The Glass Castle Style Analysis

On Writing Well by William Zinsser is an informative guide to writing nonfiction. Zinsser clearly explains every aspect that makes the nonfiction writing strong and impressive. After reading the book, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I saw that many of the ideas and themes mentioned in the guide were displayed in Walls writing very effectively. Not only Walls develop those ideas in the book but also uses many rhetorical strategies to get her points across through the reader.

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls tells the story of her childhood and describes her life in poverty. She had experienced what injustice was first hand. Her father, Rex, was an alcoholic that spent all of their money on booze. Because of this, they never had any money to spend on a house or food. They were always moving because they did not pay their bills and were running away from their problems. Her mother, Rose Mary, was irresponsible and only thought about herself. She refused to get a job and when she did, her kids had to drag her out of bed every morning. She did not watch her children and she let them do whatever they wanted. This caused the children to get into trouble with other kids and even adults. She spent money on useless commodities and could not afford to buy her starving children any food. Every day, the children had to rummage through the trash to find food to eat. When Jeannette finally realized she did not want to live with injustice anymore she left. It was very hard for her father to watch her go but she did not look back. She started focusing on the future and became a successful journalist. This was one of the many ways she gained her justice back. She offered to help her parents by buying them clothes and offering them money. She was trying to make everything just again by giving her parents what they never gave to her. Her parents never took any of her gifts because they saw it as charity and did not appreciate it. The injustice that happened to Jeannette made her who she is today. If she did not go through all of those injustices, she might not have realized that her passion in life was to write. It has made her a better person and she can now help others going through the same thing through her writings.

Every person has a past that they want to hid and keep barred forever. But for some they decide to bring into the light for everyone to see. Jeannette Walls was one of those people who went against the norm. She decided to write the book the Glass Castle which told about her tough and adventurous past and how she rose to where she was today. Although most of the Walls go on to lead successful lives, Maureen's relationship with her parents has a negative impact on the adult she becomes.

Jeannette Walls is an American writer in journalist who found success in New York City, most notably writing a gossip column for MSNBC in which she details the effects of gossip in politics. She published her memoir, The Glass Castle, in 2005. The book spent 261 weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list. In it, Walls recounts her childhood while growing up in an unstable family with her father and mother, Rex and Rose Mary Walls, her older sister Lori, and her younger brother and sister, Brian and Maureen. Rex and Rose Mary could not settle down and constantly uprooted their family of six to different locations in the southwest region of America. Neither parent could keep a job and struggled to feed and put a roof over their heads. In the novel, Walls views her parents as irresponsible because it rarely seems as though Rex and Rose Mary genuinely want to work and make money to support the family. They thrive off their sense of adventure, as they drive all over the country in a rundown car, looking for their latest shack to pile their family into, usually without running water, heat, or indoor plumbing. Walls will tell the story of her childhood through a series of pivotal moments that ultimately shape her opinion of her parents and lead her to a successful career in New York City.

Even as a full-grown adult, the author of The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, still stands out as being different. Jeannette grew up in abnormal circumstances that some might consider neglectful or abusive. From her point of view, her upbringing was just her normal. Today, Walls is a successful author and public speaker. With her wacky stories, hearty life, and positive outlook, she is a likable character that has been formed and molded by her life experiences. Something that Jeannette and her family has dealt with throughout their life is appearing different than others around them. Being different, from looks to character, was a theme that proliferated Jeannette Walls’ book, The Glass Castle, just as being different

Author, Jeannette Walls, in her novel, The Glass Castle, from pages 226 to 230, exemplifies the themes of escapism and betrayal. In this chapter, Walls’s purpose is to identify the instability that her family is going through. Through her diction, Walls creates various tones in order to convey to her audience that despite obstacles, it is possible to escape from a dysfunctional family in hopes of a brighter future. Walls begins the chapter by recalling incidents of disappointment.

