Maya Angelou once stated, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated.” In the novel The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls the family faces many defeats but, the only way to overcome them is to persevere and be resilient. The Walls children are forced to do things that a traditional child would not have to. This causes the children to gain the ability to be strong and learn valuable life lessons from the hard times. Being independent, truthful and forgiving will help the Walls family persevere and be resilient through the struggles that will lead them to future success.
Throughout the novel, perseverance and resilience can be shown through the families struggles. When the family lived in Welch, it was a very rough and cold winter.
…show more content…
During the summer, Brian and Lori wanted to go swimming with Rex but, Jeannette did not know how. She was never taught how to swim between all the moving they did and the fight for their lives through the winter and the summer. So, when they arrived at the Hot Pot, Rex grabbed Jeannette and took her out into the middle of the water. He proceeded with yelling, “‘Sink or Swim!’ For the second time I sank… He did it again and again.” (Walls 66). Jeannette was continuously thrown into the pool only to sink. This triggered a fire in her to, “try and get away from his hands. I kicked at him and pushed away through the water with my arms, and finally, I was able to propel myself beyond his grasp.” (Walls 66). Jeannette is very resilient during this section. She was able to overcome the tough challenge that Rex forced her take on. This grew Jeannette into not only a stronger swimmer but, a more developed independent person in every way. Jeannette wants what everyone else has but, the one thing she wants the most was something the family could definitely not afford. Jeannette longed for braces. She would see kids at school with perfect teeth and then see her own set of teeth in the mirror noticing every little flaw. She knew if she ever wanted at chance at having straighter teeth she needs to create her own unique set of braces. Her technique started like this, “I simply used a rubber band. Stretching it all the way around my …show more content…
During spring, when Lori moved to New York. Jeannette saved up her money so she could move to New York too. Jeannette and Lori had a foolproof plan for them both to live in New York together as long as Jeannette helped pay bills and rent. One night before Jeannette was leaving, Rex stopped into her room wondering if she could look at something. That something was the Glass Castle blueprints. Jeannette responded to Rex’s master plan like this, “‘Dad,’ I said, ‘you’ll never build the glass castle’... ‘Even if you do, I'll be gone. In less than three months, I’m leaving for New York City.’... ‘Go ahead and build the glass castle, but don't do it for me.’” (Walls 238). Rex tries so keep Jeannette to stay in Welch with him by bribing her with the statement of building the glass castle. Jeannette is being very honest with Rex. Jeannette has always wanted the Glass Castle built ever since the idea came to mind but, she knows she is moving on to a better life in New York City and she wants to let the disappointments from her family and the Glass Castle
Jeannette Walls, Shows in the book The Glass Castle that there are a lot of situations that happen in life where people make countless mistakes, but it is very important to forgive her father and her mother for many mistakes. She has to cope with many obstacles without her parent's help. In the author's memoir, we become attracted with Jeannette constant struggle between protecting her family and the pleasure that her family is based on the same hopes and senseless falsehood with her unbelievable storytelling method. The feelings of forgiveness hold the Walls family together. Jeanette was able to describe her family's childhood, relationships with one another. The children of the Walls family are forced to begin the independent life at an
This may mean that she wasn’t given very much information over the 5 years. “It had been 5 years since Dad died. I had seen mom only sporadically since then, and she’d never met John nor been to the old country farmhouse we’d bought the year before. It had been John’s idea to invite her and Lori and Brian out the house for Thanksgiving” (Walls 285). This is saying that the only way she would of gotten information about her childhood would of been when she saw her mom on those sporadical moments, and it probably wasn’t much information because she saw her for short time periods. Then the issue with when did Rex tell Jeannette about there adventures? She never mentioned him talking to her about them, and he wasn’t around whenever she wrote this book, so she may have actually had memories of her and Rex and their adventures. Rex may have altered her memory though while he was around. He did always tell her throughout the story that they would make The Glass Castle
Different circumstances shape people into who they will become. This is relevant in both books, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and Jeannette Walls’ The Glass Castle. Both the Joad and Walls families faced adversities but made it through them stronger. The two families move from place to place and greatly struggled financially. The value of family and lessons that can be learned from them is prevalent in both novels. The attributes that enabled both the Joad and Walls families to endure in the face of adversities are perseverance, faith, and their devotion to each other.
