The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

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

As human beings, we live by our morals, outlining our ethical principles in distinguishing what is right from what is wrong. Our morals define who we are as a person, how we behave, how we communicate, and how we manage challenging situations. As stated by President John F. Kennedy, “a man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality” (225). In order to achieve and portray one’s morals and ethical principles regardless of the circumstances, a person must portray courage. As Ernest Hemingway defined it, “Grace under pressure (Kennedy 1).” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, courage is the “mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear or difficulty.” In the Pulitzer Prize winning book Profiles in Courage, written on 1957 by John F. Kennedy, some of the greatest deeds of political courage in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are discussed through the accounts of the historical events that inspired such acts and the consequences of those brave enough to carry them out. The author of the award winning memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, could not be considered a candidate for John F. Kennedy’s Profile in Courage Award because of the failure to fulfill of the requirements of the award, the type of courage portrayed, and the limited sphere of influence.

In the vivid, personal memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, she painstakingly recalls her “story” and how it affected and made her who she is today. She grew up in an environment that most children typically do not. Her father was an alcoholic, and her mother was a selfish woman who put herself first. You could say their way of parenting was not your average “cookie cutter” household. One main social issue in The Glass Castle, is the impact on child neglect in a family and how that affects the way the child turns out. Although, Jeannette Walls ended up as a successful writer along with her siblings Lori and Brian, her other sister Maureen took a route which many neglected children face. What set apart these siblings and how the

Rex Walls, a character in The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, is an abusive, manipulative parent. He exhibits many traits that are classified as neglective, abusive as well as endangering to the general well being of his children. This book tells the heartbreaking story of Jeannette Walls childhood into her adult life. As a child she was exposed to the worst and most sickening aspects of the world due to her parents incapabilities. It emphasizes the struggles of growing up in an underprivileged as well as dealing with her abusive and mentally ill parents. Tried in the court of law, Rex Walls would be charged guilty, due to the countless examples of evidence against him.

Usually in society parents are to be blamed for failing to raise their children in the right way. It is very easy for the society to criticize parents when they mistreat their child or not take care of his/her needs and wants. It is easy for a parent to get judged in society comparing to a child because parents are role models for children’s. Even when a child has been mistreated by her/his parent, it is easy for the child to forgive their parents. The reason behind that situation would be a parent’s unconditional love that a child sees, despite what he/she has been through. In the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, she portraits a situation like that where the character spends her childhood memories with her father. Even though Jeannette’s father Rex Walls was an irresponsible father and failed to protect his children, Jeannette still loved her father dearly.

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.

In order to create a building, you must first make sure the foundation is durable. Without a sturdy foundation, the structure won’t be able to stand up properly causing it to come crumbling down. Roofs are supported by pillars, wagons with wheels, and the human body with legs. Without pillars, wheels, or legs, the entire machine wouldn’t be able to do what it’s meant to do. In order to create a castle out of a material so fragile such as glass, it is crucial for the base to be as robust as possible. The ideals of a mighty foundation can be seen in the structure of a family. The parents are the bases that have the duty to make their children reach the clouds. Sons and daughters are a result of the nurturing

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.

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. An interesting novel, it switches back and forth between Jeannettes childhood adventures and her current life in New York City. During the childhood adventures, she describes growing up with her mom, Rosemary Walls; her father, Rex Walls; and her three siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen Walls. Invariably short on food and money, life is not easy in this family. Neither of her parents can maintain a steady job, resulting in no income for the family.

Dear parents, if you want to know what not to do in terms of parenting take notes from Rosemary and Rex Walls. In the memoir Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, both Rosemary and Rex Walls were terrible parents. They always put their own needs and wants over the needs of their own kids. Rosemary did many selfish acts like when she refused to get a job, she didn't give her children food, and wouldn’t sell her land or the diamond ring. Rosemary and Rex Walls are both terrible parents, but Rosemary was definitely the worst.

One bottle after another was the everyday life of Rex Walls. In many occasions, Rex frequently moved his family around and changed the place they called home. In reality, the only thing that needed changing was Rex’s bad habits of alcohol. He was a true example of someone suffering from alcoholism which effected himself and everyone around him. Alcoholism is a medical condition in which an individual frequently consumes too much alcohol and becomes unable to live a normal life (Campbell). In the memoir The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette exposes the cruel reality she and her family had to face growing up. She recalls all the empty nights when she would have to go from bar to bar looking for Rex, and unmask the difficult times that came with having a father overpowered by alcohol. Her father’s abuse of alcohol affected his children’s life growing up and destroyed any chance of his family ever living a normal life.

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.

“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