Jeannette's Struggle In Rex And Rose Mary

The main problems being alcoholism, child abuse, and poverty. These three key concerns are completely intertwined with each other. Jeannette’s fathers’ alcoholism stems from possibly being sexually abused by his own mother during childhood. As he attempts to drown his sorrows, he in tern neglects his children. This is particularly important because when they went to live with the grandma, she started to sexually abuse Brian, Jeannette’s younger brother. Rex could have possibly prevented this had he been more involved in their lives and less concerned about getting drunk. Rex’s severe alcoholism causes him to be extremely irresponsible and reckless. He is unable and unwilling to keep a job long enough for the family to settle anywhere. Although Rex does physically and mentally abuse his family, he is also loving toward them in a very tough and “behind-the-scene” type of way. The living conditions of the family during this time were horrendous. They often found food and clothes from dumpsters. Jeannette’s hair was never brushed because her mother said it was the kids responsibility to take care of themselves. While living at the grandmothers house in West Virginia, the kids were allowed one bath a week. They were given four inches of water and all four kids shared the same bath water. Because the parents did not want to pay to have their trash collected, they decided to trick the kids into digging a hole in the yard. The shack they moved into after leaving the grandmothers house had a big hole in the ceiling so when it would rain outside, it would also rain into their kitchen. Rex and Rose Mary refused to apply for welfare or food stamps because they “didn’t accept handouts” from anyone. They were completely on their own and so were their children. Other kids would make fun of the Walls children because they dressed in rags, lived without electricity and didn’t have food to eat.

Their children, Lori, Jeannette, and Brian, want to move to New York City to have a life of their own. But, Rex and Rose Mary decide to follow them there. They are poor and homeless, living on the streets of this overwhelming city.

Genuinely, I think this was the moment where Jeannette realized that her mom wasn’t trying very hard to take care of her and her siblings. Ginnie Sue literally got into prostitution so she could put food on the table for her kids. In my opinion, that showed me the great lengths she would go to take care of her family. Rose Mary, on the other hand, just stays home and paints all day. Now, of course, that isn’t a bad thing, but she wouldn’t even get a part-time job to make at least a little money. It made me kind of think that Rose Mary puts her wants before her children’s needs. Another thing I think Jeannette was getting at when she said this was not to judge lifestyles. She is saying how at least Ginnie Sue is doing what she needs to do to

The Glass Castle Erma and Grandma Smith Essay The Glass Castle has a main character named Jeanette Walls. Jeanette is very proud of her parents despite them being dysfunctional and irresponsible. At first glance her mother and father may seem like very bad parents and in some way they are but as far as Jeanette saw them then and now they were the best parents in the world. She loves her mother and father and always defended them with her other siblings when someone talked bad about or made fun of them.

This book can be very painful to read because many times the kids are much more responsible than the adults. Even so, the kids have to fend for themselves from a very young age. Upon Rex losing his job once again, Lori and Jeannette try to discuss ways to help make money for the family. Finding themselves unable to think of any helpful ways, Jeanette says, “I guess we can eat less,” to which Lori replies “We have before” (67). The face they have gone hungry many times before is extremely disappointing, especially since Rex and Rose are both completely capable of getting jobs. When Rex are Rose are arguing about not having money, Jeannette says “Tell them we like eating margarine, then maybe they’ll stop fighting” (70). It’s fine to live like that on your own, but you shouldn’t raise a kid in that kind of scenario.

Jeannette is very insecure about her past life of poverty, and although she has now dug herself out of the rut of destitution, her parents’ continued homelessness is always a reminder of

This is a common theme when it comes to Jeannette’s mother- on the first day of school, Jeannette remembers that “ She marched confidently into the principal's office with us in tow and informed him that he would have the pleasure of enrolling two of the brightest, most creative children in America in his school”(p 136). Rose Mary likes to brag about how smart her children are. Without Rex, Rose Mary would most likely be a mess, since she only cares about her children when it comes to school or a dangerous

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

But however, a law enforcement has compels the family to leave and move to Phoenix where mother has inherited a house from her grandmother. In Phoenix, it offers the family stability like mother’s house is very large and the children can enrolled in school and father have a job to keep steady of electrician jobs for a while. Jeannette feel so annoy when

The summary of the story is a memoir, which is about Jeannette and her family who are constantly low on food and money, family moving around the country a lot, and having a hard time to re-settle. The family is very dysfunctional with a multiple of stories to tell. The book is filled with much different kind of experiences that the family including Jeannette has been through together.

In Jeannette’s life her social class changes multiple times. She starts her life doing the skedaddle through many towns because her family couldn’t afford to live in the places they did. “We were always doing the skedaddle, usually in the middle of the night. I sometimes heard Mom and Dad discussing the people who were after us. Dad called them the henchmen, bloodsuckers, the gestapo”(19). The way her father made it sound, it didn’t seem so bad to Jeannette but it really was, having to leave town after town because your father was ‘illegal’ and couldn’t get a job to provide for her family. Towards the middle of the book, Jeannette’s grandmother dies, Naturally Jeannette is devastated, But her family inherits her grandma’s mansion “practically,

Jeannette shows that wealth is subjective. Even when she's an adult and has nice things and money, but she is still not happy. She is not happy because she is worried about her parents and she feels guilty living in a nice apartment and having all these nice things when her parents are homeless. Jeannette tries to quench her guilt by offering them help to get a house and food but her parents don't want the help. After Rex received clothes for a gift he says "you must be mighty ashamed of your old man. You think I'm some sort of goddamn charity case" (Walls 263). Jeannette sees her parents struggling to survive homeless but her dad says "Don't you fret a bit have you ever known your old man to get himself in a situation he couldn't handle" (Walls 260)?

While her father’s dismisses his destructive nature, Jeannette becomes conscious of his actions which motivates her to make amends in hopes of leaving their desolate life. Instead of getting help for his childhood trauma, Rex immerses himself in alcohol causing him to become

Towards the end of the memoir, Jeannette was in high school and was getting ready to graduate and get as far away from Welch and her broken family as possible. Jeannette decided to follow in her older sisters footsteps and move to New York. Jeannette is passionate about writing and believed New York was a perfect place to get her career started, along with college. Jeannette’s family was upset that she was leaving them, especially Rex. Rex felt as if he was losing

No one’s opinion matters but her own. But grievously, the man who had made her life horrible comes to the one place she felt provided for and happy. Rex is now in New York City. The last thing Jeannette needs are parents, but once again, The Glass Castle strays from the norms of life and surprises. Not only did Rex treat her bad, he had damaged Jeannette with problems some adults do not have to deal with.