The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

American journalist, writer, and magazine editor David Remnick once said, “The world is a crazy, beautiful, ugly complicated place, and it keeps moving on from crisis to strangeness to beauty to weirdness to tragedy.” In the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls the main character and author of the book tells of her crazy and adventurous life she experienced with her not so ordinary family. This quote relates to The Glass Castle, because like it states, life is full of both tragedies and beauty which is exactly what Jeannette experienced growing up with her free spirited and non-conformative parents. Walls is able to express her main purpose of the book that life is a mix of good and bad times through imagery, tone, and pathos.

Perseverance is steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls illustrates the beneficial effects of perseverance through the use of figurative language, symbolism, and imagery. The Glass Castle is a memoir written about the dysfunctional family of Jeannette Walls. Being that her family situation was one of neglect, irresponsibility, and poverty, Walls had to endure many hardships which shaped her as a person.

Colson Whitehead once said, “Let the broken glass be broken glass, let it splinter into smaller pieces and dust and scatter. Let the cracks between things widen until they are no longer cracks but the new places for things”. In the memoir “The Glass Castle,” author Jeannette Walls faces despair and turmoil as a result of her impoverished and dysfunctional upbringing. As Jeannette grows up, she watches her father Rex fail to reach his full potential and his dream to build a Glass Castle shatter as his alcoholism takes control. Aware of the devastation her father was causing, she begins to slowly lose faith in him but doesn’t fail to escape her destructive household and pursue her dreams of becoming a journalist. Due to her parent’s lack of parenting and being forced to fend for herself, Jeannette developed a sense of responsibility to care for others and make amends to improve the family’s lifestyle. Despite the turbulence and destruction her parents had caused over the years, unlike her father, Jeannette was able to find the strength to overcome obstacles, developing characteristics that ultimately lead her to achieving her dream, thus illustrating that adversity has the power to shape one’s identity.

In the memoir, The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls the author depicts her poverty-stricken past along with her eccentric morals, and dysfunctional parents as they traveled around the country avoiding debt-collectors, while handling unruly situations. The author lives with her three siblings: Brian, Lori, and Maureen Walls; and her two parents: Rex, and Mary Walls. The mother a struggling artist, and the father a jack-of-all-trades with an alcohol addiction. Together they move from town to town, and state to state avoiding the clutches of the ‘FBI’ a nickname Jeannette 's father gave to the debt collectors that were constantly chasing after them. Along the way they struggle with cases of sexual harassment, bullying, and

Jeannette Walls is an American writer in journalist who found success in New York City, most notably writing a gossip column for MSNBC in which she details the effects of gossip in politics. She published her memoir, The Glass Castle, in 2005. The book spent 261 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. In it, Walls recounts her childhood while growing up in an unstable family with her father and mother, Rex and Rose Mary Walls, her older sister Lori, and her younger brother and sister, Brian and Maureen. Rex and Rose Mary could not settle down and constantly uprooted their family of six to different locations in the southwest region of America. Neither parent could keep a job and struggled to feed and put a roof over their heads. In the novel, Walls views her parents as irresponsible because it rarely seems as though Rex and Rose Mary genuinely want to work and make money to support the family. They thrive off their sense of adventure, as they drive all over the country in a rundown car, looking for their latest shack to pile their family into, usually without running water, heat, or indoor plumbing. Walls will tell the story of her childhood through a series of pivotal moments that ultimately shape her opinion of her parents and lead her to a successful career in New York City.

Often enough, divorce usually has a negative effect on people. I am no exception to that. Though I was too young to remember what life was like before my parents separated themselves, having that life for as long as I can think of was not a good experience. It caused me to have a serious case of anxiety before going to my dad’s house for visitation, during, and after. No one likes to feel anxious or stressed, and I felt that everyday, all the time. I was a self-conscious, shy girl who wasn’t ready for complex

“The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls is an extremely captivating novel that really kept my attention throughout the entire story. It’s a fascinating story of growing up in circumstances that kept me shaking my head as I turned the pages. The Walls family is unquestionably one unlike any I’ve ever come across. The lessons and experiences that the children learned and endured were ones that molded their lives and established who they are today. Jeanette Walls goes through many descriptions of situations that she faced that people normally should not face. For most of her childhood, her family traveled from town to town because her parents always thought that they would hit it big, unfortunately her father was never ever to find a