It seemed like they had a great life with some of the small memorable moments, but then all of the major flaws about Rex come right back into view. Jeannette’s full realization was when the piggy bank full of money, saved up for Jeannette’s trip to New York, was taken by her father and used for gambling and drinking. A sorrowful life to live with parents that slowly eat away the soul
Imagine living in a life where everything around you is different from reality. Imagine running from the police, living wherever one can find, and still taking care of one's family just at the age of 16. Jeannette Walls had to deal with all of this and more in her early childhood. In the book “The Glass Castle”, the author uses the characters, Jeannette and Rex Walls, to emphasize the importance of family bonds.
The theme for the novel The Glass Castle is Forgiveness. The theme for this novel begins to develop on page 9 when Jeannette begins telling the readers about her lifestyle when growing up and talks about what her parents did that made her life as a child difficult. Here are some examples of what her parents did: (Page 9) Jeannette’s Mother ignoring the fact that Jeannette shouldn’t be near a stove when she was three years old. Therefore, it caused Jeannette getting caught on fire when trying to cook her hot dogs, (Page 29) When Jeannette’s parents didn’t notice that Jeannette fell out the car into the railroad tracks nevertheless they didn’t come back for her immediately, (Page 67) When Jeannette with her siblings was forced to have margarine
It is important that every challenge is encountered and resolved. Challenges are given to every human being, whether it be a dysfunctional family or a uniquely vibrant family. To face the daunting challenge of attempting to understand, forgive and taking ownership is what the novel The Glass Castle greatly attempts do to.
This summer I read the memoir “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls. This is the first book that I have read of hers, although I would be interested in reading one of her other books such as “The Silver Star” or “Half Broke Horses”. The memoir takes place in many different cities and states. The novel starts out in New York City when the author is an adult and married, but then it flashes all the way back to when Jeannette, the main character, was three and living in southern Arizona. Jeannette was home alone and she was making herself food when she caught on fire and was taken to the hospital. After six weeks of being in the hospital, her dad, Rex Walls, decided that the nurses and doctors were not trustworthy and was uncomfortable with hospitals, so he snuck her out without being discharged. Soon after, the family “did the skedaddle” as Jeannette called it, and moved to Las Vegas. On the way to their destination, at night, the kids asked their dad to tell them a bedtime story. He told them mostly stories about himself and in the stories he was always the hero. In this particular story, however, the author’s dad describes the plans that he has for the future. This plan consisted of building the Glass Castle, which he has been planning for a very long time. The castle would be a large house for the whole family in the middle of the desert and it would have a glass ceiling, thick glass walls, and a glass staircase. For electricity, there would be solar cells on the
Additionally, it meant pulling themselves out of poverty and living a lavish lifestyle. In reality, they would never build the Glass Castle, mainly due to Rex’s inability to hold a job and make enough money. Although this may be true, the Glass Castle was what held Rex and the children’s relationship together. Furthermore, when times became arduous, “[Rex would] pull the blueprints out and let us work on the design for our rooms” (Walls 25). It kept their faith in Rex alive, even when he didn’t deserve it, as the Glass Castle was complete fiction and failed to do anything but give Jeannette and her siblings false hope. Rex’s plans for the future were flamboyant, but tended to resemble glass -- fragile and elusive. With this in mind, as long as Jeannette lived with her parents, the improvement in her quality of life would be too little and insignificant to mean anything. This reality begins to set in when she is a teenager, starting when she lived in Welch, West Virginia. Brian, her brother, and Jeannette take matters into their own hands and dig a hole for the foundation. Just like all his other promises, Rex fails to actually set the foundation, so “Brian and [Jeanette] watched the hole for the Glass Castle's foundation slowly filled with garbage” (Walls
As Jeannette grows up her relationship with her parents, especially as her father starts to dwindle. Jeannette didn’t realize that the way her parents were going about taking care of them wasn’t normal. As Jeannette started to age she realized how inconsiderate her parents really were, Mary and Rex had forced their children to move around the country leaving the kids hungry and alone countless nights. Jeannette was always close with her father, and always had sympathy for him. However, when they moved to Welch it seemed as though her father had completely changed. Jeannette had started to work to save up money so her and her siblings could live, but her father did not respect that. One day Rex went up to Jeannette when no one was home and simply said “’Hon, I need some money.’”(209) Jeannette would have gladly given him the money, but it was for beer and cigarettes. This made Jeannette feel like he had no regard for her at all. Rex did not care enough to find his own way of getting money for his addictions, let alone provide food for his family. Jeannette agreed to give him the money, and he agreed to pay her back, but when he wanted to pay her back, Jeannette was staring to realize how sickening her father really is.
