The Glass Castle Symbolism

In the memoir, The Glass Castle, it was evident the Glass Castle was not just a physical object itself, but holds a deeper meaning of symbolism towards the author, Jeannette Walls. After completing the book, it has been noted that the Glass Castle symbolizes the constant reminder of Jeannette’s hope that one day both her family and house will be in a stable, working position. Throughout the novel, the Glass Castle was vaguely mentioned as the Walls family continued their journey through the United States. However, through their ongoing journey, Jeannette’s view of the Glass Castle changed, as it was inevitably just a vision that her father had implanted in her brain but never actually built in reality.

Maureen is often forgotten throughout the entire story of The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls. We are very tragically reminded of Maureen’s presence when she stabs her own mother while living in New York. Reflecting back to the beginning of the story, we can see why Maureen has a mental breakdown. She is born into a world of violence, her parents fail to care for her, and she lives her entire childhood in neglect.

The memoir entitled The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls is a story of the eventful life Jeannette endured growing up with her three siblings and her parents. Jeannette lived a tough life, she was constantly moving, never had nice clothes to wear, and had to grow up faster than most children. The reason for the constant struggles in Jeannette’s life led back to her parents. Her father Rex Walls was outrageous, always making spur of the moment decisions which had taken a toll on the family as a whole. He was a severe alcoholic who made way too many promises he knew he couldn’t keep. Throughout the novel, the idea of the “Glass Castle” appears quite often. The Glass Castle is

The glass castle was a strong and meaningful symbol of hope; it represented the future the family could have had, and it gave them something to put their faith in. The glass castle was also an amazing symbol of broken promises; Rex assured everyone that his plans to build it would work out, but he ended up breaking that promise because the castle was never built. This connects to real life because a lot of people that still live in poverty have similar hopes for the future, and some of them will rise from it and succeed just like Jeannette. At the same time, a lot of people will fail even though they will try to rise from their poverty, which is why it also represents broken promises in real life. The glass castle was an amazing symbol for hope and broken promises, it is possible that if Rex dedicated himself, and did some things differently it

Author Jeanette Walls is an example of someone who has preserved and made something of herself despite the fact that she has a less-than-normal childhood. Her parents Rose Mary and Rex Walls struggled at time to parent efficiently, as shown in Jeannette Walls’ memoir of her childhood The Glass Castle. In the recalling of her unique and sometimes disturbing childhood, Walls paints a picture of inadequate parenting, dangerous techniques used on her siblings and herself, and events that may have inflicted permanent damage on the Walls children. Not only Jeannette, but her other siblings Brian, Lori, and Maureen Walls were also negatively affected by the way they were raised and the things that happened to them under their parent’s watch. Rose

I. An extended metaphor is described as a comparison between two unlike things that is introduced and then further developed throughout all or part of a literary work. Extended metaphors allow writers to draw a larger comparison between two things or ideas. In rhetoric, they allow the audience to visualize a complex idea in a memorable or tangible way. They highlight a comparison in a more intense way than simple metaphors or similes.

In this both heart wrenching and slightly humorous memoir, successful journalist Jeannette Walls tells the bittersweet story of her rather dysfunctional and poverty stricken upbringing. Walls grows up in a family trailed by the ubiquitous presence of hunger and broken down homes. Throughout the memoir she recounts memories of moving from one dilapidated neighborhood to another with her three other siblings, insanely "free sprinted" mother, and incredibly intelligent yet alcoholic father. The author focuses on her unconventional childhood with somewhat unfit parents much too lazy and self-absorbed to even obtain decent jobs. Although Walls's childhood gushes with heartbreaking tales of searching through dumpsters for food, she remains as

The Glass Castle tells a childhood story full of growing up with irresponsible parents, moving non-stop, and living in poverty. Jeannette and her siblings had to deal with situations that no one should have to go through. Her parents- the artistic but selfish Rose Mary and the intelligent but alcoholic Rex- neglect their kids and fail to provide for them. Jeanette and her siblings had to learn to provide for themselves, and are forced to mature at an early age to survive.

