Essay on The Glass Castle: The Memoirs of Jeannette Walls

‘The Glass Castle’ by Jeannette Walls, is a book of the trials and tribulations of the Walls family. Even though times had been tough and the parenting was not the best, at the end of the day they were all there for each other. With this tough childhood, Jeannette had, shaped her as a successful woman. Growing up, Jeannette learned responsibility, education and fearlessness all at a young age. Jeanette's childhood taught her all the things she needed to be a successful woman

Purposeful lessons from Jeannette Walls’s memoir The Glass Castle, taught from Rex Walls, teach his children life values. These lessons helped Jeannette thrive in the world as well as shape her character. However, the swimming lesson educates people in Jeannette’s situation to live independently and away from relying too much. Also, swimming demonstrates independence and how to achieve it. Swimming, of all lessons, benefitted Jeannette the most, applied to teens, and presented as the best advice by Rex.

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

The Glass Castle, recounts the dysfunctional family life of author, Jeannette Walls. The book begins with three year old, Jeannette residing in Arizona in a mobile home. Without any parental supervision, Jeannette was boiling hotdogs on the stovetop and burns herself very badly. Jeannette is hospitalized and treated for her burns. While there, she recounts how clean the hospital was and how caring the nurses were. The Glass Castle continues to chronicle her life as her father, Rex Walls, prematurely removes her from the hospital and moves the family here, there and everywhere. Rex Walls is always on the run from what he calls the "gestapo" and is constantly uprooting his family. They live in several deserted shacks without heat, electricity

Living in Welch was a very life changing time for Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle. In her book, she lives in many places but doesn't stay in the same place for long. Welch was the longest place her and her family lived. As Jeannette lived her life in Welch she kept running into unbearable situations which was due to her parents lack of ability to take care of them correctly. Unlike before Jeannette starts to realize these faults in her parents. Her mother had a job and was getting a steady income but on page 198, she says , ¨So even though she had a steady job, we were living pretty much like we had before.¨ Not only did Jeannette realize her mother could not handle money she also saw her unable to hold a job and her irresponsibility

Sometimes, one may feel trapped in a lifestyle or situation that leaves them confused and frustrated. Jeannette Walls grew up in such a situation; her life was an adventure full of childhood tales and unique experiences. Jeannette learned how to be self- sufficient, independent, confidence, strength, and optimistic despite the stark reality behind their plight. In Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, the author demonstrates how she values self-determination, which I agree with because it reveals how one can take control of his or her life despite the past.

Having parents that tried so hard to set themselves apart from society, all while struggling to earn money, had an impact on their children's lives, and it wasn't for the better. These children lived to struggle. With a bad home life, and parents that didn't seem to care for them enough, Jeannette, Brian, Maureen, and Lori Walls all eventually moved away from their careless parents, to New York. Although it took time for Lori and Jeannette Walls to save up what little money they had, due to the fact that the father continually stole it, they were able to move to New York successfully. Later in the memoir, their parents also decide to move there, except they don't try to better their lives like their

Not having a safe car and many other things show the parents didn’t do much to support their children in anyway either. They barely got a roof over their heads, and recurrently weren’t able to feed them. To the point where “When other girls came in and threw away their lunch bags in the garbage…”, Jeannette would dig them out and eat anything that they didn’t (Walls 173). Feeling abandoned and scavenging for food shows many signs of an abusive family. The Walls children should not have had to go through as much as they did, just to

Writer, Jeannette Walls, in her memoir, The Glass Castle, provides an insight into the fanciful and shocking life of growing up poor and nomadic with faux-grandiose parents in America. With her memoir, Wall's purpose was to acknowledge and overcome the difficulties that came with her unusual upbringing. Her nostalgic but bitter tone leaves the reader with an odd taste in their mouth. In some memories, the author invites her audience to look back on with fondness; others are viewed through bulletproof glass and outrage.

“Have I ever let you down?” (Walls). Rex Walls asks his children this question numerous times throughout the book. It shows how he is denying all the times he acts out and damages his family. In the children’s opinion, Rex is destroying the family piece by piece by being selfish with his intimidating threats. Leaving the children scared gives him more power and control over the family. Although well intentioned, Rex, from The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, is self-absorbed, and thus impacts his children in a negative way.

The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, is an autobiographical novel that shows how hard life can be when you have little to no money and highly deteriorated parents. During the whole memoir it shows how hard it is to live in poverty while at the same time trying to raise a family. The exposition of the novel is how having parents that cannot support their children because the lack of a stable income. The rising action is when Jeannette was in a taxi cab going to a party when she sees her mother digging through the trash can and feels embarrassed and tells the taxi driver to take her home. The major conflict in the novel is a man vs. man because Jeannette, her brother, and her sister are all affected by her

In the same fashion, dealing with Maureen Walls, the youngest child of the Walls family, had to rely on her friends and people she hardly knew to provide for her. This situation went as far as Maureen going to her friend’s house to eat meals and

As frigid snow frosts the sun-licked ice, a glacial wind howls against the trees. As a child, one would sip hot chocolate and watch a movie with their family. However, Jeannette Walls would be sitting on a dirty floor, cold with no food. In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it is revealed that as Jeannette grew up, she endured hardships inflicted upon her by her own parents. However, if Jeannette had not gone through these things, she never would have gained the characteristics that she values present day. Although Jeannette Walls faced destitution and endured anguish during her childhood, these obstacles formed her into a self-reliant woman who proves that just because she did not have as much money as other families, she can still achieve success in her life.

Introduction: Our parents. Our inspirations. Who we look up to. People who could never do wrong. But what would you do if your parents did something so wrong that they could be arrested? Or perhaps they did something unacceptable but you didn’t know anything more? Jeannette Walls deals with this throughout her childhood as represented in The Glass Castle. Her parents challenge the social norms and expectations with their uncommon lifestyle and teachings. While doing so, they put their children in awkward sometimes dangerous predicaments. This causes Jeannette in particular to decide whether she trusts and/or forgive her parents. Despite their questionable actions, Jeannette always finds a way to have love her parents. Jeannette always has to forgive her parents for their mistakes. Of course we love our parents, but how much are we willing to accept them if they aren’t as admirable as they seem. I have a few questions for you guys to think about on this idea. We will discuss the answers to these questions at the end so keep your responses in mind. Would you still love your parents if they convicted a crime? Would you still love your parents if they hurt someone? Would you still love your parents if they weren’t able to provide for you? Would you still love your parents if they lied to you? Would you still love your parents if they stole from you? These are hypothetical situations, but they allow you to think about the unconditional love you have for your parents. Now, why

A trauma narrative is a narrative that describes an experience or experiences that cause someone to be destressed and cannot be incorporated into their memory easily. Throughout her own traumatic narrative, Jeannette Wall’s describes different aspects of her everyday life that showcase various levels of significance. She is able to show how certain life events impact her plans for escaping her current socioeconomic status and her plans for the future. The text is also able to tell us about trauma, poverty, ourselves, and our society. Furthermore, the text demonstrates the impact that trauma and poverty can have and how they can have lasting effects. These concepts help us to think about our own life experiences and situations and they also show us how to be analytical about our society. Lastly, this narrative is able to reveal to us the different aspects of a traumatic childhood and how important and impactful this type of upbringing can be. Jeannette Walls uses her own traumatic autobiography to show that despite her adverse upbringing in poverty and passive and unattached parenting she was able to become successful. The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, shows the benefits and the value that can come from having a traumatic narrative. This is significant because it shows that an experience can shape a person, but a person can also shape the experience.