The Glass Castle Summary

Jeannette’s view on fire acts as a symbol for her family and life. Just like fire, Jeannette’s life is unpredictable, as well as the actions of her family. Fire can do good things or can be very harmful; its’ actions can be sudden, dangerous, or painful, and the path it decides to take can change Jeannette’s life in the blink of an eye. The behavior of the Walls family assimilates with that of fire, in the way of turmoil that both can bring, either to the Walls family itself or others around

Jeannette and her little brother Brian spent a long time digging this hole, therefore it must have been devastating to watch as it was used as a place to stow away the family’s garbage. Jeannette was starting to realize that her father was probably never going to build the Glass Castle. Rex still hoped that his daughter would believe him, that she would feed him the lies for a little while longer even though the idea of the Glass Castle was slowly slipping away.

Describe Jeannette’s childhood, specifically her socialization or the process by which she acquired family values, information about social expectations, and survival strategies.

The Glass Castle, a memoir written by Jeannette Walls, is a story that discusses the insights of a dysfunctional, yet vibrant family. The four Walls children have two parents, Rose Mary who was an unconventional artist, and Rex who was an alcoholic father. The family travels constantly across the country, with their parents using their imagination as a distraction from their poverty. Despite the hardships the Walls family has faced, Jeanette writes her truth in order to reconcile with her past. She expresses through her story of how she has reflected upon her childhood, and how it has shaped her character in the present (The glass castle: Jeanette Walls, 2016). The majority of readers may believe that Rex Walls is an irresponsible, neglectful parent. However, Rex’s viewpoint of how he cares for Jeanette and her siblings can be portrayed as supportive, intelligent, and sensible.

Throughout Jeannette’s, Lori’s and Brian’s life they had to work for what they wanted and that affected the rest of their lives. One of the places this was shown was when she had her job at Becker’s Jewel Box. As jeannette saw it “ ‘we were about to run out of grocery

[Imagine having irresponsible parents that are constantly moving around the country] That is what Jeannette Walls went through and she tells her story in The Glass Castle. She is abused by her grandparents and is abandoned by her parents. Jeannette and her siblings eventually end up moving to New York City for a new life. *Hardships bring families together by teaching them to help each other out.*

Jeannette used this scholarly excellence to begin making a better life for herself as a teenager. She explained “I made money babysitting and doing other kids’ homework...I charge a dollar per assignment...I also tutored kids for two dollars an hour” (224). Jeannette learned at a young age that in order to get out of the problems of living with her parents she would have to work her way out. Even before she got out of high school, she used her intellect to start the dig out of the deep hole of her parents’ money management issues. The tentative beginnings of her lucrative work built up to her being able to move to New York with her sister Lori who was already there and get a job to further support herself. Her success even allowed her to have leeway to try to pull her mother out of the financial ditch as well. Upon her astonishment that her mom brings forth that she’s worried about her, Jeannette reassures “‘I’m doing very well. I’m very, very comfortable’” (269). She has acquired comfort and now can function as a regular member of society like she has wanted

The Glass Castle, a memoir published by Jeannette Walls in 2005, shares the harsh and troubling times a family is forced to overcome. Two very important women in the Walls family’s life impact their struggle tremendously. The mother of Rose Mary Walls, Lily Smith, also known as Grandma Smith is a caring yet strict influence on the Walls family. On the other side, Erma who is Rex Walls’ mother, is an extremely rude and careless mother and grandmother who doesn’t want anything to do with Rex and his family.

In The Glass Castle, the main character Jeannette Walls struggle with her childhood, dealing with her nomadic life, her early independence, and her complicated relationship with her parents, Rex and Rose Mary.

The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeannette Walls. In the book Walls describes her and her siblings’ extremely poor upbringing by their unfit parents. Some of the major themes in the novel are the effects of poverty, independence, and forgiveness. The effects of poverty are shown throughout the novel as Walls describes the lengths her family went through just to get by such as shop lifting clothes and the plan her father came up with to get more money from the bank. Walls shows the theme of independence when she says “Mom liked to encourage self-sufficiency in all living creatures” (Walls 77).

Jeannette decided that if her parents could not provide them for her then she would invent her own night braces for her to wear to straighten her teeth out. By using the materials she had on hand, she was able to procure a set that she felt could help her. When the children finally had enough of their living situation, they all found ways to save up money so they could get out of their horrible lives and into better, more humane ones. The children would mow lawns, lie about their age or make themselves seem as if they were German to finally obtain a more stable life -- one where they did not have to worry about when they were going to have their next

The main character Jeanette walls and her older sister Lori walls represent the decision making process the best between the other characters in the memoir. Both of them recognized that living in poverty is not what they wanted. They would have sleepless nights and go days without eating food. As time went on they identified alternatives to try and end their poverty. Their type of poverty was situational because it happened through a situation involving their parents not keeping a steady job. After identifying alternatives they evaluated the alternatives and realized that their father would never stop drinking and change his ways on finding a good job. They later selected and implemented an alternative making a big decision to save up money behind their parents back and to leave their parents to move to new york, and start a new and successful life after leaving. In New York City, Jeannette was able to quickly s as a reporter, which has always been her life time goal. She and Lori began eating very well and enjoyed the fact that they finally had a roof over their head. They eventually ask their siblings Brian and Maureen to move in with them.When they come to live with their sisters they enjoy having each others company and were

After the fight, Jeannette realizes that she cannot change her parents and the path they are taking. Instead of changing her parents, Jeannette focuses on changing herself so that she can be successful. After a long period of hard work she finally moves to New York to start a different life. In New York she becomes a dedicated author and newspaper reporter with lots of potential. Her change to become a better person than her parents helped overcome her struggles of living in poverty while also become wiser in the

The book starts out as Jeannette seeing her mother on the streets of New York digging through a garbage can, and how embarrassed she is of who her mother was. But when you get to the second chapter it starts out with her earliest memory, of being on fire at just three years old. Right from those two chapters you can tell she had a crazy life as a child.

In her memoir, Jeannette struggled with loss because of her family’s lifestyle. As Jeanette put it, on page 19, “We were always doing the skedaddle . . .” The Walls constantly moved to avoid police and the idea of settling down. When moving, the family usually moved to remote locations, working odd jobs for money. Another example of of loss in Jeannette’s life is when her parents threw her cat out of the car. Her mother claimed, “Cat’s don’t like travel,” on page 18. Jeannette said, “[My father] stopped the car, grabbed Quixote by the scruff of the neck, and tossed him out the window.” Her father sped up the car and drove off, leaving the cat in the dust behind them. In addition to the loss of her cat, Jeannette’s grandmother passed away. Although, Jeannette was not very close to her grandmother, she mourned the loss of her family member.