“I’m thankful for my struggles because without it I wouldn’t have stumbled across my strength.” Through the eyes of Alex Elle you first must struggle in order to find your true strengths. An obstacle that most of us deal with throughout our lives. Some, more extreme than the other, regardless having the power to lift us as humans or tear us down. These crossroads are formed at different points and for different reasons in each person's life, nevertheless morphing them into the people they will soon become. Along with struggle comes forgiveness. Allowing yourself to let go of the things that cause you the pain and struggle in order to move on. Giving yourself the opportunity to wipe your slate clean and start fresh. Throughout Flight,

“Life with your father was never boring.” – Rose Mary Walls. Rose Mary Walls, Jeannette Walls’s mother and Rex Walls’s spouse, reminisces life with Rex, which included migrating frequently, refusing to conform, and advocating self-sufficiency. Despite Rose Mary finding Rex disdainful at times, she still believes that being with Rex was an adventure. In Jeannette Walls’s The Glass Castle, Walls reveals that there are turbulence and order in life, the influence of family, and how she develops as she grows up through Walls’s recollection of her life, from living in a nomadic household, where her parents neglect their children, to living in a squalid hovel with no plumbing, and finally living in New York City, where she is employed as a journalist.

Through The Glass Castle, Jeannette shows the world how an impoverished, neglected girl grows into a successful author and wife. Jeanette, herself, is a living proof of ultimate success showing the world that no matter what situation you come from, ultimate success is completely possible. She starts out with memories from the time when she was as young as three along with the rest of her family, constantly on the move, deserted towns in the middle of the night "Rex Walls ' style” and lived in numerous places, all the way up to her present-day. Throughout her life, Jeanette dealt with poverty, hunger, malnourishment, along with an alcoholic father and an unstable mother. But for Jeanette, the

The scene in The Glass Castle that presented me with the strongest universal topic of theme is abuse. An example of this in The Glass Castle is when Jeanette’s parents are having a heated argument. Towards the end, her mother is dangling from the window, her father trying to hold her up. When the kids interfere and pull their mother to safety, she says he tried to kill her. In the book his response was, “I didn’t push her, I swear to God I didn’t. She jumped” (Walls 72). But even though Jeanette’s father said he didn’t push her, it is very obvious that he lied. This is because later in the book, he stated that he only believed in science, and claiming that there wasn’t a God. Therefore, his swear didn’t

This book was titled The Glass Castle for at least one main reason. This novel describes Jeannette’s childhood and one of the biggest things that she heard about during that time was from her dad when he said that he was going to build a glass castle for their family. “When Dad wasn’t telling us about all the amazing things he had already done, he was telling us about the wondrous things he was going to do. Like build the Glass Castle,” (Walls 25). The title shows you what she relied on as a child. It shows you where she found her hope and faith to make it through the tough times. She saw the glass castle as a way to live in one place and stop moving around. She liked the idea of living in a castle instead of little, dumpy homes that are falling apart. “All of Dad’s engineering skills and mathematical genius were coming together in one special project: a great big house he was going to build for us in the desert,” (Walls 25). He had promised them this, and she expected him to follow through. The idea of the glass castle is a big theme and symbol throughout the book, which is why it is also the title of the book.

Thirteen stripes and fifty stars were assembled to symbolize a land of the free. Symbols tend to have immenseful impacts on the lives of those they relate to. As for Jeannette Walls and her family, prominent motifs, namely the Glass Castle, New York City and a Joshua tree implicate strong faith in her father, rising up from vast dysfunction and a rebirth for not only herself, but her siblings as well. In her highly acclaimed memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls utilizes striking symbols to hook her readers as they immerse themselves in the convoluted chaos that is the Walls family journey.

Subsequently, Jeannette Walls uses three initial themes to effectively convey her message to her readers. The first theme being the idea that families have the tendency to let each other down at some point. After a typical day of Rex vanishing from the house, Walls blantly states “I waited on the front steps until bedtime, but he never came home” (Walls 132). While this event alone may seem like a huge deal, Rex’s actions that night spoke volumes. Jeannette had asked for her dad to stop drinking for her birthday and, for a while, he had succeeded.