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Alcoholism In The Glass Castle By Rex Walls

596 Words3 Pages

David Sheff once said, “An alcoholic will steal your wallet and lie to you.” Rex walls did infact steal money from his own daughters and then lied to their faces about it. On page 228 of The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls came home from school to see her and her sister’s piggy bank smashed open, with their money and their father missing. When he came home drunk 3 days later, he insisted that he had no idea what happened to the money as he laughed in their faces. Rex Walls proved to his family a countless number of times, that he was not a very reliable parent as a result of his alcoholism.

One example of Rex’s unreliability due to alcohol was his failure to take care of his kids even when he had the resources to do so. Rose Mary gave Jeannette money to help pay for the bills and food, while she went to Charleston to renew her teaching certificate. She knew her husband couldn’t be trusted so she gave it to Jeannette. Rex asked Jeannette for the money and he spent it all on alcohol. He proved alcohol was more important than his kids. His kids couldn’t rely on their father to ensure they were well taken care of. …show more content…

On Christmas Eve, his family had to drag him to church drunk. After causing a scene in the middle of service he went home and set the Christmas tree on fire, ruining the gifts they had all bought each other. The Walls family wanted to make this Christmas special. They spent days decorating and wrapping gifts for each other. Rex showed his family that they couldn’t rely on him to handle himself even during moments that were important to his

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When Jeannette explains to Rex Walls what Erma did to Brian, he starts to shake and cover his ears and pretend like he couldn’t hear them. After Lori and Jeannette talk, Jeannette thinks, “You’d be weird, too, if Erma was your mom... it would explain a lot… Why he drank so much and why he got so angry.” Rex Walls tried to escape from Welch and its people for a better future, but in the end couldn’t escape from his problems because he focused too much on his past and never gave the future his complete attention. When the mines started to shut down, many people turned to alcohol and drugs to keep their minds off of their problems in life.

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Despite the fact that Rex does indeed have intelligence, he often allows his extreme personality and dreams guide the way for his life. Everytime he runs out of luck or looses a job he gathers his family, basic survival needs and they skedaddle to the next town with gold. After being questioned about a skedaddle they were preparing for Rex replies "Don't you worry' dad said. ' You leave that to me. Don't I always take care of you?".

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When Rex and his family moves to Welch he changes from before and becomes really irresponsible. When Jennette and Rosemary are arguing about if Rosemary should leave Rex,things got heated and Jennette walked off and then Lori went and talked to her and said “She needs to be firmer, lay down the law for dad instead of getting hysterical all the time,” (Walls,208). This quote shows that Rex walks all over Rosemary so that he can get it his way and chose no be irresponsible. Rex doesn't understand that he needs to help his family and that he can’t keep on stealing money and expect everyone to be happy with him. Rex Walls can’t save himself or his family because of how irresponsible he is.

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The Glass Castle is a memoir that was written by Jeannette Walls, who explains how within her childhood grew up extremely poor and had an alcoholic father, a mother who took advice from no one, and had three siblings, Brian , Lori, and Maureen. Rex and Rose Mary Walls show signs of being  permissive or uninvolved parents by having very few demands, neglect to the children's needs, and letting their children make their own decisions. Throughout her memoir, Jeannette had multiple occasions were herself or her siblings would have to fend for themselves, because Rex or Rose Mary refused to hold on to a job. For example “When we wanted money, we walked along the roadside picking up beer cans and bottles that we redeemed for two cents each.”

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Forgiveness is the theme of the Glass Castle because although Jeannette Walls was neglected, betrayed, and even belittled by her parents she doesn’t hold any negative feelings towards them. She exemplifies the theme of forgiveness by never blaming her parents for neglecting them, when her mother and father both squander her money on themselves, or when her parents allowed Erma to treat them as horribly as she did. Jeannette knows who her parents are, accepts and forgives, to the point that she can have a Thanksgiving dinner with Lori, Brian, and Mom reminiscing about the days of past.