One of the most important theme in The Glass Castle is forgiveness. Jeannette and her brother and sisters spend their whole lives forgiving their parents for their irresponsibilities. They still love them and welcome them into their hearts even though Rex and Rose Mary didn't deserve it. By forgiving them, she feels less angry and her attitude as a whole is much more positive. When she is three years old, she burns herself cooking and her mother doesn't take care of her. After being in the hospital for 6 days, she let her cook again and says “Good for you, you have got to get right back in the saddle (15). ” Another example of forgiveness, is when she is trying to learns how to swim and her dad drops her in the water making her almost drown. She thinks he did this so she can learn, so she forgives him. Jeanette says, “I figured he must be right, there was no other way to explain it(66).” This means that she thought he didn't have an intention to harm her, but he tried to make her learn. At the end of the story, she meets her father for the last time and forgives him for all the bad things that had happened in her life and all the chaos. Although all of these bad things happened to her and her brother and sister because of him, she says she knew he loved her like no one else ever had. Jeanette said she forgives him for “all the hell-raising and destruction and chaos he [has] created in [her life].” On the other hand though, she says, “I could not imagine what my life would be like- without him in it. As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had(279).” This means that she knew that he made all those mistakes throughout his life, but she still found a way to forgive him and look on the brighter side of things.
Colson Whitehead once said, “Let the broken glass be broken glass, let it splinter into smaller pieces and dust and scatter. Let the cracks between things widen until they are no longer cracks but the new places for things”. In the memoir “The Glass Castle,” author Jeannette Walls faces despair and turmoil as a result of her impoverished and dysfunctional upbringing. As Jeannette grows up, she watches her father Rex fail to reach his full potential and his dream to build a Glass Castle shatter as his alcoholism takes control. Aware of the devastation her father was causing, she begins to slowly lose faith in him but doesn’t fail to escape her destructive household and pursue her dreams of becoming a journalist. Due to her parent’s lack of parenting and being forced to fend for herself, Jeannette developed a sense of responsibility to care for others and make amends to improve the family’s lifestyle. Despite the turbulence and destruction her parents had caused over the years, unlike her father, Jeannette was able to find the strength to overcome obstacles, developing characteristics that ultimately lead her to achieving her dream, thus illustrating that adversity has the power to shape one’s identity.
The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, is a memoir detailing the childhood and family experiences of Jeannette which include the hardships she faced and the memories she has made. She documents her early life through the experiences of having to move constantly from the orders of her parents and living under poor conditions. She is eventually motivated to move away from her parents and away from the conditions to make a life and pursue a passion for herself. Although, she dealt with many inconveniences throughout her early life, she doesn’t seem angered by her parents for having to deal with those problems. This confliction in feelings resulting from experiences is why the tone of the memoir is also confliction.
Jeannette’s self-reliant behavior is frequently shown through her refusal of help from others. On one trip to retrieve her father from a bar, Jeannette’s father is so drunk that he can no longer walk. Another man offers to drive them home, and
Jeannette and her little brother Brian spent a long time digging this hole, therefore it must have been devastating to watch as it was used as a place to stow away the family’s garbage. Jeannette was starting to realize that her father was probably never going to build the Glass Castle. Rex still hoped that his daughter would believe him, that she would feed him the lies for a little while longer even though the idea of the Glass Castle was slowly slipping away.