In the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Walls calls back on memories and realizes her father Rex Walls was a huge reason why they were so poor. Throughout the book, Walls recalls the times they had money that could help them escape the prison of poverty. Her father Rex Walls as portrayed in the book was a smart man, but selfish and worried about his own desires, and he could never leave the bars for long. Which led Rex to take the money for himself and escape the bitter taste of reality he lives in. As Jeannette Walls portrays, Rex Walls had a problem that left him to ignore his responsibilities, and forced his own children to take them up for him. Causing unnecessary harm to befall them.
In the Book, Walls shows the reader the ingenuity of her father. While talking to his kids Rex would tell them about the things he was going to do with his engineering skills and mathematical genius, he would even let them see the blueprints. At that moment Jeannette knew her father was a smart man (Walls pg 25). Rex is a man who uses his gifts to plan a future, a man that puts his skills to use.
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Rex spends the money earned by others on himself. When Jeannette had $200 to spend on food for the family, her father came to her and convinced her to let him take $5 so he could drink and smoke. It may not seem like much but with $5 Jeannette could buy two days worth of food for the family (Walls pg 209). He was so self centered that to get what he wanted, he was fine with letting his family go