In the autobiography, “The Glass Castle” written by Jeannette Walls many different paradigms are present when it comes to Jeannette’s parents. However the uninvolved parent paradigm is most consistently exhibited by both Rex and Rose Mary Walls. The easiest way to identify an uninvolved parent according to (Cherry, “The Four Styles of Parenting”) is low or lack thereof communication. In a scene where the walls family is driving to Phoenix to move in with the children’s grandmother once again (on Rose Mary’s side), Jeanette discovers that the grandmother had been dead for months and she had not been informed by either of her parents. She asks, “Why didn’t you tell us?”; “There didn’t seem any point” responded her mother (92). This quote
It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities. This is evident in Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, which reiterates the story of Jeannette who is raised within a family that is both deeply dysfunctional and distinctively vibrant. Jeannette is faced with numerous barriers throughout her life. Despite the many obstacles set forth by her parents during her childhood, Jeannette develops into a successful adult later in life. One of these obstacles is the lack of a stable home base moulds her into the woman she grows up to be. Throughout her life, Jeannette must cope with the carelessness of her
Author Jeanette Walls is an example of someone who has preserved and made something of herself despite the fact that she has a less-than-normal childhood. Her parents Rose Mary and Rex Walls struggled at time to parent efficiently, as shown in Jeannette Walls’ memoir of her childhood The Glass Castle. In the recalling of her unique and sometimes disturbing childhood, Walls paints a picture of inadequate parenting, dangerous techniques used on her siblings and herself, and events that may have inflicted permanent damage on the Walls children. Not only Jeannette, but her other siblings Brian, Lori, and Maureen Walls were also negatively affected by the way they were raised and the things that happened to them under their parent’s watch. Rose
According to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children under age 18 was 19.7 percent between 2014 and 2015. Multiple studies and research have concluded that living in poverty results in lasting damage on a child’s self-esteem. The stories these 19.7% live are very similar to The Glass Castle, a memoir that displays the underdog tale of Jeannette Walls, which shows her battles with poverty, hunger, and child neglect. All of these battles were in her quest to prosper and live the American Dream. Due to her struggles, Jeannette realizes that growing up poor takes a toll on her self-esteem. However, after enduring a past surrounded with poverty, Jeannette learns to be less self-conscious and eventually takes pride from
Think back to your own childhood. Could you imagine being a child, and not having a care in the world, but then, as quick as the snap of a finger, that all changes because of a thoughtless mistake made by your parents? In The Glass Castle it is revealed that as Jeannette grew up, she endured hardships inflicted upon her by her own parents. However, if Jeannette had not gone through these things, she never would have gained the characteristics that she values present day. Although Jeannette Walls faced hardships and endured suffering during her childhood, these obstacles formed her into a self-reliant woman who proves that just because you do not have as much money as other families, you can still achieve success in your life.
The novel, The Glass Castle, exhibits the human tendency to be selfish. This is manifested in both Rex and Rose Mary. Rex is characterized as a selfish father throughout the novel, and his paternal image is consistently skewed because of his actions. His addiction to alcohol ruins countless family events. One year the family’s Christmas is ruined when Rex drinks a great deal of alcohol and burns their tree and presents. Jeanette remembers, “Dad sat on the sofa [...] telling mom he was doing her a favor [...] no one tried to wring dad’s neck [...] or even point out that he’d ruined the Christmas his family has spent weeks planning” (115). Jeanette and her family are always left cleaning up their father’s drunken mess. Even when Rex is sober he does not apologize for ruining sentimental family events and continues to put alcohol before his family. Selfishness can also be seen in Rex’s relationship with money. He takes Jeanette into a bar in order to get money from his friend, Robbie. When Robbie asks if he can take Jeanette upstairs, Jeanette recollects, “So, with Dad’s blessing, I went upstairs” (212). Rex is so self-absorbed that he allows his daughter to go into a strange man's apartment, fully knowing his intentions. During Jeanette and her siblings’ childhood, they experience dangerous situations with their parents’ knowledge and approval. While Rex’s selfish nature is typically derived from his addiction, Rose Mary’s selfishness is simply a reflection of her personality.
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
I. An extended metaphor is described as a comparison between two unlike things that is introduced and then further developed throughout all or part of a literary work. Extended metaphors allow writers to draw a larger comparison between two things or ideas. In rhetoric, they allow the audience to visualize a complex idea in a memorable or tangible way. They highlight a comparison in a more intense way than simple metaphors or similes.
