Summary Of The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Imagine living as nomads, without any sense of a real home. In addition to that; living with a troubled family that suffers from poor living conditions, alcoholism, and family drama. To what extent would you go to fix your family, or even moving away from them? The book The Glass Castle portrays the bizarre, impoverished upbringing Jeannette Walls and her siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen had to endure due to her dysfunctional parents. The author of the memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, writes about everything that occurred in her life from when she was 3 to when she was old enough to have her second husband; in which I would imagine in her thirties. Her stories consist of many adventures, both meaningful and traumatic. The reasons

As Jeannette was a child if someone wanted to do something and no one could help and someone would have do it on bye own. Jeannette shows. “I cooked myself some hot dogs. I was hungry, mom was at work painting and no one else was there to fix them for me” (15) Jeannette who is only three at the time conveys what her typical lifestyle is and shows how she doesn’t have a choice on doing and getting help from others.Jeannette never cared learning self sufficiency at a young age was different and never thought anything about it. Next, Jeannette’s mom was a big believer in self reliance even in any kind of living creatures. At a young age she was taught to never rely on anyone and always try to be independent. Jeannette explains. “Mom told us we were actually doing the animals a favor by not allowing them to become dependent on us. That way, if we ever had to leave, they’d be able to get by on their own. Mom liked to encourage self sufficiency in all living creatures” (64) Even at a young age she knew her family was strong on self reliance and always encouraged it even in any living creature her mom still believes it's okay for self sufficiency. Finally, as a child she couldn’t afford many items so she would have to think out of the box and try to do it herself. Jeannette never cared about what other people were thinking of her until kids started making fun of how her teeth looked. Jeannette explained. “I resolved to save up until I could afford braces myself…. I was getting a dollar an hour to babysit. I usually worked five or six hours a week, which meant that I saved every penny I earned, it would take about four years to raise the money. I decided to make my own braces” (201). Jeanette grew up being taught not to care about what other people thinks and just be

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

Have you ever heard of a family nowadays that are constantly on the move, frequently traveling throughout our country, stopping to live in one place for a couple months, then leaving for another place for a similar amount of time and doing that constantly? The Walls are a family that does do that. In the entertaining book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, a young girl named Jeannette Walls learns how to become successful in life through constantly being on the move. She lived with her with her parents and her siblings. Her parents, Rex and Rose Mary would be in a huge fight one minute, then would be hugging each other the next, which made it hard for the kids to grow up. Throughout Jeannette’s unusual childhood, she learned to have acceptance

They raise their children in odd ways and teach them things like “how we should never eat the liver of a polar bear because all the vitamin A in it could kill us” (Walls 21). Jeannette’s father taught her how to swim by simply just throwing her in the water. He told her “If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim” (Walls 66). He wants his children to experience directly the sink or swim moment. He believes that if he threw her in the water enough times, she would eventually learn to swim. After Jeanette finally learned to swim, she was very furious at her father for constantly pulling her back into the middle of the Hot Pot. However, she is very tolerant of the situation her father put her in, she explains, “Once I got my breath back, I figured he must be right. There was no other way to explain it” (Walls 66). Jeanette’s father made clear to her as if why he kept throwing her back in the water and she understands and accepts that it is just how life works. Compared to the fire incident, Jeannette’s parents were both really calm in both situations. When Jeannette was in the hospital because of the burns, her family came to visit her and they were “laughing and singing” (Walls 12). Her parents feels that it is okay “for kids to do what they wanted because they learned a lot from their mistakes” (Walls 59). Even though both situations could potentially be life threatening, her

As frigid snow frosts the sun-licked ice, a glacial wind howls against the trees. As a child, one would sip hot chocolate and watch a movie with their family. However, Jeannette Walls would be sitting on a dirty floor, cold with no food. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, 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 destitution and endured anguish during her childhood, these obstacles formed her into a self-reliant woman who proves that just because she did not have as much money as other families, she can still achieve success in her life.

Author, Jeannette Walls, in her novel, The Glass Castle, from pages 226 to 230, exemplifies the themes of escapism and betrayal. In this chapter, Walls’s purpose is to identify the instability that her family is going through. Through her diction, Walls creates various tones in order to convey to her audience that despite obstacles, it is possible to escape from a dysfunctional family in hopes of a brighter future. Walls begins the chapter by recalling incidents of disappointment.

Reading a book that is similar to The Glass Castle by Jeannette wall can help build a student’s resilience especially if that student is in a tough moment in his/her life. The article The Importance Of Resilience has some what similar problems like The Glass Castle. In the article the author discussed, about a man named Quashone. When Quashone was younger he lived in a bad neighborhood, from living there it lead to some bad decisions that he made. After telling his mom, those bad decisions they moved to a different neighborhood (Gorman, et al). Just by that one change in his life, it turned upside down from getting into trouble to graduating from college and having a family of his own. From reading books that are like The Glass Castle it can teach people, especially students, on how to build resilience accepting support, drive, and hard work.

The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, focuses on how a young girl attempts to live a "normal" life, while her own parents struggle to separate themselves from society. The memoir does provide evidence that shows how individualism can be beneficial, but nonetheless, there is also supporting evidence that represents the consequences. In this particular case, the benefits obtaining a sense of individualism don't outweigh the possible consequences, but instead the consequences outweigh the benefits.

In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls the most exemplified parenting style shown by Rex and Rose Mary is Permissive Parenting. The Walls parents have few demands, they don’t discipline their children, and they interact with the kids as if they were friends.

“Family like branches on a tree, we may grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one” (Top Quotes). In The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, her character in the story starts as a young girl that learns everything on her own. Eventually she adjusts into her own foot steps, but always loves her family values no matter the circumstances. Because Jeannette wasn’t looked after, she was adventurous and evolved into a responsible and mature woman.

In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, The Glass Castle is an important symbol to Jeannette and the rest of the Walls family. The Glass Castle represents hope to the children at a young age. Jeanette's dad loved telling stories to her when she was little “about the wondrous things he was going to do. Like build the Glass Castle” (Walls 25). In this case, the Glass Castle represents hope and luxury. The Walls are hoping for a life that is good and a luxurious bright future. Unfortunately, the family " 'never did build that Glass Castle"' (Walls 279). The Glass Castle represents something else at this point in the book, an unacheivable dream. Glass has the ability to shatter, this proves that Jeannette's father wanted something unattainable

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 tells a very interesting story in The Glass Castle; few people get the chance to experience such a unique childhood. Jeannette’s father and mother are unlike traditional parents. Her father puts his children in harm’s way and justifies it by claiming that it’s a learning experience and her mother fails to provide comfort because she is preoccupied over her own goals. As an innocent child, Jeannette initially does not mind living such a childhood. In fact she admires her parents, especially her father, despite his frequent drunken outbursts. However, as Jeannette ages, she finds herself disapproving of her father’s way of

In the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, we learn about the authors childhood. It goes into depth about her family relationships as well as the battles they face. With a book this complex there could be different feelings the author is intending for the reader to feel. Although there are other readings I’ve done that relate to problems in The Glass Castle.