire acts as a symbol for her family and life. Just like fire, Jeannette’s life is unpredictable, as well as the actions of her family. Fire can do good things or can be very harmful; its’ actions can be sudden, dangerous, or painful, and the path it decides to take can change Jeannette’s life in the blink of an eye. The behavior of the Walls family assimilates with that of fire, in the way of turmoil that both can bring, either to the Walls family itself or others around
Through this first incident, Jeanette’s mother, Rose Mary, encouragingly said, “Good for you. You‘ve got to get right back into the saddle. You can’t live in fear of something as basic as fire” (Walls 9). Soon then, Walls became “fascinated with it” (Walls 9) as she passed her finger through a candle flame, slowing her finger with each pass, watching the way it seemed to cut the flame in half.
wrote the article “My Mom Couldn’t Cook”, argues that point by being the sole cook for his wife and daughter. Junod was inspired to cook for his family, by growing up eating the food prepared by a mother who he realized hated to cook and a later understanding that led him to the realization that she did not know how to cook. Tom Junod writes an entertaining piece, his credibility is built through the personal stories he shares and his emotional appeals have a way of keeping the audience interested, but his language becomes distracting and overall it takes away from his argument.
In the detailed story of an impoverished family during the late 1900’s, Jeannette Walls describes her experience from the young age of 3, up until adulthood. The family of 6, with Rex Walls as the father, Rose Mary as the mother, and her three siblings, Lori, Brian and Maureen, were constantly moving throughout the country with little to no food or cash. The memoir shows how dysfunctional the family was, but never seemed to force the reader to condemn the parents. In a life of poverty, the have to move for own to town, and often lived in various mining towns. Although they each found something they learned to love (like Jeannette’s rock collection) in the desert, they had to leave them behind once Rex’s alcoholism only worsened, and they ran
Would a good parent’s allow their three-year-old daughter to boil her own hot dogs? Parenting is one of the most important pieces in a child's life, and it shows a bond between parents and their kids. However people who don't give quality parenting lead their children through a rough life. In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, she talks about her life experiences and hardships she had from having inadequate parents. Despite the fact that her parents intention were to help their children unfortunately, they end up harming the children physically, emotionally, and mentally. Although she is not raised in the traditional way, Jeannette overcomes the challenges by persevering through the bad times, finding her place in society, and
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).
Introduction: Our parents. Our inspirations. Who we look up to. People who could never do wrong. But what would you do if your parents did something so wrong that they could be arrested? Or perhaps they did something unacceptable but you didn’t know anything more? Jeannette Walls deals with this throughout her childhood as represented in The Glass Castle. Her parents challenge the social norms and expectations with their uncommon lifestyle and teachings. While doing so, they put their children in awkward sometimes dangerous predicaments. This causes Jeannette in particular to decide whether she trusts and/or forgive her parents. Despite their questionable actions, Jeannette always finds a way to have love her parents. Jeannette always has to forgive her parents for their mistakes. Of course we love our parents, but how much are we willing to accept them if they aren’t as admirable as they seem. I have a few questions for you guys to think about on this idea. We will discuss the answers to these questions at the end so keep your responses in mind. Would you still love your parents if they convicted a crime? Would you still love your parents if they hurt someone? Would you still love your parents if they weren’t able to provide for you? Would you still love your parents if they lied to you? Would you still love your parents if they stole from you? These are hypothetical situations, but they allow you to think about the unconditional love you have for your parents. Now, why
My earliest memory. I was three years old.” (Walls, 9) At the age of three years old, the children were already experiencing neglect, no child at the age of three should be making hot dogs on a stove by themselves.
Jeannette Walls earliest memory is burning herself cooking hot dogs. At age 3 she was so hungry she stood over the stove in a tutu to cook for her mom and herself, while her mom was busy painting. After catching on fire Jeannette was burned
“Ouch,” Surena jumped. She grabbed a piece of clothing to put over her hand so she could open the door. The door swung open and Surena picked up Belle and ran out the door. There was fire everywhere, she could barely see anything. She heard police cars out side the house with fire trucks. They were spraying the house. Surena felt very dizzy because of the smoke and her dog didn’t look so
The memoir of Jeannette Walls had several characters, important people in her life. But, there was one specific character, her dad, that she had a close relationship with. Jeannette Walls grew up in poverty and always moved around. Her family was close, but Jeannette was closest to her father over anyone else. She loved and admired her father and defended him too. Her memoir, “The Glass Castle” is very popular. She is a grown-up now and cares about her parents. She offers to help them out of poverty, but they resist. Jeannette certainly cares for both parents, but her father has a special place in her heart. Jeannette has a special relationship with her father because she admired his heroicness, she got to pick Venus as her star, and he helped her and distracted her from being scared and in pain.