The Glass Castle Literary Analysis

In “The Glass Castle”, pages 62-121, some of the characters have an experience that makes them undergo a change in character. While it is not too noticeable, if you dig deep into the text you can see how the characters are affected, and possibly make some predictions of how this is later relevant to the story. Some of the predictions and assumptions may not be totally accurate, but are made based on evidence from the story. Jeanette, Brian, and Lori all go through a transformation after they each experienced some sort of distressing event.

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.

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

To many people poverty is simply a socio-economic issue. To Jeannette Walls, poverty is her entire life. In this passage of The Glass Castle, Jeannette and her siblings are forced to face a situation they seem to have encountered before; hunger. Due to her dad’s newfound unemployment, Jeannette and her family are forced to limit the amount of food they eat and when Jeannette brings up this idea of eating less to help limit costs, Lori simply replies “We have before”, which helps to infer that this isn’t a new issue for them. This is one issue of many that have affected the Walls family due to the environment the parents have made. In the Glass Castle, we see Jeanette’s parents create an environment for Jeanette and her siblings where for a

In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette finds herself caught between colliding ethnic cultures when she makes a new friend who is African American and her grandmother, Erma, does not approve. Jeannette is confronted with Erma’s opinion when she says, “Keep this up and people are going to think you’re a nigger lover” (143). This quote shows how Jeannette was caught between the approval of a family member and what she considered was the right thing. It is obvious Erma is very racist and this greatly bothers Jeannette, whose parents have taught her to see no difference, but regardless she is not swayed by anything Erma says. Jeannette later recalls, “That didn’t seem like Mom. She and Dad happily railed against anyone they disliked or

The memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is the tragic story of Wall’s abusive childhood with her alcoholic father and living in poverty. One of the most important and memorable parts of her story of struggle is when she actually stands up for herself against her father on pages 236-238. Throughout Jeannette’s horrid childhood, she has always been loyal to her father, even though he has been highly abusive. It is at this point of the story Jeannette’s rhetorical strategies help convey to the reader her realization that she needs to stand up for herself and get away from her parents. Even in only three pages, Jeannette's strategies show how much better off she would have been without the help of her parents.

In “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, the author ecompasses many ideas about symbolism and how the environment affects the character, but there is one idea that is the strongest and seems to be most relevant. The idea that the main character, Jeannette Walls, grows and develops throughout the book and become more independent, steering on her own path. To show this important development, the author uses many literary elements including diction, syntax and tone. By the end of the memoir, Jeannette Walls develops from a naive girl to an autonomous women, putting herself in a better and healthier environment.

In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls she tells a story about her deteriorating family relationship between her and her parents and her circuitous travels to places such as welch and New York that made her realize she wanted a stable home life and not become dysfunctional like Rex and Rosemary. She uses tone, imagery, and symbolism throughout the passage in order to describe the traumatic events, negligence of her parents, and circuitous travels throughout her adolescence , particularly causing anyone to sympathize and be persuaded to continue reading see the way she solves her problems. “The Desert’’ chapter of the book Walls uses of tone, imagery, and symbolism. In this passage, Jeannette recalls being in the hospital; she caught on fire

While life has various precious resources, only some ever truly are important to the world. Even though we may choose what is precious to us, there will always be one above the rest. Money is our most precious resource in this world because we make lives for ourselves with it, and without money life would be difficult to go through.

It is important that every challenge is encountered and resolved. Challenges are given to every human being, whether it be a dysfunctional family or a uniquely vibrant family. To face the daunting challenge of attempting to understand, forgive and taking ownership is what the novel The Glass Castle greatly attempts do to.

There are multiple themes throughout the novel, but five really grab the reader’s attention. The first is self-sufficiency. Even during their hardest times, Rex and Rose Mary refuse to become a charity case. Walls stated that, “Mom liked to encourage self-sufficiency in all living creatures.” (77). They do not even accept help from their children in their late adulthood, even though they depended on the childrens’ incomes while they lived in Welch. The value of being self sufficient descends mainly from Rose Mary, whose upbringing in an incredibly disciplined home leads her to believe rules are overrated and everyone should be a free spirit. Her children, must learn how to be self sufficient and strong. They should not rely on society or doctors

The memoir portion set in the desert was very distinctive compared to the memoir portion in West Virginia. The desert was full of good times and adventures which Jeanette fondly recalled. The Walls family was very tight-knit, and it was them against the world as they “skedaddled” from one town to the next. The Walls family loved the nature of the scorching environment and especially the creatures and objects they discovered in it. The tone of the first half of the memoir was very innocuous and relaxed. Jeanette thinks her world was perfect and so was her family; she has a lot of faith in her father and his grand schemes, particularly the Glass Castle. Jeanette does a fantastic job of capturing this retelling through the eyes of a child and

Brimming with excitement, Jeanette decides to follow her sister, Lori, to New York. Her brother, Brian, shares Jeanette’s excitement and helps her count down the days until Jeanette leaves. On page 238 of The Glass Castle, Jeanette mentions that one night before her departure, her father, Rex Wells, visits her room. Her father carries the blueprints of the Glass Castle under his arm. Rex unrolls the blueprints and tries to convince Jeanette to stay by promising to build the Glass Castle. Jeanette refuses to be enamored by her father's empty promise. Jeanette has realized that her family has become a hindrance to her. The dialogue between Jeanette and Rex shows the separation that has grown between Jeanette and her family. Rex’s tone is pleading

In the novel The Glass Castle I would say we was most influenced by her time in Phoenix Arizona. She is starting to figure out who she is and what she is capable of such as confronting her father about being an alcoholic. Her father did not really enjoy living in Phoenix. Rex wasn’t the kind of guy who likes living in a city. The city was bad for rex but good for Jeanette.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, Art is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination”; but before someone can personally answer the question, “What is Art”, they must first define the purpose of the art. The purpose of creating and observing art is the same as to why humans read and study literature. Many people study literatures to educate, to tell stories to carry on a legacy, to convey their feelings or concerns, to open other people’s mind, to add drama to their life, or even as an outlet for frustration that built up. Literature and Art hold the same effect on people overall.