Everyone has some kind of hope for the future, something that they want to achieve or experience. “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, is the real life story of Jeannette growing up in poverty and her experiences as a child. Jeannette’s father was an alcoholic man, he was very irresponsible when it came to taking care of his children. Rex still managed to keep an emotional connection with his children, and this helped shape the Walls kids into who they became and kept their family together. Throughout Jeanette's childhood, she was always moving from place to place, and was constantly struggling to keep her family together. Throughout the book, “The Glass Castle” was mentioned a multitude of times. “The Glass Castle” was representative …show more content…
The life of ease that Rex promised his family did not come true. Rex dedicated a lot of time, money, and emotion into the glass castle, and he neglected his duties as a father. This lead to the children suffering a lot and fending for themselves, which is the opposite of what the glass castle represents. In the story the foundation for the glass castle is dug, but ends up filled with garbage. Due to the fact that the glass castle represents Rex’s promises, the fact that it ended up filled with trash alludes to how the promises Rex made were “full of garbage,” and how he broke them. 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
It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities. This is evident in Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, which reiterates the story of Jeannette who is raised within a family that is both deeply dysfunctional and distinctively vibrant. Jeannette is faced with numerous barriers throughout her life. Despite the many obstacles set forth by her parents during her childhood, Jeannette develops into a successful adult later in life. One of these obstacles is the lack of a stable home base moulds her into the woman she grows up to be. Throughout her life, Jeannette must cope with the carelessness of her
He even let the kids work on the designs for their rooms on the blueprints. After years of being told that the dream of the glass castle would become a reality, the kids are constantly let down when Rex spirals out of control and looses focus on the building of the glass castle; often reminding them of it and not following through. When Rex decides to build the foundation for the glass castle, and fills it with garbage, he described that “It’s a temporary measure”(Walls 155) and of course, the pit continued to sit there, filled with garbage, no matter Jeannette’s efforts. For me, what I would call ‘my glass castle’ would be living in New York, and being the head curator of my own art gallery.
Reading The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls was a journey in itself. As I dived deeper into the book everyday, I started feeling like I was apart of the Walls family, going through everything that they were experiencing. Reading about all their crazy experiences from one of the daughter's point of views, was incredibly intriguing. It is a personal memoir of her years of growing up with her alcoholic father, delusional mother, and three siblings. The book is full of hardships. The family continually suffers especially the children as they grow up. The amazing part of the book is how the kids, especially Jeanette, made good lives for themselves even when throughout their childhood they had just about nothing. Jeanette took all her struggles
This is a summary on the Glass Castle is about a young woman name Jeannette begins to look back of the pasts on her childhood and how her parents’ choices affected her and her siblings. When Jeannette was three-year-old, she was boils her own hotdogs and got burned horribly that she went to the hospital. After few days, her father got her out of bed and left the hospital without paying the bill. The most memories about the Walls of her childhood focus in the desert and how the family move to different desert towns to settling in as long as their father can hold a job. He has such paranoia about the state and society and he also have dealt with his alcoholism that has leads them to move often. They used to settle in small mining town, Battle Mountain, and Nevada while Jeannette and her young brother Brian spend their time exploring the desert. Their mother is an artist and takes a break from it to hold down a job as a teacher to extend their stay.
A. Jeannette Walls, in her memoir The Glass Castle, demonstrates Erikson’s eight stages of development. Through the carefully recounted stories of her childhood and adolescence, we are able to trace her development from one stage to the next. While Walls struggles through some of the early developmental stages, she inevitably succeeds and has positive outcomes through adulthood. The memoir itself is not only the proof that she is successful and productive in middle adulthood, but the memoir may also have been part of her healing process. Writing is often a release and in writing her memoir and remembering her history, she may have been able to come to terms with her sad past. The memoir embodies both the proof
In “The Glass Castle”, Jeannette Walls uses humor to make her depressing story more encouraging and comforting. In the story, you learn how her family survived on little food and money. They moved around a lot running away from bill collectors. Her dad was an alcoholic and her mom was lazy. Some funny moments in this story was how her mom learned that you could put mayonnaise to make your hair grow, but what she didn’t know is that you had to wash it out. For her photos for school her hair was stiff with white stuff in it. Another funny moment is when children was making fun of the mother and making chimpanzee because
Everyone has secrets they stash below the surface, sorrows they bury deep within their hearts, and dreams they lock up behind hopeful tongues. In The Glass Castle, the main characters all hide behind a mask that conceals their true intentions and identities. To begin, Rex appears in the novel as a father that has good intentions sand great ideas to make his family wealthy. He falls short because of his addiction to alcohol and an upsetting past that suggests that he was likely sexaully abused by his mother as a child. Rex struggles to prove his manhood as he fails in providing his children with a good father figure and a stable life. At first glance, his mother is a grouchy, older woman who doesn’t like Rex’s family. However, her actions
The Glass Castle is a book written by Jeannette Walls and is about her childhood growing up in the 1960s and 70s. Throughout the book, Jeannette shows that money does not determine happiness. At various points in her difficult life, she is happy with only the essentials. Jeanette feels she is rich in her family for many reasons. They also teach her to be strong and resilient and give her something to look forward to. Jeannette sees wealth as being subjective, and as an adult, feels guilty for having money when her parents do not. In the end, Jeannette realizes it's her family and their perseverance that determine happiness.
