Analysis Of The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

In Stephen King’s memoir, On Writing, he expresses dozens of opinions on his craft and provides a compilation of writing preferences for an audience of readers and aspiring writers alike. Jeannette Walls, the author of the memoir The Glass Castle, seemingly displays similar writing preferences to those of Stephen King. Specifically, Walls and King both leave out unnecessary words, they both use dialogue as a characterization tool, and they both believe in writing honestly. One of the first writing tactics King proposes is to, “...Omit needless words,” (hhfhdhd). He believes that trying to enhance a piece of literature by adding flowery language or by crafting long sentences does nothing other than alter the meaning of what you are trying

Essentially, the expressions a character uses as well as how they speak to other people can convey their personality. Given the nature of the characters in The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls clearly relies on the power of dialogue as well, and sometimes has the parents speak in an uneducated manner. On one of the many occasions when Jeanette gets hurt in the story, for example, her father remarks that “You busted your snot locker pretty good,” (fjfjjddj). Jeanette’s grandfather in Virginia, who is an ornery old man with what appears to be a sub-par education, uses phrases such as, “Don’t bother me none…” (fufuus) when addressing his grandchildren. How a character presents themselves and the manner in which they speak can play a monumental role in how the audience perceives and characterizes that person, which is why Walls and King both pay special attention to creating

Based on the story she told in The Glass Castle, Walls follows this rule just as strictly as King does. Her entire memoir was based on the raw and honest details of her childhood. Everything from the hardships caused by her father’s struggle with alcoholism to her own feelings of guilt for wanting to leave her family and start a new life was discussed in this book. Despite the fact that she was trying to write an interesting story that people would be eager to read, Jeannette Walls still provided an honest account of her life and included details so personal that they captivated an audience. By reading both their memoirs, it is evident that Stephen King and Jeannette Walls place a similar importance on establishing believable characters within their