ipl-logo

Analysis Of Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle

1351 Words6 Pages

Famed poet Rainer Maria Rilke once said, “The only journey is the journey within” (Brainy Quote). This applies to many things, and the journey towards growth is one of them. In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, many individuals face the journey towards growth through acting upon insight. Jeannette Walls tells the story about how she and her siblings have to face a life of poverty and constant moving around in order to survive. Many treacherous events take place, many memories, good and bad, are engraved into their memories for the rest of their lives and are all told through this astounding memoir. To begin, by gaining insight into what is negatively impacting her, Jeannette is able to act. Furthermore, Jeannette’s bravery to act upon …show more content…

For instance, Jeannette knows that Rex is wrong when he takes Ermas’ side, so she sticks up for herself. When Jeannette explains what happened, Rex yells, “I don’t care what happened” and Jeannette says, “But we were just protecting ourselves” (147). This shows that although her father, who she thought was going to be on their side, is opposing her, she does not stand for his treatment towards her and instead stands up for herself. In addition, Jeannette decides to get a job. After she realises that living in poverty is not a good way to live and to fight against the lack of parental income, she gets a job so that she can pay for the bare necessities that a family should have. By getting a job, which is against her parents wishes, she is demonstrating that she is acting bravely and is taking a step towards growth. Also, Jeannette confronts Rex about his alcohol addiction. As a young child, Jeannette asked Rex to stop drinking. On her tenth birthday Rex asks Jeannette what she wants. She looks at him and anxiously asks, “Do you think you could maybe stop drinking?” (116). Although she is just a child, she was able to gather the insight that her father has an alcohol issue and it is affecting her family in negative ways. By realising how harmful it is for him to drink, this demonstrates that she gains the courage to act by asking him to stop. Thus, through her new found insight and ability to act upon it, Jeannette is able to forge her path in her journey towards

Show More
Related
1284 Words | 6 Pages

(INSERT QUOTE HERE). Soon after this scene we see Jeannettes connection with her father break a little. He had always asked her if he'd ever let her down and I believe this is the first time that we see he actually does. Although he tries to “detox” and Jeannette is happy she got her birthday wish she quickly

Read More
323 Words | 2 Pages

As Jeannette matures her connection with her parents, particularly her father begins to diminish. Jeannette didn’t grasp that the way her parents raised them or viewed the world wasn’t normal and as she got older she recognized how selfish her parents were. Jeannette was constantly close with her father, and always showed compassion for him, but when they relocated to Welch it appeared as if her father had changed. Jeannette eventually obtained work and began to save up money so she and her siblings could survive, but her father didn’t approve and eventually sabotaged that plan. Eventually, Rex went to Jeannette and requested money from her, he did promise to pay her back.

Read More
344 Words | 2 Pages

She loved the adventures they brought and how fun they made every trip. Jeannette was a very mature and responsible child. At the age of 3 she was cooking hot dogs on the stove by herself. She always helped her mom cook, or even cook by herself. She had to take care of herself most of the time, her parents always wanted the best of their kids but they never had enough money.

Read More
448 Words | 2 Pages

It was getting harder. ”(169) Jeannette’s trust and love in her father is getting very small, because of the way he abuses alcohol and lets her down. When Jeanette tells us that she believes she is a fool for believing in Rex, it shows a change in her town to be unbelieving and critical. Throughout The Glass Castle, Jeanette’s tone of Rex Walls goes from very trusting to very disbelieving.