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. An interesting novel, it switches back and forth between Jeannettes childhood adventures and her current life in New York City. During the childhood adventures, she describes growing up with her mom, Rosemary Walls; her father, Rex Walls; and her three siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen Walls. Invariably short on food and money, life is not easy in this family. Neither of her parents can maintain a steady job, resulting in no income for the family.

Adversity and the struggles that we go through day to day are the moments that build us into the people that we become. Nobel Laureate Dennis Gabor wrote, “Humans are wonderful in adversity, weak in comfort, affluence and security.” Being weak in comfort, affluence, and security clearly points to people’s ability to remain stable. However, Gabor notes that the strength humans have is due to the ability to handle adversity. A well-used strength allows for these weaknesses to not be the downfall of the race. Adversity can be confused with neglect in rough family situations. Jeannette Walls is an author that can represent adversity and explains them through her memoir The Glass Castle in several passages and even references the boundaries of

“The Glass Castle,” written by an American author and journalist, Jeannette Walls, is a memoir about herself rising up and eluding from the continuous poverty and her unusual parents. Through out the novel, Jeannette describes her non-typical childhood with her optimistic yet delusional mother and a smart yet alcoholic father. Despite the fact Wells’ parents taught their children to be very strong and determined, Jeannette very much believed the way she was raised as being not normal.

Some of Jeannette Walls's story events from her memoir, The Glass Castle, are a bit hard to believe. An unimaginable past that seems to be fiction created by the author, but in reality, has been fabricated by the cooperating hands of time and chance. Jeannette Walls lived through poverty and recklessness, later to find herself in New York with a stable career and family, much different from what her family had. Going through hardships and trying to survive in her childhood shaped her into the successful individual she is today.

The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, teaches us that she really lived a tough life. We learned that from even her beginning of her childhood, she was not living the typical childhood life. From dealing with her alcoholic father to her selfish mother, she kept her inner strength and battled to get through it with her brother and sisters. Her own father even tried to hook her up with another man for money. How the father had the guts to do that or how she had the power to get him away and live with that amazes me.

To his family, Rex Walls was an excitable, caring, and intelligent man yet, he could also be dangerous, abusive, and ignorant. Rex Walls was an alcoholic and his family often suffered because of his erratic and selfish behavior. Beginning at a very young age, Rex Walls’s reckless actions left his children emotionally traumatized. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls reveals multiple incidents that show how Rex Walls’s drunken actions strained and damaged their relationship as a family. Due to Rex Walls’s alcoholism the children were far too often left feeling disappointed by the man they adored, constantly having to cope with the aftermath of his drunken stupor, and were unable to live normal lives, repeatedly being put in compromising situations, and having to conceal their displeasure.

Jeannette Walls never had a ideal childhood. Growing up, she was caring for herself and her siblings, they stuck together. Her parents' actions caused various burdens and embarrassment for their children. In the book The Glass Castle Walls' parents were not perfect, but she still showed compassion and love towards them. She defended her family name and cared for them.“But I could never enjoy the room without worrying about Mom and Dad huddled on a sidewalk gate somewhere”(Walls 4).

Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a great memoir that highlights the plight of an unconventional upbringing. The wacky and often dangerous situations helped shape Jeannette into the woman she is today. She developed her survival instinct early on and learned to make ends meet no matter what. Although Lori, Brian, and Jeannette are all successful stories, Maureen had trouble finding stability like her siblings. The Walls children's tumultuous relationship with their lead them to be closer with one another.

After reading the first 28 pages of the The Glass Castle one question I have is, why was Jeannette’s family homeless because in the book it seemed like her father was very intelligent and could have a well paying job. The author stated in the book that her father was very good at math and electricity despite having never earned a college degree. Another question I have about the text is why did her father dislike hospitals so much and preferred the care of a “witch” doctor? Could it be religious beliefs or simply the cost of medical treatment. I have this question because in the text the author said how her father carried her out of the hospital after about six weeks and ran out the door. Prior to this, her father also had some arguments with