Theme Of Alcohol In The Glass Castle

Colin Smith Mrs. Johnson English 1 14 March 2024. Tipsy Rex’s subjects According to the NIAAA (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) around “7.5 million parents (10.5% of parents ) have an alcohol use disorder”. Most people only meet 80,000 people in a lifetime, that's over 12 times less than the amount of alcoholic parents. In the memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette lives with her alcoholic father who struggles with addiction and leaves his family behind for his priorities.

On page 58 of the book a specific quote really stood out about how it is so easy to get sucked up into the drug/alcohol game. “This game didn‘t require studying or exams. It didn‘t require a degree or vocational skills. All he needed was ambition. And guts. And, as Wes was soon to understand, and ability to live with constant fear.” This quote was referring to the other Wes since drugs were more heavily highlighted in his life than the Author Wes. For example, the other Wes’ father, Westley, fell hard into the drug/alcohol game. He was so much involved in it that the other Wes’ mother, Mary, had no choice but to leave him. Later on in the book, it is expressed that the other Wes’ children’s mother, Cheryl, grew into drug addiction. Wes realized that his customers were actually fueling Cheryl’s drug addiction, which played a toll on the other Wes. This theme of drugs and alcohol supports the statement in the textbook that drugs and alcohol are extremely

The word addiction has a strong, negative connotation and defined as the states of being enslaved to a habit or action. In the novel, The Glass Castle, Rex is addicted to alcohol. He is dependent on alcohol, constantly craving it and spend money on it despite the family’s financial situation.The text describes him, on many occasions, making his way down to the Green Lantern, the bar, with a drink already in his hand. Rex also takes money from the family to buy booze instead allowing the children to spend it on food to eat. For example, he would always demand for a part of Rosemary’s paycheck, refusing to take “no” as an answer. Additionally, Maureen is addicted to alcohol as well as smoking. Just like Rex, her actions suggest that she abuses

Rex Walls, the father of the family had the abuse of alcohol is the major resource of the family’s suffering. It seems that alcoholism is an individual behavior, however, many family and social issues caused by it make it rather to be a social problem. Such as domestic violence, suicide, murder, drinking driving, sex assault, unemployment, child neglect, poverty and many other mental health problems are all the result of alcoholism. In the book, Rex Walls is a typical victim of alcoholism. He cannot take a

Authors use symbolism in order to prove points, represent emotions, or even to show ideas. In the memoir, The Glass Castle written by Jeanette Walls, the 'Glass Castle' itself represents the ray of hope that each child had as they grew up in a financially troubled and twisted family. The Glass Castle design was also used by her father as a way to get his children to trust that he will always try to provide for and protect his family. Rex Walls, Jeanette's father stated that the Glass Castle would have glass staircases, heating and cooling powered by solar energy, and even a water purification system. He planned the rooms with extreme precision and, “Carried the blueprints for the Glass Castle wherever [they] went” (Walls 25). He even had the kids, “Work on the design for our rooms” (Walls 25). All of this would be funded by his Prospector machine which would separate gold from other rocks. However, this machine was never used and Rex's drinking and gambling habits would always force the Walls family to move to a new location, putting the idea of the Glass Castle in the back of their minds.

Having a father who treats coming home drunk as a hobby, can only cause a childhood stained with tears and trauma,which is exactly what Rex Walls caused for his children. Deprived of well-deserved euphoric memories, whenever they're asked to reflect on their younger years memories of countless disappointments will flood their minds. Rex Walls’s alcoholism disqualified him from being an actual father figure, instead he would be described as an unreliable, irresponsible, and reckless man. He constantly forgot that his actions had consequences and that he had children, who needed him the most at their young ages, to raise. Alcohol was the root of all this; it was the catalyst for the Walls children's disturbing childhood. Overall, alcoholism is an addiction that should be avoided out of all the negative repercussions it can cause. There is no doubt that Rex Walls was a very intelligent man with great potential to be successful and properly support his family. But he loosened his grip on the wheel of self-control, and let alcohol take over, the vehicle was lead off the road and wasn't able to find itself

