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Literary Review: The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Decent Essays

Andrew Li
Mr. Felder
AP English Language and Composition
20 August 2015
The Castle that Never Came to Be Jeannette Walls tells a very interesting story in The Glass Castle; few people get the chance to experience such a unique childhood. Jeannette’s father and mother are unlike traditional parents. Her father puts his children in harm’s way and justifies it by claiming that it’s a learning experience and her mother fails to provide comfort because she is preoccupied over her own goals. As an innocent child, Jeannette initially does not mind living such a childhood. In fact she admires her parents, especially her father, despite his frequent drunken outbursts. However, as Jeannette ages, she finds herself disapproving of her father’s way of …show more content…

However, a great disparity exists between Jeannette’s parents and typical parents. For instance, Rose Mary is unwilling to work to provide for her children because she is preoccupied with her dream to be an artist. Rose Mary goes as far as to tell Jeannette, “You have a job. You can earn money. Lori can earn money, too. I’ve got more important things to do” (Walls 218). The syntax of these four short sentences is unique. William Zinsser suggests that writers do not tell readers “something they already know or can figure out” (Zinsser 91) and Walls follows this advice, as exemplified by the quotation. She chose to use four short sentences in order to create a tense atmosphere and to help readers come to the conclusion that Rose Mary does not understand a parent’s obligations. Rex fares no better as a father, as he has serious drinking issue. His drinking issue causes him to devastate his family by ruining a Christmas celebration. Rose Mary presents Rex a lighter as a present but Rex, while drunk, thrusts the lighter into the Christmas tree. Walls writes, “Flames leaped through the branches with a crackling noise. Christmas ornaments exploded from the heat” (115). Walls incorporates imagery in this scene in order to strengthen her point that Rex brings about chaos when drunk. Flames leaped and ornaments exploded. The diction—word choice—emphasizes the destruction that Rex caused. Rose …show more content…

As an innocent child, Jeannette greatly admired her father. She writes, “Everybody said Dad was a genius. … Dad was also inventing things, too. … In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a little bit of a drinking situation” (Walls 22-23). Although Jeannette admits that her father has a “drinking situation,” she takes great pride in having a father who was a respected inventor. Jeannette conveys a tone of great reverence towards her father; she does so in order to emphasize the change in her perspective of Rex as she matures. On her tenth birthday, Jeannette asked her father, “Do you think you could maybe stop drinking?” (Walls 116). This suggests that she admits that her father’s little drinking situation is, in fact, a big drinking situation. Jeannette’s perspective on her father only gets more negative as she admits that Rex is dragging the family down and she tells Rose Mary, “Mom, we can’t go on living like this. … Mom, you have to leave Dad” (Walls 187-188). Finally, Jeannette comes to accept that the Glass Castle, which symbolizes an ideal future, is nothing more than a mirage. She once again watches as “the hole for the Glass Castle’s foundation slowly filled with garbage” (Walls 155). Before leaving for New York, Jeannette tells her father, “Go ahead and build the Glass Castle, but don’t do it for me” (Walls 238). As

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