Read More
980 Words | 4 Pages

He knew I had a soft spot for him the way no one else in the family did, and he was taking advantage of it” (209). Although getting played by her father, Jeannette learns a valuable lesson about managing money and how to be strong. We see in the end of the book that almost

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

Even though she is fairly young in the time the family lives in Battle Mountain, she still can be described as tolerant and understanding in most situations. Her father was really pushing her, making her suffer, and though at first upset with his actions, she quickly analyzed the situation, coming to an understanding as to why he did what he did. For a short time, she resented her family at the sulfur spring because as she was drowning, her own mother floated on her back, unconcerned with what Jeannette thought was a life or death situation. In the end, Jeannette came to the conclusion that maybe her father’s actions were justified. There was no way he would let anything happen to her, and there was no other way to explain why he or her family would let her drown, so she tolerated the

Read More
758 Words | 4 Pages

She struggled with how the society and her family shaped who she was. She was exposed to her family first which made her behave the way she did under her family’s house. Jeanette struggled with her family by taking care of the house, beings told bending the rules is okay and the acceptance of her Mom’s and Dad’s homelessness. When Jeannette left her family and went to live in New York, she becomes an individual. She fends for herself and gets her life together.

Read More
746 Words | 3 Pages

“Believe in miracles…. Hope is never lost” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland). Believing that the worst is behind them and that they will come upon a better life is the only way that Jeanette Wall’s family is able to stay afloat. In Jeannette Walls’ memoir The Glass Castle, the symbol of hope is portrayed through a Glass Castle: a real home in which everyone is important and loved.

Read More
515 Words | 3 Pages

While Jeannette was a junior in high school she became aware of the fact she had to get out of Welch and away from her parents. “ All through the long walk, the pain had kept me thinking, and by the time i reached the tree trunk, i had made two decisions. The first was that id had my first and last whipping. No one was ever going to do that to me again. The second was that, like Lori, I was going to get out of welch.

Read More
704 Words | 3 Pages

Ever since she was a little girl her whole family struggled with having a steady place to live. This was all from her parents though because Rex and Rose liked being on the run. Rex was a very smart person but had very bad habits and Rose was very bright and artistic but also had bad habits. Jeannette had plans on going to New York with her older sister Lori but their dad ruined it by smashing open the piggy bank with all of the money they had saved. After that they only saved up enough money for either Lori or Jeannette.

Read More
1273 Words | 6 Pages

However, he spirals into alcoholism; recklessly spending money on liquor rather than on provisions that would help sustain his family. His compulsive spending on alcohol is, unfortunately, a major factor keeping the Walls family in a continuous cycle of impoverishment. As a result, Jeannette Walls is forced into a life of responsibility; having to be the one who looks after her siblings, as well as being the one to regulate what little money the Walls family had; this eventually drives her to head to New

Read More
808 Words | 4 Pages

Jeannette narrowly escapes rape, but because her father exploits her in a way that makes it seem like she would consent to underage sex, she is abused. The sexual abuse Jeannette suffers results in her having more trust in her own intuition as she

Read More
1173 Words | 5 Pages

This causes Jeanette to feel proud of her father for worrying about her because she does not know what she is getting into by going to New York. Rex is trying to be protective but also helpful at the same time to keep his kids safe when he's not around. Rex is helpful when he finds out Jeannette can't pay for her college tuition and he wants Jeannette to have a good education, “Dad called a week later and told me to meet him at Lori's. When he arrived with Mom, he was carrying a large plastic garbage bag and had a small brown paper bag tucked under his arm. I assumed it was a bottle of booze, but then he opened the paper bag and turned it upside down.

Read More
1320 Words | 6 Pages

Jeannette described that this experience made her feel used by her father and gave her a sense of self-worthlessness. Rex knew that Jeannette had a soft spot for him and he took advantage of this. Jeannette has a psychological scar from this for the rest of her life, and it produced long-term effects of distrust and diminished self-worth. As a child she had been through more than most adults, and in one case she even wakes up in the middle of the night with a child molester in her bed. “One night when I was almost ten, I was awakened by someone running his hands over my private parts” (Walls 103).

Read More
611 Words | 3 Pages

Jeanette’s childhood was shameful due to her parents careless way of living. Throughout The Glass Castle Jeannette hides her childhood just like she from her mother because she is ashamed of what people might think. Jeannette Walls lived a tough childhood because of her parents. They were always moving around trying to find a place to build a glass castle. They never gave any of their children a set home while they were growing up.

Read More

More about Analysis Of Jeannette Walls The Glass Castle

Related Topics

Open Document