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The Glass Castle, By Jeannette Walls

Decent Essays
Throughout everyone's lives, we are given chances at having hope and being positive. Jeannette Walls, the author of The Glass Castle, took advantage of many of these chances. She started in a life of brutality and darkness. But soon, her hope for a better life helped Jeanette find a life of happiness and light. In fact, it was stated by Desmond Tutu that, "Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness." Growing up in a family that is constantly moving around and then settling in a town with close to nothing is never easy. For the Walls, it was not even close to easy. It was the complete opposite. But somehow, Jeannette was able to find a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, she would have to do…show more content…
If I didn't believe, they might not return." (pg. 146). They said they would be back. But Jeannette wasn't sure if they would be. She thought that they would leave her and her siblings with their grandparents and never returned. But Jeannette managed to convince herself that they would be back. Even if they weren't, she had hope that they would be home to save them from the hell that is Erma Walls.
After escaping Rex's childhood home, the Walls family found an old house to live in. However, Jeannette wasn't happy with how it looked and wanted to make it look somewhat nicer. "I was convinced that people might be more accepting of us if we made an effort to improve the way 93 Little Hobart Street looked." (pg. 157). With her family living in one of the worst homes in the neighborhood, she hoped adding a nice paint job would help in how they're viewed. She never finished the paint job, but she did have to take on a more mature lifestyle in the next few years. When she was around the age of thirteen, she lied about her age just so she could have a paying job. Jeannette went for an interview and, "He hired me on the spot for forty dollars a week, in cash. I was thrilled. It was my first real job." (pg. 215) Now that she had a paying job, Jeannette believed she could make a budget and eventually save up to leave Welch. She had aimed to leave after her junior year of high school. Her sister had done the same. Question was, would she be able to do the same?
Jeannette had
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