Bad Parenting is the act of not showing the responsibilities that should be taken as a mother or father. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls reveals the faults of parenting through the use of symbolism , imagery and characterization. Rosemary and Rex’s Struggles to show their children (Jeannette, Lori, Brian) the importance of the appearance and guidance of being by their side as a parent. Jeannette and Rex show their faults by destroying everything the children try to accomplish because of their personal bad habits.
In society, there is no “normal” but there is often a certain expectation from the member in it like holding down a job, raising children, and many other. Yet Jeannette's parents do none of these things, instead they consider it to be positive that they live outside of society. To begin with the opening of the novel Jeanette is all grown up and a full member society and a complete opposite of her younger self. Jeannette illustrates ,“ I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a dumpster” (1). This is the opener of the memoir and is setting up a large class difference between two characters. Jeanette may never have been supported in her childhood but she has made her way to a high place in society, unlike her mother who never changed in her ways. Here Walls is creating a vivid picture of what society deems as correct and incorrect drawing the reader in to find out the cause of two members of the same family being so far apart from each other in society. In the same way when Jeannette is young and, is explaining how she receives her education. Jeannette admits, “ We might enroll into school, but not always. Mom and Dad did most of our teaching” (20). Most children in society have an education from some sort of school, but since the Walls family exists outside of society in many ways. Including how they receive their education, early on in life, the children are not inside a school system. Instead they are taught how to live outside of society like their parents even if they do not want to live that way. Later on, Jeanette has moved away from her parents and has the proper schooling she is a full member of society which is everything her mother did not want. Her mother argues, ‘ Look at the way you live. You’ve sold out. Next thing I know you’ll be a Republican.’ She shook her head. ‘Where are the
The parents from the glass castle Rose Mary and Rex Wall were quite different parents. They weren't quite clean, and having a job to Rexs Walls is gamble and make money. But children were children wanted a normal life so when there with friends they didn’t really mention their life styles. There irresponsibility of the parents and the children wanting to take care of themselves led to the children breaking apart from their parents early.
Her parents are present, but truly absent. Her father does not bother to make conversation with his daughters. At dinner, he does not ask any questions to know what is going on with his daughter’s lives. “Their father was away at work most of the time and when he came home he wanted supper and he read the newspaper at supper and after supper he went to bed” (Oates 589). At the same time, the relationship with her mother lacks communication and comprehensiveness.
A relationship between two people could have positive and negative effects on a person's life. The relationship can be supportive and stressful, and throughout Jeannette’s life, this course took its toll. As a young girl, Jeannette Walls had a strong bond with her father, Rex Walls. He was the person that once made her feel the safest, yet had done the most significant amount of damage to her as time had passed. The Glass Castle was the great, big house her father promised to build for their family in the desert. Although he put all of his engineering and mathematical skills into the project, it was never built. The Glass Castle can symbolize empty promises or as hope for the future. Just like the Glass Castle, there were two perspectives to the relationship between Jeannette and her father. Each made Jeannette grow mentally furthermore helping her evolve as a person.
“No one ever really pays for betrayal in silver,he thought.The price of any betrayal always comes due to flesh.”The quote was said by Roland’s brother,he was talking about Rolands journey,partically with the man in black.This quote is from the novel The Dark Tower 1:The Gunslinger.The puritans would despise the novel The Dark Tower 1:The Gunslinger Non-law abiding citizens,strong beliefs especially with witchcraft and supernatural,also them not having a sin free life.
Another established literary device in the memoir is tone, and it makes a profound, yet consistent, transition in the novel. Throughout the first few parts of the book, Jeannette trusts her parents whole-heartedly and is very accepting of their actions. She describes her dad, when they first leave the trailer park, “...grabb[ing] Quixote by the scruff of the neck, and toss[ing] him out the window…” (Walls 18). She is shell-shocked at first, and deeply disturbed that her own father would do something like that. However, when her mother scolds her for being too emotional, she learns to let go. Later on in the book, when the Walls family relocates to Welch, a tone transition is apparent. Jeannette becomes “...the head of household…” (Walls 209)
Such an idea of a dismissive parent is witnessed in the father, Rex Walls, of the children in the Glass Castle. Rex embodies the characteristics of a dismissing parent, as observed in the scene between Rex and Brian, Jeannette’s brother. While Rex and Rosemary Walls went back west to retrieve the rest of the family’s belongings, the children were left in the care of their paternal grandmother, who is depicted as a