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Coming of age introduction
Coming of age literature infos
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In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls is forced to take care of herself from a very young age. Her parents are mentally unstable, and her dad regularly turns to alcohol. She is forced to move when any problems arise, which is often--from Battle Mountain to Phoenix to the small town of Welch, Virginia. Despite all of this, Jeannette has a memorable childhood, riding around on bikes, petting cheetahs, and declaring ownership of stars. Throughout her whole life, she is consistently the only one that believes in her reckless father.
In this passage “THE GLASS CASTLE” by Jeannette Walls, it's a remarkable memoir of Jeannette and her family lives. The novel begins when Jeannette was three years old and she was making hot dogs and caught herself on fire. She ends up having 2nd degree burns and had to get a skin graft. Jeannette uses characterization so the readers can know about her and her family and how odd they were. Even though her parents always did something bad they always made something out of nothing.
Paul Ryan once said, “Every successful individual knows that his or her achievement depends on a community of persons working together.” Individuals must strive upon excellence based on the society they are placed in. Watching how others react can help one become the best they can be. Throughout The Glass Castle, Jeannette is exposed to society by her parents. Her parents, Rex and Rose Mary, see society in different means than how others perceive it.
The Glass Castle is the one idea that helps the family continue to grow and move forward even though the Castle has different meaning to each of the members of the family. To Jeanette and her siblings the Glass Castle is a symbol of hope, to the mother, it is a symbol of relaxation and what life would be like without responsibilities, and to dad, it symbolizes every broken promise he has made to his children, but in the Glass Castle, he has not broken a single one.
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.
The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls is story that revolves around a family that faces the hardships of a low class life, constant frustration, and hopelessness. I believe this story is centralized by the title of the book. “The glass castle” throughout the book is a dream, it is dream to Jeanette and her whole family, it represents a better life in a better place. Jeannette Walls centralizes her writing based on diction, the writer specifically chose unique words to show her experiences and emotions, this helps readers interpret the story from the writer's point of view.
“It was dusk when I got my first glimpse of it off in the distance, beyond a ridge. All I could see were the spires and blocky tops of buildings... My heart started to race, and my palms grew damp.” Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle: A Memoir.
The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls New York Abstract Jeannette Walls was a daughter of a father that was an alcoholic, and parents that did not want to work for what they had. They were always jumping around from home to home, and the siblings were tired of it. At a young age, Jeannette had to learn ow to fend for herself by making food, washing her clothes, etc. It was hard for Jeannette growing up, but as soon as Jeannette and Lori get a chance to move they take it. Jeannette then moves to New York City with Lori where she acquires a reporting job.
In “ The glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette was the main support in the Walls home. Growing up in a household where her father was an alcoholic and a childish mother, she finds a way to leave the nest with her siblings and become a successful adult. Initially, Jeannette was soft spoken and mature for her age, however over the course the course of the novel she spoke her mind and became successful and independent. In the beginning of the book, Jeannette was well behaved and acted mature for a three year old.
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.
The Glass Castle is the life story of a girl, Jeannette Walls, and her siblings who grew up in poverty unnecessarily because of their parents’ irresponsibility. One of its themes is that strength and perseverance can significantly improve your chance at success and your future. The Walls children did not allow their childhood struggles prevent them from creating better and brighter futures for themselves. They all grew up impressively sane considering their living conditions.
Jeannette Walls also uses the symbol of the Glass Castle, which develops throughout the memoir to show how she slowly loses trust in her father as she realises that she can not depend upon him or anyone else for happiness. The symbolism evolves throughout the memoir as Walls evolves as a person. In the beginning of the memoir, her description of the Glass Castle is naive and hopeful. Her naivety is most apparent when Walls writes, “All of Dad’s engineering skills and mathematical genius were coming together in one special project: a great big house he was going to build for us in the desert… All we had to do was find gold, Dad said, and we were on the verge of that.
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.
Jeannette Walls in The Glass Castle and her siblings had a lot of trouble fitting in and trying to avoid being bullied. When Jeannette lived in Welch, West Virginia, as always, her family didn’t have money. Jeannette lived a poor life because of this; she never got the nicest shoes, got the nicest clothes that made her look cool, or be considered the cleanest person in the school since she didn’t take a shower because of the lack or running water in her house. Jeannette often had to eat the leftover food from a trash can that people would throw away because her family couldn’t provide her food. The first girl she met at Welch was Dinitia, and she bullied her because she was poor.
It is evident that her childhood may have impacted her in a more severe psychological way. The book The Glass Castle is a very interesting narrative. The author Jeanette Walls is able to bring new light to circumstances that many people choose to ignore or overlook by writing about her own childhood. This gives the book a new perspective and allows the reader to gain insight.