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Analysis Of Jeannette Wall's The Glass Castle

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Many people who read Jeannette Wall’s autobiography The Glass Castle were shook at the Rags-to-Riches story and the stories her childhood in poverty provided. Growing up with neglectful parents, however had the result of three out of four successful adults who once slept in cardboard box beds and used a yellow bucket for a toilet, causing a controversy of how independent should kids really be. The Glass Castle overflows with symbolism, emotion, and tone. However, the tone of her father is particularly peculiar and as the book progresses, the word choice describing her father changes from one of hope and heroism-like traits to slowly seeing Rex Wall’s calamitous characteristics while loving him the entire time.

All of Rex’s children looks …show more content…

As she gets older, her prideful tone changes as she realizes the reality of her existence and the many flaws built into Rex as well as the fantasy of the Glass Castle. Jeannette’s opinion on her father takes a sharp turn during their stay in Welch. She wanted to get away, saying he was going to destroy himself and “...he was going to pull us down with him,” (188). The way she says this is undeniably harsh, especially compared to the soft and gentle tone to Rex in the beginning. “Pull us down” is no light way of saying he is a liability. Walls still loves Rex, nevertheless, also saying “I didn’t have it in me to say no,” (209). Gaining her independence from her parents was not done yet, as she was left with more and more responsibility. The bitter loneliness of the way she was left in charge particularly stood out on page 203, “...they left me, at age thirteen, the head of the household,”. Especially at the young teenage years, the generally factual way of stating Jeannette’s story was not shown at the way the author almost displayed the unbelievable fact of being left to her own devices. Compared to her hero of a father in Part I, this section showed how real life is not an adventure and she has to fight for her

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