The Glass Castle Alcoholism

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

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, seventy six million Americans have been exposed to alcoholism in the family. That means one out of four families is affected by an alcoholic, making alcoholism responsible for more family problems than any other single cause (Parsons). Alcoholism is a disease that not only affects the individual, but also everyone around the alcoholic. Alcoholics can make irrational decisions that are harmful not only to themselves but also to the people around them. These irrational decisions can cause financial instability for the household which, in turn, contributes to neglect.

What is alcoholism and how does it severely affect people? It is a chronic condition characterized by uncontrolled drinking and preoccupation with alcohol. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette’s father Rex, is an alcoholic. We assume he enjoys drinking when on page nine, Jeannette recalls her father smelling of whiskey. “As he held me close, I breathed in his familiar smell of Vitalis, whiskey, and cigarette smoke. It reminded me of home.” While it is concerning that young Jeannette knows what whiskey smells like, it is not concerning enough until page fourteen, paragraph six. “In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a little bit of a drinking situation. There was what Mom

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.

The journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research found a link between abuse and alcoholism. They found the more severe the abuse, the more severe the drinking. Neglect and abuse were the top traumatic experiences that leads to alcoholism. Even though the book only hints that he was sexually abused, this study shows the potential reason behind Rex’s heavy drinking. According to Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research there are two important reasons for this studies. “First, it supports the notion that genetics alone are not sufficient to account for a person’s vulnerability to addiction. Second, the results point a direction for areas that need to be explored in treatment.” In The Glass Castle, three out of the four kids did not drink like Rex. Moreover, if alcoholism was genetic they all would be alcoholics. Fortunately, as far as we know, their life’s turn completely around for the better.

likely to becomes unpredictable. For example, the drinker may become easily agitated and abusive. Another area of family functioning which is often affected by alcohol misuse relates to the kind of communications that takes place between family members.

Alcoholism is a demon, a disease, something reached for out of desperation. It helps with a person 's problem by deadening their senses, and increasing his problems at the same time by destroying his character. When you drink, you don 't have to think about all your problems, you can just let the alcohol wash them away from your mind. But it can never take away all your problems—they still remain, just your sense to care for them is gone. Alcoholism has a great chance to pass on to later generations, but sometimes growing up in an alcoholic family will make the children swear off the drink because they have seen what it can turn people into. It turns them into the basic raw human emotion of grief. They are miserable for alcohol is the only thing that can make them feel normal after awhile, their entire bodies ache for it. Even when they have given up drinking, their bodies can revert back after having just one drop again. Yes, alcoholism is truly a terrifying disease of the mind and body—not just to the addict, but also to the loved ones

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,

when she gets angry. She refuses to listen to his apologies and ends up leaving. Holden thinks that Sally is very phony of a person. Holden meets Carl Luce and tries to talk about sex with him , which annoys Carl and he leaves Holden early, but Holden continues to drink and ultimately gets very drunk. Holden is exhausted both physically and mentally and decides that it is time to go home. He sneaks into his apartment and wakes up Phoebe to be able to let her know what is going on. He tells her of his fantasy of himself being a Catcher In The Rye, a person who catches little children as they are about to fall off of a cliff. Phoebe tells him that he has misremembered the Robert Burns’s poem which says “if a body meet a body, coming through the

The word addiction has a strong, negative connotation and defined as the states of being enslaved to a habit or action. In the novel, The Glass Castle, Rex is addicted to alcohol. He is dependent on alcohol, constantly craving it and spend money on it despite the family’s financial situation.The text describes him, on many occasions, making his way down to the Green Lantern, the bar, with a drink already in his hand. Rex also takes money from the family to buy booze instead allowing the children to spend it on food to eat. For example, he would always demand for a part of Rosemary’s paycheck, refusing to take “no” as an answer. Additionally, Maureen is addicted to alcohol as well as smoking. Just like Rex, her actions suggest that she abuses

long term stable job; after he got drunk, he damaged household facilities, hurt his wife and children, and sometimes got some street fight and hurt himself. He is a man full of knowledge and life skills, he could have had a good career and a perfect satisfied family, but alcoholism ruined his life and he died indirectly from it.

But there’s one person who struggles with addiction the most is Rex. Alcohol addiction, also known as alcoholism, is marked by a craving for alcohol and the inability to stop drinking, even when it causes extreme personal or social harm. Signs of alcohol addiction include frequently drinking more than intended, wanting to stop drinking but being unable to, and feeling symptoms of withdrawal when stopping. The day when Jeannette turns ten she requests Rex to stop drinking as a birthday gift to her. The next morning, Rex stopped drinking and went into heavy withdrawals as Jeannette describes in her memoir, “He took the water jug I offered him. His hands were shaking so badly that he had trouble holding it, and water dribbled down his chin as he drank”(118). Research has shown how a parent raises their offspring is directly related to the child’s drinking habits, a study done by Kusmierski, Nichols, and McDonnell. For instance, as the family gathered around the iron coal stove in the living room. Erma brings out a bottle of whiskey which makes Rex happy for the first time since leaving from

In The Glass Castle Rex Walls displays various acts of selfishness because of his addiction to alcohol. These decisions not only affect him but his family concerning stability, finances and his relationship with his children and wife Rose Mary. The reason for his addictions started with the death of Mary. She was one of his daughters that died in her sleep and the age of nine months. After that he was never able to cope with it, being as though he was the one that found her lying dead. This left him in trauma and shock. In the TED Talk of “How to Educate Your Brain with Alcohol”, Sune Urth explains that your likes and dislikes are often based on a single experience and sticking to those assumptions will hinder your further development. For

Alcoholism is a disease that not only affects the user’s behavior, but strains financial standing and social interaction (“Alcohol Problems vs. Alcohol Dependency”). Jeanette’s father in The Glass Castle, an undiagnosed alcoholic, would be the poster child for alcoholism in America with his many blatantly obvious symptoms. His relationships with the people around him, his finances, and his control over his actions and emotions deteriorate as the memoir develops. With this, Walls paints a very accurate account of alcoholism and its effect in America.

Alcoholism, although thought mostly of its impact on the alcoholic themselves, it is also a very present problem in the ruining of his or her friends and their families lives. Someone who may be a fully functional, great person to his or her family may be extremely dangerous, dishonest, and destructive while they are under the influence of alcohol. This instance occurs in "The Glass Castle" with Rex Walls and also occurs regularly in our society today, such as abusive parents, and husbands. Without alcohol Rex was intelligent, responsible, honest, and a overall