Self Reliance In The Glass Castle

Her dad carried her away from the hospital without payment, and then her mom permitted her to cook again, moreover she said, “ Getting right back into the saddle” ( Glass Castle 47). Jeanette was not angry at such young age and soon the family had to pack their belongings into bags and “do the skedaddle” as her parents always said. The parents were fleeing from bill collectors. Although Jeanette's father was an alcoholic, he could get work almost anywhere, often in small towns. The family was moving because of these things, she never complained when they did not have enough food. Jeanette always forgave her parents, she understood what they were going through.

She has always felt a responsibility to take care of her siblings, earn money to help with finances, and control her father when he was drunk, even taking him home from the bar. Jeannette would try to bring food home for her siblings when she found any extra. At one point she says, “I felt like I was failing Maureen, like I wasn’t keeping my promise that I’d protect her.” (206) In reality, Jeannette should not be the one in charge of protecting her siblings and making sure they have enough food and necessities but she does because her parents don’t. She also feels the need to make extra money because her parents don’t have steady incomes. By the age of thirteen, she was the head of the household for the summer and had a job that paid forty dollars a week. (209, 215) She was making more money than either of her parents and she wasn’t even old enough by law to have a job. Another example of her maturity beyond her age is when Rose Mary makes Jeannette retrieve her father from the bar when he doesn’t come home after a couple of days. (181) This a job that Rose Mary should be doing herself but instead she sends Jeannette so she doesn’t have to deal with

The Glass Castle is an enthralling story of Jeannette Walls’s extraordinary childhood riddled with unfortunate circumstance after circumstance. With her parents unable to hold steady jobs, Jeanette and her siblings became accustomed to constantly running from bill collectors, living in a continuous cycle of hazardous, disheveled homes, never knowing when or where their next meal was going to come from. Her memoir begins with the rehashing of a trip she took as an adult to attend a party in New York City's Upper East Side. As Walls glances out the window of her taxi, she spots her mother, Rosemary, rummaging through the garbage. Jeanette panics and promptly turns back home, first worrying about her professional image hoping no one will see the two of them together. But then she worries on a much deeper level about her mother's wellness, being cold, homeless, and alone in the New York winter. Following this, Jeanette has a lunch meeting with her mother which prompts Jeannette to contemplate her parents' unfortunate voluntary lifestyle and the childhood she had with such unstable and erratic “role models.”

Jeannette Walls, author and subject of, “The Glass Castle” was taking a typical drive through New York City when she saw her mother digging through garbages off to the side. The reader soon discovers that her mother had indeed been homeless for multiple years at this point, but then reads on to see the sense of shame Walls feels leads her to dig deeper into her childhood and more so, how her parent’s decision affected her. Walls efficiently portrays the theme of survival while taking us through her seemingly daily struggles in, “The Glass Castle”.

Jeannette is very insecure about her past life of poverty, and although she has now dug herself out of the rut of destitution, her parents’ continued homelessness is always a reminder of

The Glass Castle gave Jeanette and her family a false hope when they believed that their father would actually build the castle. Jeanette realizes that her father will not build the Glass Castle once she reaches adulthood, as she grows up she slowly begins to believe in this dream less and less. She stops believing in this because her father makes many promises to her, but he never fulfilled those promises. When they began to build the glass castle like her father told her they would, Brian and Jeanette had dug the foundation for the Glass Castle, her father tells her them to throw the trash into the hole, this is like calling their dream garbage. Even though they took so much time to build the foundation, believing that it was actually for the castle, “the hole for the Glass Castle’s foundation slowly filled with garbage” (Walls 155). He told them many times that they would build the castle, and that they only needed money to build it, but they never do. Even when they actually have money from Jeanette’s grandma dying, he

The Glass Castle is the story of Jeannette Walls, the main character and author, and her upbringing in a dysfunctional family ravaged by poverty. The book gives the readers insight to the life of the less fortunate in a chilling and capturing way. Throughout the book, they’re many underlying themes yet only one resonated throughout the text and captured the essence of what the glass castle is truly about: the importance of hope in burdensome situations. Through the struggle of the Wall’s family, the author is able to highlight hope as a significant factor in their survival even at a subconscious level. Be it through the mother, Rose Mary Walls, refusal to give up the farm land due to her long-held family beliefs; or the father's, Rex Walls,

My first exposure to the high-flown pap of Benjamin Anastas’s “The Foul Reign of Self-Reliance” came in a quiet library at the private institution where I had enrolled to learn the secrets of education and because I wanted, at the age of 21, to fulfill my philosophy core and graduate on time. Cute openings aside, Mr. Anastas has a significant amount of gall calling his private school teacher Mr. Sideways when it seems, to me, that he is the one with the skewed vision. As I read through his essay the first time, I found myself growing discontented and distant from the author. As I read through it a second time, I began to grow increasingly frustrated and outraged at how Anastas twisted

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

THE GLASS CASTLE: TWO MAJOR TURNING POINT Development is one of the biggest factors in the Autobiography The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls about Jeannette Walls. Many characters throughout the book go thru some kind of change whether it be major or very minor such as Jeannette and Lori finally escaping the filth family once and for all, or Dinitia bullying Jeannette to being her friend because she helps her with homework; wow, what a genuine friendship that must be.

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.

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.

Secondly, self-sufficiency is illustrated through motivation. One afternoon when Jeannette was at home by herself child services came to talk to her about her living conditions and her parents. Jeannette told the man to come back when her parents were home. When Jeannette’s mom came home she told her what happened and that she needed to do something so child services wouldn't take them away, Jeannette’s mom then said, “Jeannette, you're so focused it's scary.”(195) Rosemary says when Jeannette is focused she can get intimidating. Jeannette is motivated by the need to protect her family, which shows her self sufficiency because it's up to her to keep the family together, because she knows her parents are unreliable. Additionally, Rosemary has been known to feel sorry for herself and expresses how she hates her life. When Jeannette sees her mom wallowing she stands there in disgust watching her mother give up on life when she

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.

During times of difficulty, people are forced to survive and prevail by using specific traits that help them do this. For example in the memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls grows up in an environment that forces her to use certain traits to help her overcome adversity in her childhood. For example, her ability to distract herself from negative situations, her acceptance during tough times, and her constant trust that her parents will only do the best for her, are a few examples of these traits. As the story progresses, Jeanette continually and constantly uses these traits.