I read Jane Eyre in high-school and read the first few chapters of The Lovely Bones this summer, but reading the first few pages of The Glass Castle, I am excited to learn how the parents transitioned from home to homeless. Also, how did the children cope with having to take care of themselves while the father drank and the mother flitted around art instead of staying at home or parenting. The guilt would eat me alive if I knew my parents were on the street cold and unsafe, even though Jeanette has accepted it, she still struggles with how her mother is content with surviving on the streets and eating from dumpsters.
5. What learning objectives and goals have you set for yourself in this course this semester? What do you hope to learn? What
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
Earlier this year, I read Jeanette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle. The Glass Castle tells the story of Walls and her siblings as they experience and attempt to escape the poverty-stricken lives of their parents. In her descriptions of her life and the lives of her family members, Walls influenced my ideas about poverty, homelessness, and escaping hard lives.
In the novel The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, the uncertain future of the Walls’ children was questionable from the start. From a drunk father, to never having a steady home, the author tells of her idiosyncratic youth to describe the bitterness and longing for an ordinary childhood.
In the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, she talks about her family's dysfunctional ways of living. How they never stayed in a place for more than a few years. Her dad was a drunk and stole money from the family and her mom was a starving artist who didn’t want to get a job to provide for her family. Although her parents have some very poor qualities, they definitely have good qualities that balance it all out. Her dad Rex Walls; for example, was very caring and loving towards his family always trying to keep them together and make sure they had what they needed to survive. Jeannette’s mom Rose Mary was selfish to her family and though it seems like a bad trait it had taught her children to be self-sufficient. Them together were free-spirited never caring what other people thought and teaching their children to do the same.
It is a common idea that everyone's childhood is the best time of their lives. As children it is believed to be a time of freedom, happiness, safety, and no responsibilities; however, not every child could agree with this. In the novel The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it tells the story of three children and the childhood they lived with their irresponsible parents. The novel shows the consequences a child could have if they have unfit parents while they are growing up. Although Rex and Rose Mary Walls' intentions are to help their children become self-sufficient adults, the way they try to achieve this goal unfortunately harms the children physically, emotionally, and mentally. The novel expresses how Jeannette and her siblings are raised by their unconventional parents who at many times are neglectful and careless. However they were still able to teach their kids key characteristics that turned them into well rounded adults. Despite the many instances where the Walls’ family travels from one dysfunctional society to another, as well as travelling to various locations such as Arizona, Nevada, West Virginia and New York, has a significant impact on the family. Most of the time, Jeannette, Brian, and Lori, were left to take care of their parents, their baby sister Maureen, and also each other. Through these sibling's many hardships, they were able to stick together and form a solid relationship with one another, shaping their futures. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
“I live in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes” - Jeannette Walls. This book The Glass Castle is about Jeanette and her siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen withstanding many hardships living under the roof of their adolescent and neglectful parents, Rex Walls and Rose Mary Walls. Now the Walls’ parents are not first-rate parents, but they can be second-rate parents because they don’t take care of the Walls’ children basic needs and they don’t treat Lori, Brian, Jeanette the way parents should. Although they have some flaws there is a little good in them.
“No child is born a delinquent,” Mom said. They only become that way, she went on, if nobody loved them when they were kids. Unloved children grow up to become serial murderers or alcoholics” (83). The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. Jeannette Walls is the second oldest child in a household of four children. Throughout the story, the reader is taken on Jeannette’s journey as she recounts growing up with dysfunctional parents. Parents who chose the life of poverty. Although her parents were neglectful, irresponsible, and selfish, Jeannette does not tell this story with shame or resentment, but rather with forgiveness. It is with the parent’s unconditional love and a few redeeming qualities that render self-sufficiency which
‘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
The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls. In this book, Jeannette recounts her unconventional upbringing along with her three siblings. Yet, despite of it all, she grew up to have an ordinary life as an adult with a professional career in journalism. Throughout childhood, Jeannette’s family lived like vagabonds, having no permanent residence, sometimes even not having an actual home but sleeping in the family station wagon. One day they lived in the middle of the desert by Joshua Tree, the next week they lived in Las Vegas, then following week it was Welch, West Virginia. Because of all the moving that the family did, the children sometimes found themselves homeschooled, and other times were enrolled in school. The parents, Rose Mary and Rex, though flighty parents, were intellectual, artistic, and visionaries. They instilled these values into their children. Coincidentally, the children tapped into having their own traits and talents. Lori is the artist, Jeannette is the journalist, while Brian is the mediator. Unfortunately, Maureen, the youngest, never learned resiliency nor did she find herself or come to her own. As the children grew older, one by one, they moved to New York to live an ordinary life and pursue their own individual passion. Lori became a fantasy illustrator, Brian became a police sergeant, and Jeannette became a TV correspondent. Maureen was the last one to move to New
Reflect on what you have learned in this course and discuss how it might influence your work as a professional
“The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls is an extremely captivating novel that really kept my attention throughout the entire story. It’s a fascinating story of growing up in circumstances that kept me shaking my head as I turned the pages. The Walls family is unquestionably one unlike any I’ve ever come across. The lessons and experiences that the children learned and endured were ones that molded their lives and established who they are today. Jeanette Walls goes through many descriptions of situations that she faced that people normally should not face. For most of her childhood, her family traveled from town to town because her parents always thought that they would hit it big, unfortunately her father was never ever to find a
When I was ten I started to gain weight, which seemed normal enough at the time. I was a happy child, despite having experienced some unfortunate circumstances during my few years of existence. Maybe it was these unfortunate circumstances that caused the weight gain, due to a having an immense amount of stress for such a young girl.
Losing a loved one can be such a difficult thing to accept. But what if you kept believing she was still there? Definitely not in body, but lingering in spirit. In The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold, we dive into the mind of Susie Salmon; a 14 year old, dead girl. When Susie Salmon is murdered on her way home from school, she leaves behind a family and friends who care deeply for her. As each person deals with her death, most of them deal with a large amount of survivor’s guilt. The two characters that seem to have the hardest time accepting Susie’s death and their own survival are Lindsey Salmon and Ruth Connors. Lindsey deals not only with the
When reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I knew from the start that I would never be able to fully relate to what Jeannette had gone through in the book, specifically talking about her family’s financial status and living environment. I have grown up in a very stable home with a family that receives steady income, which puts me very far from the Walls family. But, after finishing the novel, I realized that I didn’t need to feel a connection towards the plot in order to know what the lesson being taught was. The author explains through her heart-wrenching story that you cannot choose who your family is, but you can change the way you live your life. Jeannette shows us readers that even the worst of people can have good qualities, and to be able to live your
Generally, I do not really like reading and I do not have my personal favorite book. However, one book really got my attention and I spent hours reading it in non-stop mode. The book's name is The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I first saw this book a long time ago in a bookstore, and it was among the other the best seller books like Killing the Mockingbird, Crime, and Punishment and so on. After reading it's synopsis I lost my interest in it because it seemed very boring to me. However, two years after, when I was taking an English class, we had to read a book which our professor chose and it was The Glass Castle with its boring synopsis. Well, when I started reading it, I was really impressed because the book was very easy to read and it was breathtaking, so I finished it only in one day, which is very unlikely for me. Shortly, this book is about an untypical family with its quite different parents and their children who seek a better life in their harsh life. This book is the memoir of the author Jeanette, so she is the main character. The story took place in the 1970s, the location changes between southern states. The main idea is staying strong no matter what hardships you will face.