Responsibility In The Glass Castle

Every day, people are faced with responsibility. Some thrive under the pressure while others crumble. Responsibility is a sign of independence. Teenagers with greater amounts of responsibility feel freedom from their parents. In the same case, too much responsibility can put more stress on that freedom-seeking teen and can have devastating effects. John Steinbeck shows the theme that in life, responsibility is best taken in moderation in his novel Of Mice and Men.

Alcoholism does not only affect a person’s physical, mental, and emotional state, but it also changes the lives of people close to the drinker forever. It ruins relationships and trust that took years to build up, and may never be able to be restored. In Jeannette Walls’s memoir, The Glass Castle, she tells the story of her childhood in which her father was an alcoholic. Jeannette’s father, Rex Walls, was brilliant and charismatic when he was sober, but when he drank, he was destructive and dishonest.

Responsibility stays for the fight knowing what is ahead, irresponsibility goes into the fight as blind as could be. In the novel The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the Walls parents are frequently irresponsible. Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, being misguided as a child, has no clear sight of the line between right and wrong. Though he does not intend for it to be harmful or have a negative impact, he still can never make the right decision. Initially Rex appears to have good intentions, however over the course of the book, it is clear he is unpredictable and irresponsible.

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

Any responsible parent that truly cares for their child(ren) and has their best interest at heart would do anything to make sure their child(ren) are safe. However, Rose Mary and Rex Walls, Walls’ parents, appear to not have the same ideology as they allow their children to be victims of sexual assault several times. For example, Grandma Erma begins to sexually assault Walls’ brother Brian Walls, while their parents are out of town. The children try to explain the story to their parents, consequently making the parents angry. While scolding the children, Rex and Walls break out into a little argument:

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

In her younger years, Jeannette was an smart and imaginative child. At first, she enjoyed moving around, and had a lot of faith in her father, which created a good relationship between them. “All we had to was find gold, once we’d struck it rich, he’d [Rex] start work on our Glass Castle” (Walls, 25). The tremendous faith that she has in Rex creates a strong bond because she is the only family member who trusts his ideas. Unfortunately, he is a raging alcoholic who can’t hold a job, so most of his promises are broken. As Jeannette gets older, he lets her down more and more. One time he brought her to a bar where she was then sexually violated. When the two had a talk after, he said “I knew you could handle yourself” (Walls, 213,) instead of defending her. It was upsetting to watch their relationship grow apart and to see how poorly he provided for his family, yet they still loved him.

What does it mean to take responsibility? If you ask that question to a classroom full of students you will most likely get various answers but, most of them would agree that one aspect of responsibility is doing the right thing.“The right thing to do and the hard thing to do are usually the same.” This is very much the case in Budge Wilson's short story, “The Charmer”, in which a whole family is not doing the right thing by not telling their oldest child, Zachary that he is doing wrong.The whole family is charmed by Zachary which makes it hard for them to confront him about his actions.Through “The Charmer,” Budge Wilson develops, the idea that individuals can neglect their responsibilities by ignoring wrongdoings displayed by a person

Walls was left to her own devices for the majority of her childhood. Rex and Rosemary  put their wants before their children. Rex was an alcoholic whose addiction became worse over time. Rosemary was an artist who seemed like she didn't even want to be a mother. Both parents

Shortly after the incident, Jeannette turns ten years old. Her father asks her what she wants for her birthday and she tells him she is scared to tell him. Finally, she asks him if he could just promise her he would stop drinking as a gift for her birthday. Jeannette explains that “‘Mom would be a lot happier. Plus, we’d have the extra money’” (Walls 117) if he stops drinking. Her father then gets upset thinking Jeannette is ashamed of him. Although, he keeps her promise and stops drinking, but it did not last long.

Rex Walls is introduced as an intelligent inventor, imagining great contraptions such as the Prospector, which sifts through rocks, finding gold in the heterogenous mix by weight. This machine resembles the family’s eternal struggle to find success and literally gold as the travel all over the western United States. All his ideas, at which Jeannette marvels at, are never finished. Despite this, Jeannette sees Rex as--for the most part--perfect and remains loyal to his antics throughout the memoir.

Opposite of Jeanette, her father Rex does not have a successful life. A factor that may have contributed to this is his natural aversion to authority. According to Outliers, this aversion may have been a result of his lower-class upbringing. Gladwell suggests that in lower-class families, children are not raised to expect to be treated by authority figures with some degree of respect and are not taught how to influence a social situation to fit their own needs. Rex Walls is constantly running away from the “FBI,” and distrusts even doctors and nurses in hospitals. He most often chooses to flee rather than face confrontation about his problems. These both align with Gladwell’s claims; therefore, his lack of success in his life can partially be attributed to his

Responsibility is a key component in establishing a person’s character and a vital part of human existence. Of the three definitions the Oxford Dictionary provides, the one of most relevance is; the opportunity or ability to act independently and take decisions without authorization. This definition is particularly important because the decisions a person makes without the influence of others essentially denotes a person’s character and displays who they truly are. Throughout life, numerous opportunities are brought about which require a person to take responsibility and make the appropriate choices. Students are expected to be responsible throughout their academic careers by upholding the standards established by the institution they are

While all six of these qualities are important to achieving outstanding character traits, responsibility exceeds them all. Responsibility is the state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. As one gets older he/she becomes their own person, becoming less dependent of their parental figures, and more dependent on themselves.

“Where’s the keys CharDanay?” He growled, “where are they? You hid them from me again? I ain’t got time for this tonight.” Every time my Grandpa started drinking a little too much, I would always hide the keys from him because he doesn’t need to be drinking and driving, especially when it’s pitch dark outside and raining. I didn’t like when my Grandmother would leave me here with him when he had been drinking, it seemed to me like he would only get really drunk when my grandmother went to church at night.