In the seventh grade my parents decided to get a divorce, it had a very negative effect on my family. Being in middle school the situation was very confusing and vague. I thought to myself how annoying it’s going to be switching houses every week and having double the thanksgivings, christmases, easters,etc. Also having

Although the idea of divorce can be sad, sometimes it’s necessary. My family has become so much closer through all of this and I can honestly say, I think we’ve all come out of it just a little bit stronger. I always heard people talking about how in order to really enjoy the high points in your life, you have to go through some rough times, and now, that really makes sense to me. This was by far the hardest thing I’ve gone through, but also the thing that has helped me grow the

Growing up in a divorced household was difficult when I was younger. It was even harder going to my mother's house since she was an alcoholic. My parents got a divorce when I was about two years old. I didn't even know what it meant to get divorced or to be an alcoholic. I'm glad that they split up when I was younger because I don't remember them being together that much anyway.

My parents have been divorced since I was the age of two. Being a child of divorce is all I’ve ever known and growing up I felt different than many of my friends. I never like having to explain my family situations to my friends because most of them did not understand what it was like to have divorced parents. I began to resent my parents for being divorce and wished it had never happened. However, as I continued to grow and mature my family began to grow; my mom got remarried and so did my dad. I gained a new stepdad, stepmom, two step siblings, and a half-brother. Looking back on it now I do not remember why I was so upset with my parents for their divorce; all I see now is the positive things it has brought into my life. I have gained so

My parents got divorced about eight years ago. For my younger sisters and me, we didn't quite exactly understand the emotional toll that it would take on our family at the time with us being such a young age. The first night sleeping at what I now had to call “my dad’s house” was unsettling knowing just one of my parents was in the house. In my little grade school mind, I was mainly concerned with the fact that my family would never be normal again and that I would be embarrassed to tell my friends that I lived in two separate

My mother and father got a divorce a few years back. Although I was 36 at the time of the divorce, I took it pretty hard. When couples split up, it takes it toll on the children. You really do feel like you have to pick a side. Another hard thing to have to deal with after a divorce is feeling the loss of friends and family. My father bad mouthed my mother to a lot of friends and she did the same to him. I noticed that their friends seemed to have taken a step back for a few years until the negative energy died down. My father also has no family in Texas, so all the family he had was my on my mother’s side, and he lost them all. I’m sure he felt alone for a while and maybe he still does. (who cares) The main thing that makes divorce difficult it the finances. My mother was a house wife her whole life, so now that she is in her late 60’s, she had no income. My older sister and bro-in law moved in with her to help her pay bills for about 3 years and now my little sister lives with my mother. I am thinking about redoing my guest bathroom to accommodate her when it’s my turn. Dealing with finances is one of the hardest things in my situation but in the beginning, I was very worried about my mom’s emotional health. Losing your first love to infidelity is so heartbreaking, I’m sure that depression and grief make divorce very

My parents got divorced when I was just four years old. Ever since then my parents have been aparted from each other and it was rough growing up with them when they were fighting continuously on who will get custody of both my brother and I. A short year after the separation my dad met a girl named Shannon and they fell in love. My mom on the other hand was still only focusing on trying to get custody of us kids. Not that my dad wasn't focusing on that as well. Now I am going to tell you my life living with my dad and his new girlfriend and kids. I will also explain how the divorce impacted my life in a negative and positive way.

My parents are divorced and have been since the end of my 8th-grade year. I didn’t take it well because I was younger and couldn’t understand why. Since my parents have gotten a divorce my father has somewhat fallen out of my sister’s and my life. He is still there and will always be my dad, but he just isn’t around a lot. Also, my other sister, Paige, graduated with an engineering degree. This is a specific example of how big situations and changes brings my family together. When Paige graduated from the University of Dayton we all traveled to Ohio, including my dad. That was the first time I had see him in a while and it was nice. After the graduation, we all went to dinner and then went our separate ways. I still occasionally talk to my dad, but overall my mom is the main parent in my life. With my parents being divorced and not talking to my dad that much me and my mom have gotten very close. At first, I kinda blamed my mom for the divorce because I stayed with her more and she was always there to blame. As I got older I realized it wasn’t just my mom. Between the end of 8th-grade year and now I think of my mom completely different. I tell her a lot more and we just have a good