The Glass Castle. Sounds like a story about some fantasy kingdom with a castle made of glass, but it’s not. This is a story about the early life of a young woman, Jeannette Walls. From drinking to living in the desert to running to New York, her life is a roller coaster ride. However, there is one thing you notice in the story: forgiveness. This happened many times in the Walls family. The act of forgiveness ultimately led the family to peace.
Bad Parenting is the act of not showing the responsibilities that should be taken as a mother or father. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls reveals the faults of parenting through the use of symbolism , imagery and characterization. Rosemary and Rex’s Struggles to show their children (Jeannette, Lori, Brian) the importance of the appearance and guidance of being by their side as a parent. Jeannette and Rex show their faults by destroying everything the children try to accomplish because of their personal bad habits.
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 fissure divides the house. Roderick and Madeline die, destroying the family. The narrator says there is a "wild inconsistency between [the masonry's] still perfect adaptation..and the crumbling condition of the individual stones." This is also symbolic. The stones represent the individual people of the Usher family, and the entire mansion stands for the whole family. The "wild inconsistency" makes the reader aware that something later in the story will make the inconsistency" clear or consistent. From far away, no one knows that the House of Usher is in despair.
The novel, The Glass Castle, exhibits the human tendency to be selfish. This is manifested in both Rex and Rose Mary. Rex is characterized as a selfish father throughout the novel, and his paternal image is consistently skewed because of his actions. His addiction to alcohol ruins countless family events. One year the family’s Christmas is ruined when Rex drinks a great deal of alcohol and burns their tree and presents. Jeanette remembers, “Dad sat on the sofa [...] telling mom he was doing her a favor [...] no one tried to wring dad’s neck [...] or even point out that he’d ruined the Christmas his family has spent weeks planning” (115). Jeanette and her family are always left cleaning up their father’s drunken mess. Even when Rex is sober he does not apologize for ruining sentimental family events and continues to put alcohol before his family. Selfishness can also be seen in Rex’s relationship with money. He takes Jeanette into a bar in order to get money from his friend, Robbie. When Robbie asks if he can take Jeanette upstairs, Jeanette recollects, “So, with Dad’s blessing, I went upstairs” (212). Rex is so self-absorbed that he allows his daughter to go into a strange man's apartment, fully knowing his intentions. During Jeanette and her siblings’ childhood, they experience dangerous situations with their parents’ knowledge and approval. While Rex’s selfish nature is typically derived from his addiction, Rose Mary’s selfishness is simply a reflection of her personality.
The Glass Castle, a story about Jeannette Walls and her more than dysfunctional family. Jeannette and her family move around from town to town throughout America's west coast. Eventually, Jeanette’s begins to run out of money because of this they decide to move in with Jeanette’s grandmother in Welch, West Virginia. Jeanette and her siblings eventually decide to start saving up money to move to New York. Jeanette’s parents follow her and her siblings to new york after a while and end up on the streets. Rex, Jeanette's dad dies of a heart attack in New York City and her mother sticks to her life on the streets. The memoir comes to a close as Jeanette is able to reconcile with her past and all the adversity that she has gone through. The author uses literary devices such as imagery, irony, and foreshadowing to captivate the reader. The literary devices imagery. The irony and foreshadowing make the story worth telling because they make her story interesting.
In the play by Tennessee Williams, “The Glass Menagerie,” Williams uses many symbols to help the audience better understand the Wingfield family. Many of the symbols used in the play portray some form of escape from reality. The first symbol revealed to the audience is the fire escape. This represents the connection between the imaginary world of the Wingfield’s and the world of reality. Each character seems to be able to find their escape in their own, personal way. For Tom, the fire escape is the way out of the world that Amanda is forcing on him and a doorway into a world of complete and utter freedom. For Laura, the fire escape is a way into her own world and a literal escape from reality. Amanda perceives the fire escape as a way for gentlemen callers to come in and meet her daughter. This will also help her to escape her own depressing life. In the opening speech Tom says, "I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion" (). Everyone in the play seeks rescuing from their lives, attempting to escape into an imaginary world. In "The Glass Menagerie," Williams ' fire escape portrays each of the character 's need to use it as a literal exit from their own reality.