The Glass Castle begins when Jeannette Walls is sitting in a taxi in New York City and looking out the window. She then sees her homeless mom from the window fishing through the dumpster. Jeannette later invites her mom to her favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. While they are talking Jeannette thinks about all the things that mom and dad did to her and how it brought her here. Jeannette’s earliest memory was when she was standing on a chair cooking her own hot dogs at three years old. Her pink dress then catches on fire and the fire reaches her face, and she gets terribly burned. After staying a few days at he hospital her parents show up, and Jeannette’s dad lifts her out of her bed and they do “the skedaddle,” and leave the hospital …show more content…
Everyone in Welch doesn’t like newcomers. Jeannette and Brian were enrolled in schools there and Jeannette’s mom didn’t’ have any of their records from Phoenix so they go to the principal to talk and the principal asks them very simple questions to see their intelligence. However, it does not work out very well because of the accent of the principal. After trying to figure out what the principal was saying they end up in classes with other kids that have learning disabilities. The first day of fifth grade for Jeannette was terrible for her. Jeannette got beat up from a girl named Dinitia. Dinitia would bully Jeannette everyday. Jeannette knows that her mom and dad can’t help so she tries to befriend Dinitia. Jeannette then sees the good side of Dinitia, and tries to be friends with her. Jeannette then sees Dinitia scaring a dog away from a kid and Dinitia befriended Jeannette. Jeannette’s parents decide to go to Phoenix to get what they left behind. The first day Jeannette’s parent are gone Erma calls Brian so she can fix his pants. When Jeannette goes to check on them she sees Erma touching Brian’s private parts. Jeannette then screams that Erma is a pervert and Lori, who is now thirteen, starts screaming at her and fighting with her physically. Erma then locks them in the basement, which has a door to go outside, but they can’t go inside the house. When Jeannette’s parents come back Dad found out what happened to Brian. Dad acts very strangely, which made Jeannette wonder if Erma did that to him as a kid. Mom and dad’s car broke down on there way back to Phoenix so they had to take a bus back, and they couldn’t get back the stuff they left in Phoenix. Mom and Dad decide to buy their own house in Welch because of Erma. The house they bought was in the worst part of Welch. It had a leaking roof, three rooms, and no plumbing. After awhile there a bully named Ernie Goad makes fun of Jeannette for living in trash. The
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.
The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls and it tells a story the life of Jeannette Walls and her family. Towards the beginning of the novel, the family made a pitstop at a casino in Las Vegas where the parents decided to gamble hoping they will earn extra cash. On their way home, the doors flew open, and Jeannette suddenly falls out of the car and rolls down a hill after the car took a sharp turn. The accident left her with a blood nose, multiple scrapes, and pebbles stuck on her skin. After a long wait, she began to panic that her parents decided to desert her. Eventually the car returned, and Jeannette accuses her family for leaving her behind and even refuses to hug her dad. This occurrence ends with her family calling her
People often fall into some sticky situations, but how they deal with them is the thing that matters most. In The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, she takes the readers through her life, starting at her earliest memory as a three-year-old, constantly living in a state of homelessness. Throughout the story, Walls experiences countless situations from her father being an alcoholic, to everyday school bullies. She uses a series of coping mechanisms to deal with, and sometimes terminate these issues. In fact, everyone of her siblings and parents uses various coping methods for these same situations. These methods may not always be the most effective, but people, including the Walls family, nevertheless use them to get by on their
According to a 2017 study done by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “More than 10 percent of U.S. children live with a parent with alcohol problems.” The author Jeannette Walls uses the book, The Glass Castle, to talk about her childhood struggles of growing up with an alcoholic father. The reason this book was appealing was because I grew up with an alcoholic father as well and I found it interesting to read about someone who had gone through similar situations. In the first 90 pages the author tells us about her chaotic family life. Her father, who is weary of civilization and authority, packs up the family camp often to roam around the desert. Due to their frequent moving her father is not able to keep a stable job,
“Life with your father was never boring.” – Rose Mary Walls. Rose Mary Walls, Jeannette Walls’s mother and Rex Walls’s spouse, reminisces life with Rex, which included migrating frequently, refusing to conform, and advocating self-sufficiency. Despite Rose Mary finding Rex disdainful at times, she still believes that being with Rex was an adventure. In Jeannette Walls’s The Glass Castle, Walls reveals that there are turbulence and order in life, the influence of family, and how she develops as she grows up through Walls’s recollection of her life, from living in a nomadic household, where her parents neglect their children, to living in a squalid hovel with no plumbing, and finally living in New York City, where she is employed as a journalist.
Describe Jeannette’s childhood, specifically her socialization or the process by which she acquired family values, information about social expectations, and survival strategies.
