Rex And Rose Mary Analysis

Later on in the story, Walls became more skeptical about whether her dad was a good person or not. In the story, Jeannette was keeping track of the money and managing it while her mom was gone. Rex Walls, her dad, wanted 20$ for a business trip which would make her way off her budget. Rex, however, claimed that he would make sure they had money for everything but Jeannette stopped believing in him and knew he wouldn’t keep his promise. "Have I ever let you down?" Dad asked. I'd heard that question at least two hundred times, and I'd always answered it the way I knew he wanted me to, because I thought it was my faith in Dad that had kept him going all those years. I was about to tell him the truth for the first time, about to let him know that he'd let us all down plenty, but then I stopped”(Walls 210). This quote proves that Jeannette was starting to realizes that her dad wasn't reliable and she shouldn't believe in what he

Jeanette Walls had a sense of responsibility when her parents didn’t have any. When it came down to Walls’ younger sister she says, “At times I felt like I was failing Maureen, like I wasn’t keeping my promise that I’d protect her.” (Walls 206) Structure. Through misguided trials with the family the children picked up on things they knew or at least felt what a family should be and act like. She strives for protection.

There are many different kinds of parents. There are parents that are nice to their kids, spoil them and give them anything they want. On the other hand, there parents that are mean to their kids, make them do all the house work and provide bad living conditions for their children. The Walls parents would fall on the bad of the parent scale for many reasons. First both of the Walls parents are out of touch with reality. Second the parents act like kids and the kids have to act like responsible adults. Finally the parents are selfish, and care more about themselves than their own children. Both Rex and Rosemary Walls are unfit to be parents to the Walls children.

Many people in today’s world view bars as a rather social place (“Bars and Clubs”). The article indicates that people use bars to hang out with friends, meet new people, or just be part of a lively atmosphere. If this is true, how does alcoholism lead to segregation? Sadly, being an alcoholic does not mean you will always be the life of the party. As seen in The Glass Castle, Rex’s alcoholism causes the segregation of not just him, but his entire family. For example, while the family is living in Welch, one of the men at the bar offers to give Jeannette and Rex a ride home. While in the car, the man says to Jeannette, “For the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big plans,” (Walls 183). This quote expertly shows the severity of the Rex’s segregation. Even among fellow drinkers, Rex is singled out for his alcoholism. His addiction is so strong that he is looked down upon by the others and labeled as the town drunk. This quote also shows how the children receive the brunt of Rex’s alcoholism. Because Rex spends his days drinking and passing out in bars, everyone expects that the children will be no better than he is. Another example of Rex’s alcoholism causing their segregation occurs when Jeannette is kicked out of the town pool by a boy named Ernie Goad. As Jeannette described him, “Ernie Goad was a pug-nosed, thick-necked kid who had little eyes set practically on the sides of his head, like a whale. He

And despite everything, her love for her father only accumulates for him. Throughout the story Jeannette at times has given up on her father but she somehow always rationalizes his actions and continues to see him as everything but a bad influence. For example, when Rex purposely throws Jeannette into the water forcing her to learn how to swim and saying, “If you don’t want to sink you better learn how to swim.” (Walls 66) Again this just proves that despite how reckless and inconsiderate her parents were at times eventually it taught her to be independent and survive. And in the end they needed this because living in poverty its almost difficult to make sure you will survive the next day. Regardless of Rex’s weaknesses in raising Jeannette soon enough it proved that Jeannette’s love and admiration for her father was impeccable and only proved that Rex played a huge role in her

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

Rex Walls is a wonderful father when he is sober, one who teaches his kids how to live a meaningful life and the purpose behind it. But, when he drinks, his rage takes over, and he becomes someone his kids cannot look up to and someone they are genuinely scared

Throughout the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls all psychological premises of parenting paradigms are shown but the most fitted paradigm would be the permissive parenting paradigm because Rosemary and Rex Walls acted more as friends than parents, left their kids to self-regulate, and did not require mature behavior. Permissive parenting includes that the parent “act more as a friend than a parent” (Cherry, “The Four Styles of Parenting”) and throughout The Glass Castle there is many evidence that indicates this. In one scene Jeanette is describing the relationship with her dad and neighboring children, “Kids from the Tracks came knocking at the door, and when I answered, they asked, ‘can your dad come out and play?’” (59). This is a prime example of permissive

A few times in the book she would be inappropriately touched, or beaten up, and her father would do nothing to avenge or just protect his daughter. Brian came to her side a couple times and defended her against bullies, but Rex would never be empathetic. She had a little brother, but what she needed, was a preventive father. When Rex came home drunk most of the nights, he was violent and rude to his children. To try and make a difference for the whole family, and to get them to believe in Dad again, her birthday present she wished for was for her father to stop drinking. He lasted a couple months, but the disappointment and betrayal she felt of her father was immense and “...she couldn’t believe Dad had gone back to the booze” (Walls 123). She was the last to believe in him and with the overwhelming dishonesty and deception, at last, she had finally lost faith in her Dad.

Instead of spending his time and energy on making sure his family does not starve he "soaks up booze like a sponge." Walls even further describes him as a man who "knowing that all the bars and liquor stores would be closed on Christmas, usually stocked up in advance." Even after stating statements like these she still writes, "In my mind, he was perfect." As a result of her father's inability to support the family, Walls gets a job and recalls her father begging her for money. When she questions him about his need for the money he simply responds, "For beer and cigarettes." She responds perversely by saying, "I have bills piling up. I have kids to feed." Despite finding herself switching roles with her father, she never complains and sees her father through forgiving eyes and claims, "Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for it." Although her father may have a "slight drinking problem" she manages to not dwell resentfully on this, and instead chooses to believe he loves his family very dearly even if he does not show it all the time.

The parenting styles of Rex and Rose Mary were significantly different from the norm. While many parents believed in “setting rules and punishments for breaking the rules” (Walls 91), the Walls believed that “the best way to let children fulfill their potential was by providing freedom” (Walls 73). In fact, Rose Mary had her children “suffer when [they were] young”, believing that it helped “immunized [their] body and [their] soul” (Walls 28). In addition, Rex and

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.

Well come on…I’ll make a batch of biscuits,” (26). Rose steadily tries to be the best mother that she can be for the Maxson family and not just take care of herself. She represents the primary care giver of the Maxson household by cooking for everybody and bringing the whole family in together to eat. “Okay, Troy…you’re right. I’ll take care of your baby for you…cause…like you say…she’s innocent…and you can’t visit the sins of the father upon the child. A motherless child has got a hard time,” (79). By Rose saying and doing this, it just proves how loving and tender hearted she is. Even though Rose is not the child’s mother, she still wants what is best for the baby. “Stop that yelling. You gonna wake up Raynell. I just got her to sleep,” (80). This shows that Rose has fully accepted Raynell as her daughter. Rose does not see Raynell as just Troy’s daughter but also hers too. Rose says, talking about Lyons, “Let the boy have ten dollars, Troy,” (19). This shows how loving and caring Rose acts towards Troy’s son. Rose and Troy clearly do not have enough money to be giving it out, but she encourages Troy to give some to Lyons because she cares about everyone. Rose is a very good hearted person who uses all of her characterisitcs to keep everyone in the family together and keep them in check.

She has no sympathy that her daughter was just sexually assaulted by a family member, even though about 60% of children who are sexually abused are abused by the people the family trusts (“Darkness to Light End Child Sexual Abuse”). Rex and Rose Mary tell Jeanette that she will be fine and that she can handle herself. They are too busy trying to pretend that their financial situation is okay to truly care about Jeannette being sexually assaulted.