The Glass Castle Literary Analysis

Today, poverty is one of the biggest social issues in the world. In fact, in 2012, 46.5 million US citizens (15%) lived in poverty (“Poverty in the United States: A Snapshot”). Because poverty is such a large problem worldwide, it can often lead to other social issues. The presence of poverty was quite clear in The Glass Castle. Throughout the entire story, the Walls family had a shortage of money. However, poverty was not the source of their problems. In fact, poverty was just another link in a long chain of social issues. Although there are many reasons for the Walls family’s poverty, the most obvious reason is Rex’s alcoholism. Rex’s drinking problem was detrimental to the family’s economic prosperity in many ways. First, the expense of his booze was constantly leeching away the family’s money. As Jeannette’s sister Lori says, “He spends more than he earns on booze” (Walls 78). Any time Rose Mary receives a paycheck, Rex forces her to hand it over. While he says that the money will go towards his gold-leaching research, the vast majority is spent on his alcohol. As Rose Mary says, “The only research you’re doing is on the liver’s capacity to absorb alcohol” (Walls 76). Another way in which Rex’s alcoholism leads to the family’s poverty is its detrimental effect on his work. Because he is so dependent on alcohol, Rex often spends more time drunk than he does helping his family. Instead of

As a child, Jeannette’s sense of wonder and curiosity in the world undermine the need for money. During her young adult years, a new wave of insecurity associated with her poor past infects her. Finally, as an experienced and aged woman, Jeannette finds joy and nostalgia in cherishing her poverty- stricken past. It must be noted that no story goes without a couple twists and turns, especiallydefinitely not Jeannette Walls’. The fact of the matter is that growing up in poverty effectively craftsed, and transformsed her into the person she becomeshas become. While statistics and research show that living in poverty can be detrimental to a child’s self-esteem, Jeannette Walls encourages children living in poverty to have ownership over their temporary situation, and never to feel inferior because of past or present socio-economic

Her dad carried her away from the hospital without payment, and then her mom permitted her to cook again, moreover she said, “ Getting right back into the saddle” ( Glass Castle 47). Jeanette was not angry at such young age and soon the family had to pack their belongings into bags and “do the skedaddle” as her parents always said. The parents were fleeing from bill collectors. Although Jeanette's father was an alcoholic, he could get work almost anywhere, often in small towns. The family was moving because of these things, she never complained when they did not have enough food. Jeanette always forgave her parents, she understood what they were going through.

She says, “If we asked Mom about food—in a casual way, because we didn't want to cause any trouble—she'd simply shrug and say she couldn't make something out of nothing. We kids usually kept our hunger to ourselves …” (Walls, 42). The fact that Jeannette and her siblings are afraid that they will get in trouble if they ask about food, and they usually do not talk about their hunger because of that fear, shows how much their parents expect them to do for themselves. Rex and Rose Mary do not want to hear about their children being hungry and prefer that they find food themselves instead of having Rex or Rose Mary find food for them. When the kids do tell Rose Mary about their hunger, she shrugs it off. Around the same point in time in the novel, Jeannette and her sister Lori get so hungry that they resort to eating margarine and sugar. When Rose Mary discovers that the girls ate the last of the food in the house, she gets upset and says “It's not my fault if you're hungry" (Walls, 43). When she gets upset and says that it is not her fault, it implies that if the kids are hungry, then they are responsible for finding food to feed themselves. Most parents ensure that their children always have food, even if money is scarce. Rex and Rose Mary, however, allow the food supply in the house to get so low that their children either end up eating margarine mixed with sugar, or they keep their hunger pangs a secret.

violence, discrimination, mental health issues, physical and sexual abuse, hunger and poverty. Poverty was one of the major key issues addressed in this memoir. Poverty is referred to as the inability to provide for one basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, medical etc. Walls (2005), stated that at times they would go days without eating and would keep their hunger to themselves, but always thought of ways to get their hands on some food. She further stated that

Jeanette Walls’ The Glass Castle influenced my ideas about poverty by showing me that poverty can yield positive results. Before reading The Glass Castle, I believed that all poverty was tragic and life ruining. I thought that nothing positive or advantageous could come of out poverty. Reading The Glass Castle changed my opinion. In The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls and her siblings are resilient and brave. When the Walls family moves to Welch, West Virginia from Phoenix, Rex and Rose Mary Walls, Jeanette’s parents, travel back to Phoenix to pick up some of their old belongings and bring them to West Virginia. While Rex and Rose Mary are gone, Jeanette’s grandmother assaults Jeanette’s brother and banishes the children to the freezing basement. However, in the face of cruelty and cold, Jeanette and her siblings persevere and survive until their parents return. Poverty gives Jeanette and her siblings the ability to endure horrific circumstances. Because of their previous experiences with poverty, Jeanette and her siblings can withstand conditions and treatment that would have killed or crushed the spirit of a