The Glass Castle tells a childhood story full of growing up with irresponsible parents, moving non-stop, and living in poverty. Jeannette and her siblings had to deal with situations that no one should have to go through. Her parents- the artistic but selfish Rose Mary and the intelligent but alcoholic Rex- neglect their kids and fail to provide for them. Jeanette and her siblings had to learn to provide for themselves, and are forced to mature at an early age to survive.
As flames engulfed her dress, they burned down her stomach as she screamed for help. This was the first memory Jeannette Walls had in The Glass Castle . The plot of the story reveals her childhood of poverty as she moved around the country with her delusional family. Her alcoholic father and mentally ill mother created a very different lifestyle for their children, and raised them like no other. The unique plot, strong characters, and many settings make the novel successful. In this autobiography, she perseveres through tough times and leads the reader down the path she took to adulthood.
“I’m thankful for my struggles because without it I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength.” Through the eyes of Alex Elle you first must struggle in order to find your true strengths. An obstacle that most of us deal with throughout our lives. Some, more extreme than the other, regardless having the power to lift us as humans or tear us down. These crossroads are formed at different points and for different reasons in each person's life, nevertheless morphing them into the people they will soon become. Along with struggle comes forgiveness. Allowing yourself to let go of the things that cause you the pain and struggle in order to move on. Giving yourself the opportunity to wipe your slate clean and start fresh. Throughout Flight,
In this both heart wrenching and slightly humorous memoir, successful journalist Jeannette Walls tells the bittersweet story of her rather dysfunctional and poverty stricken upbringing. Walls grows up in a family trailed by the ubiquitous presence of hunger and broken down homes. Throughout the memoir she recounts memories of moving from one dilapidated neighborhood to another with her three other siblings, insanely "free sprinted" mother, and incredibly intelligent yet alcoholic father. The author focuses on her unconventional childhood with somewhat unfit parents much too lazy and self-absorbed to even obtain decent jobs. Although Walls's childhood gushes with heartbreaking tales of searching through dumpsters for food, she remains as
Through The Glass Castle, Jeannette shows the world how an impoverished, neglected girl grows into a successful author and wife. Jeanette, herself, is a living proof of ultimate success showing the world that no matter what situation you come from, ultimate success is completely possible. She starts out with memories from the time when she was as young as three along with the rest of her family, constantly on the move, deserted towns in the middle of the night "Rex Walls ' style” and lived in numerous places, all the way up to her present-day. Throughout her life, Jeanette dealt with poverty, hunger, malnourishment, along with an alcoholic father and an unstable mother. But for Jeanette, the
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.
Maureen is often forgotten throughout the entire story of The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls. We are very tragically reminded of Maureen’s presence when she stabs her own mother while living in New York. Reflecting back to the beginning of the story, we can see why Maureen has a mental breakdown. She is born into a world of violence, her parents fail to care for her, and she lives her entire childhood in neglect.
The Glass Castle, a story about Jeannette Walls and her more than dysfunctional family. Jeannette and her family move around from town to town throughout America's west coast. Eventually, Jeanette’s begins to run out of money because of this they decide to move in with Jeanette’s grandmother in Welch, West Virginia. Jeanette and her siblings eventually decide to start saving up money to move to New York. Jeanette’s parents follow her and her siblings to new york after a while and end up on the streets. Rex, Jeanette's dad dies of a heart attack in New York City and her mother sticks to her life on the streets. The memoir comes to a close as Jeanette is able to reconcile with her past and all the adversity that she has gone through. The author uses literary devices such as imagery, irony, and foreshadowing to captivate the reader. The literary devices imagery. The irony and foreshadowing make the story worth telling because they make her story interesting.
Walls sets the tone of her memoir with the story of her earliest memory: being on fire. She uses this story to introduce the reader to the fact that from the start, her life did not fit the picture of the typical American dream. The first line of part two is, “I was on fire.” (9) and it is a quite a powerful one indeed. By using this eye-catching sentence, she uses the Pathos method of appealing to the readers emotions, namely, natural curiosity and empathy. As the story continues, the reader experiences the cool calmness of the hospital with Jeannette. Jeannette is not afraid during a hospital stay and enjoys the attention from the nurses. Walls uses simple childlike language to take the reader on a journey with her, from being placed in an ice bed with severe burns to chewing gum for the first time. By using this language, Walls gets the reader to sympathize her. The reader feels the loneliness that she feels while in the hospital and away from her family, but the reader also feels Jeannette’s excitement from being able to watch television all day and receiving three meals a day. From the start, Walls is incredibly tough and self sufficient. Through the tough lessons her parents teach her and the strong ties she has with her siblings, Jeannett becomes strong-willed and persistent.