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Even though Rex Walls goes from being a hero to a villain in the eyes of his children, the romantic values he instills in them in their earlier years serve as part of their inspiration for escaping him as they grow up. At first, Rex Walls is an incredibly adventurous man who promises his children wealth and happiness while staying faithful to his ultimate dream of building a glass castle. The family at first was very adventurous, they were moving around a lot and they only would stay there for a short period of time. Rex was seeking wealth everywhere they went around the west coast, they kept looking for gold and a place to build the glass castle. He showed the family glimpses of wealth and what the experience of wealth felt like by taking

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And without the capability to assess future risks and repercussions of a decision, Rex almost kills his wife in the process. Struggling to cope with their father’s rages and without a means to restrain him, Jeanette’s family is forced to face Rex’s violent

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In this world, there’s learning things the hard way and the easy way; in Jeannette Wall’s world, there’s only learning things the hard way. The Glass Castle is an adventurous story that reveals the painfully miserable story of Jeannette Walls. A selfish mother, a careless father, and terrible social encounters- these are some of the elements of a harsh reality Rex and Rose Mary Walls failed to shield their children from. Growing up poor was already difficult, but growing up with a selfish parent, specifically an unfeeling mom, made life hell for the Walls children. The family barely had one source of income from Rex Walls, and instead of helping out with the family’s finance issues, Rose Mary spent her days at home painting.

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However, at the same time, Mr. Walls is the biggest problem in the family. Mr. Walls is a heavy alcoholic that drinks all of the family’s money away. When desperate, Mr. Walls would even steal money from the family. The drunk Dad would curse at Mom and

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Post-traumatic stress disorder is very common in those who have been in difficult situations. It sis a disorder that “develops in some people who have experienced [a] shocking, scary or dangerous events” (www.himb.hih.gov). In “The Glass Castle,” by Jeannette Walls, it appeared that Rex showed symptoms of PTSD, which resulted in hyperarousal, alcoholism, bipolar disorders. These symptoms explain why Rex did the things he did, and why he acted out so often. PTSD has many different symptoms, but there are various options to cure it.

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According to Jeannette Walls, Rex was a very fun and loving father while she was growing up. Alcoholism affects the good people and the bad people, many in the same ways. However from an outside perspective, Rex Walls' behavior put his children at risk. In The Glass Castle, Rex has many moments where he puts his family's lives in risk, maiming Jeannette's. In one scene, Jeannette and the family go to a water hole to go swimming.

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In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette manages to overcome her obstacles by realizing her independence. She is impacted by her parents’ incapabilities because she realizes that she has to do things differently than other children. Her father was a stubborn alcoholic who believed that: “[they] were all getting too soft, too dependent on creature comforts, and that [they] were losing touch with the natural order of the world”(Walls 106). He believes that every human should be independent and fend for themselves. By using the term “creature comforts”, her father is trying to separate himself from what he calls the civilians.

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Charles Baudelaire’s prose poem “Be Drunk” encourages the reader to get involved in something that allows him/her to overcome the burden and limitations of time, and truly enjoy freedom. Whether if you are intoxicated on wine or any other form of pleasure such as creative work, poetry, or virtue, you should always find a way to become independent from the burdens of life. Charles Baudelaire was not necessarily encouraging the drunkenness that we associate with the physical intoxication caused by alcohol. Instead, he was advocating a kind of drunkenness that is related to the things someone really loves and enjoys such as writing, drawing, painting, etc., and that allows the individual to express him or herself, and at the same time keeps you

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Once he finished the prospector and we struck it rich, he’d start work on our glass castle” (25). Walls’ innocence and optimism for the creation of the Glass Castle is indicated through her belief that Rex really is on the verge of finding gold and building the Glass Castle. In reality, he was out drinking all day, spending money that could have been used to feed Walls and her siblings. She still thinks that her father will follow through on his promises, and in doing so bring her happiness. She is unaware of his deception, which is becoming increasingly damaging to his family, as they have trouble affording food.

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Nicholas Sparks once said, “I don’t know that love changes. People change. Circumstances change.” In the memoir, The Glass Castle author Jeannette Walls shows how her father Rex Walls changes with everything thrown at him as a father or four. In the beginning of being a parent Rex shares his intelligence with his children.

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