Poverty is shown through many different forms throughout “The Glass Castle”. One of the main forms that poverty was shown through was the scarcity of food in the Walls’ household. According to Walls, “We did eat less. Once we lost our credit at the commissary, we quickly ran out of food” (Walls 67). When Jeanette Walls’ father, Rex, lost his job there was no money coming into the house, and without a steady income, the family was not able to buy food and pay rent. Therefore, the previously saved money dwindles rapidly. This is a problem in many American cities. The person who brings in most of the house’s income is laid off, or not able to keep a job because of psychological problems, there is no money to pay bills or buy food for the family to eat. Schools expect that children eat at least one meal a day, and whether or not that meal comes from home or directly from the cafeteria, the children are given a designated time to eat their food. Walls notes from a personal experience, “At lunch, Brian [Jeannette’s brother] and I sat together in the cafeteria. I was pretending to help Brian with his homework so that no one would ask us why we weren’t eating…” (Walls 78). Pretending to be busy is something that many people all over the country do to stop people from questioning why they do not eat at school. While there may be other reasons for not participating in lunch, one of the big reasons across the country is not being able to afford food. Most small towns like the one that Jeanette Walls lived in, have such a high poverty rate

Thousands of Americans use some type of help from the government, whether it is finical aid or food stamps and more than half of those Americans have children that they are trying to feed but barely getting by. It must hurt those thousands of people prides that they can’t put food on the table to feed their own children by themselves without help from the government hoping that one day they can support them; but they do what they must do to provide for their families, they put their pride aside and their responsibility first. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeanette’s parents Rose-Mary and Rex Walls have trouble doing this, they don’t accept hands outs or any form of charity because they think they can take care of their children by

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

However, with her alcoholic dad who rarely kept a job and her mother who suffered mood swings, they had to find food from her school garbage or eat expired food they had previously when they had the slightest bit of money. In addition, when bills and mortgage piled up, they would pack their bags and look for a new home to live in, if they could even call it a stable home, since they would be on the move so often. Jeanette needed a dad who wouldn’t disappear for days at a time, and a mom that was emotionally stable, but because she didn’t have that, she grew up in an environment where she would get teased or harassed for it. Jeanette suffered so much, that even at one point, she tried convincing her mother to leave her father because of the trouble he had caused the family already. A child should be able to depend on their parents for food and to be there for them when they need it, and when that part of a child’s security is taken away, it leaves them lost and on their own, free and confused about what to do next.

The parent’s decision to act freely and have no worries in life causes the family’s struggle, and leads them to poverty. The struggle for the family is shown in the quote, “Mom's salary created a whole new set of problems” (Walls.p.48). What this means is that money would solve all the family's problems, but it doesn't—mostly because the dad takes all the money. Later on in the memoir Jeannette says, “Mom decided Maureen

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,

She was fine with having just a few bucks in her pocket and didn’t really mind being poor. Even after growing up middle class, she kept her composure and didn’t break down often even though she didn’t seem like she had much to be positive about. The Faleau’s feel similarly to the Delgado’s in that they don’t need more. Their involvement with the Mormon church gives them fulfillment and satisfaction. All they have to obtain is the bare necessities and when they have those, they feel as if they are lucky to have them. The other families seem to be employing the coping strategy of “expecting and asking for more”. In the case of the Mah’s, they are upper class but still don’t feel like they have enough. They want their children to have the best of the best everything and keep them ahead of the curve so it keeps them feeling in need for more money. Similarly, the Calafato’s also don’t feel like they have enough. They aren’t upper class like the Mah’s but they’re still living a comfortable middle-class life. There reasoning for wanting more is to fund their children’s dreams and take the stress off of the mother who now has to work more often. Lastly, the Jenner’s who spend a lot on big-ticket items- are living paycheck to paycheck. The father has a stable income with great benefits but doesn’t really stop spending and this worries the wife. The wife wants more so she won't have to worry about

According to the reporter, Rochelle (mother) is not sending the children to school as she should. The reporter state is has been reported to the school, and to the Dept of Education. The children have mentioned to the grandfather that they are hungry and there is no food in the home. The children do not have enough food, but the grandfather would send Rochelle money to get food. It was unknown if Rochelle would buy food once the grandfather sends money. It was unknown if food was in the home, or if Rochelle has to the children to say that, just to get the money. The grandfather has also sent Rochelle money to purchase Masen sanitary items and clothes. James mentioned to the grandfather that it is hard to study in the home because there are

When speaking in the context of poverty, money is the primary aspect. Being poor means that there is not a lot of money available for the family. Thus the money that the family does have, needs to be spent appropriately through a budget. That budget includes bills, house, food, gas, and entertainment. Most of the money is spent paying bills to keep the house livable. After that, many families do not have much money to purchase food, gas, or entertainment. Food is a necessity to live and the gas is the way they go to work. Meaning sometimes a family will skip a meal or not have any form of entertainment. The primary concern for families is not being evicted from their