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,

Alcoholism is sometimes a result of negative environmental factors a person has faced in his or her life. This was the case for Rex Walls. His mother, Erma, sexually abused him at a young age causing him mental and physical harm. Sexual abuse makes victims thirteen times more likely to abuse alcohol ( ). This would explain why Rex drank so much; he used it as a coping mechanism once he entered adulthood to escape the trauma that he had to experience. When sexual acts are imposed on a young child, their brain hasn’t yet developed an understanding to consent to these acts ( ). Although people can sympathize with Rex, him drinking to escape his problems only made

Furthermore, by being surrounded by this statement, the fear and endangerment that their father caused them with his reckless drinking. There is a normalization of fear during “What Mom called Dad’s ‘beer phase.’ We could all handle that. Dad drove fast and sang really loud, and locks of his hair fell into his face, and life was a little bit scary but still a lot of fun” (Walls 21). Jeannette’s description of her father's alcoholic episodes sugar coat what she experienced and calls these events fun, because of the resilience her parents have forced on her with the idea of ‘not surrendering to fear.’

He also told stories to match. Whether he was telling the children stories about how a, “…demon was terrorizing an entire town, and [he] fought it off in hand-to-hand combat” (Walls 37) or about the time, “…when he was in the air force and his plane’s engine conked out, he made an emergency landing in a cattle pasture and saved himself and his crew” (Walls 240, Rex was always telling stories to entertain his children. Rex also was not a very strict rule follower…at all. On one such occasion, Rex let his children pet a dangerous tiger in a zoo, despite protests coming from on-lookers and zoo workers (Walls 108-109). His reckless behavior often had consequences and even, at times, put his children and family in danger. Rex’s drinking problem also consumed a lot of his time. Disappearing at odd hours and stating out until even later was something that he often did. He acted strangely in this aspect because he hardly ever came home at a regular time of day. One time when he was drinking in a bar, he even let Walls go upstairs with a random, older man (212-213), not even checking on her. He often times had a lapse of judgement when he drank and that is a serious issue for adequate

This would explain why he would urge Brian to act like a man; he had suffered through the abuse his whole childhood and came out decent enough, so his son should be able to do the same. This observation brings up a point that rex walls had more than likely grown up in an abusive household. Erma had seemed very comfortable while touching Brian and hitting Lori that it wouldn’t be a surprise if she had done the same to her son. This would also explain why Rex avoided talking about his childhood in Welch (Walls 26). It would also give a reasonable explanation as to why he was reluctant to move to Welch in the first place. It took a lot of coaxing from his wife and all four of his children before he decided to get in the car on the way to his

Children are most likely to abuse alcohol if their family tolerates deviance in general or encourages excitement and pleasure seeking (Morris & Maisto, pg. 156) (Finn, Sharkansky, Brandt, & Turcotte, 2000)

Alcohol has a way of being the cause of all of life’s problems, as well as he solution to all of life’s problems. Beowulf as well as many works in the Middle ages seem to follow this train of thought. Focusing on Beowulf we can see that drinking was portrayed as an important part of every day life. Within Beowulf, alcohol has two main purposes. Those purposes to cultivate community and to boost confidence.

The addiction to alcohol emulates the Biopsychosocial-spiritual model. According to the text, the “biology of chemical use relates to the formidable hereditary components in the etiology of this illness and the physical problems that may arise with extended use.” (Wormer & Davis, 2018 p.12). Nick’s father an alcoholic and could explain the heredity and learned behavior portion of this model. Psychological concepts are present in Nick’s life such as the

This entry parallels Rex Walls behavior by showing the outcome and the effects on a family suffering from a father or husband abusing alcohol and becoming a destructive monstrosity. Congruent to the article previously mentioned, Rex Walls demise in the "Glass Castle" is imposed to of been caused by his excessive drinking during his life. " The fact was that, although Dad was only fifty- nine, he had been smoking four packs of cigarettes a day since he was thirteen, and by this time he was also putting away a good two quarts of booze daily. He was, as he had put it many a time, completely pickled."(Walls 278- 279) Considering the circumstances Rex Walls was fortunate that he had lived as long as he did.'