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The Glass Castle Style Analysis

Decent Essays

Jeannette Walls, author of the critically acclaimed autobiography, The Glass Castle, takes on an informal style in her writing in order to achieve a mutual level of understanding with the reader. She uses literary devices to reveal the mannerisms and the lifestyle of her parents and her family, thus creating a sense of background for the reader. Walls establishes "her style" on the writing by the use of tone, diction, sentence structure, and more. For example, towards the beginning of the story, she carries an accepting tone about the unorthodox and dauntless environment that surrounded her. Despite how dangerous the situation had been, she felt pride of its uniqueness, which further explains her optimism in the actions of her dysfunctional family. …show more content…

Walls, as the main character, overlooked the severity of the actions her parents had performed, their inability to face the consequences, which led to their nomadic lifestyle. Nonetheless, there were other factors that contributed to the improbability of a child-friendly atmosphere within the household. Her father's abusive language and habits had always remained a threat to everyone in the family, including her mother. Whether it was the copious amounts of alcohol he consumed, the foul language he spoke, or the beatings he gave to his wife, Rex Walls was the paragon of recklessness and peril. Walls says "Dad stuck his head out the window as he drove, hollering at Mom, calling her a. "stupid whore" and a. "stinking cunt" and ordering her to get back into the car. Mom refused." (Walls 27) This proves that his aggressive language impacts the vocabulary of his children, which will inevitably affect their experiences and interactions with other

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