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Comparing Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls And Frank Mccourt

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In the world we live in today, an estimated 100 million people find themselves homeless and over 1.6 billion people lack adequate housing. For most, being homeless and in poverty is not the desired lifestyle and people work hard to have a constant roof over their heads, and food on the table. However, for a select few, living in poverty and being homeless is a life decision that they desire and enjoy. Both families in the memoirs Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt find themselves in extreme poverty. Neither Rex and Rose Marie Walls nor Angela and Malachy McCourt have the ability to feed, clothe, or house themselves and their families. Although both sets of parents are able to face the reality of their situation, …show more content…

Rex and Rose Mary Wall chose the lifestyle of living in the lower class and they greatly enjoy it, even if there kids are unhappy. When Jeannette tells her mother that they can not continue to live their lives this way, Rose Marie says " ‘Why not? Being homeless is an adventure’"(Walls 255). Although the lifestyle that Rex and Rose Marie have chosen for themselves and their family has left them homeless and hungry, this is exactly how they want to be living. They get a thrill from moving from place to place, having to search for food, and shoplifting clothes. All of this gives their lifestyle excitement and makes it feel like an adventure along with making them happy. This contentment and happiness does not stop for the Walls even as their children grow up and have successful lives. After Jeanette has moved to New York and earned money she offers to help her mother and father who are still homeless on the streets of New York. Rose Mary responds “"You want to help me change my life? I'm fine. You're the one who needs help. Your values are all confused" (Walls 5). Even as Rex and Rose Mary watch their children grow up and escape their impoverished childhood, they still do not wish to change their lifestyle. They deny money from Jeannette because they are happy and content with searching for food and shelter each day in the streets of New York. Contrastly, Angela and Malachy McCourt are miserable and unhappy with their lives in poverty because they were thrown into that life and had no choice in it. This leaves to misery, and self pity from both Angela and Malachy. In the beginning of the memoir Frank talks about his childhood and says, “People everywhere brag and whimper about the woes of their early years, but nothing can compare with the Irish version: the poverty; the shiftless loquacious alcoholic father; the pious defeated mother moaning by the fire” (McCourt 11). The poverty that the McCourts find themselves in, leaves the parents to

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This book is by Jeanette walls it is called The Glass Castle and has a total number of 288 pages. The main point in this book is that money isn't the key to happiness and that is what The Glass Castle showcased. The book is showing that you can dream bigger even though you might not achieve those dreams. The beginning of the book was a part where the author introduced the characters which were Jeannette Walls, Rex Walls, Rose Mary Walls, Lori Walls, Maureen Walls , and Brian Walls. The main setting in the beginning was them in a little house that was very run down.

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Introduction: The glass castle by Jeannette Walls is the book I chose to read for our summer reading assignment. The glass castle is about 3, eventually 4 kids who have always been told to chase their dreams no matter what happens or where it takes them. The parents which consists of a selfish mom who does stuff to benefit her own needs and a dad who’s a drunk, live by this quote and unfortunately chasing their dream leads them to live their life in poverty, filled with lies, misery, and struggle but with a little hard work, and perseverance the walls children flourish. Summary: The story starts off with little Jeannette walls at the age of three making herself a hotdog.

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The Glass Castle is a nonfiction book that was later turned into a movie. The book was written by Jeannette Walls, and the book is about her life. This story is about family dynamics. The Walls family moved around often and each member had their own set of difficulties. I think the book was turned into a movie for two reasons: the book is not appropriate for younger readers and not everyone wants to or has the time to read a book.

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These references include Walls describing her new house that she brought being surrounded by “woods and villages”, “marsh ponds where swans floated on mirrorlike water”, and “thickets of bare trees” with fallen leaves around their roots as well as how Rose Mary commented on her and her husband’s self-sufficiency after seeing the garden that the both of them worked on (Walls 286; 287). The description of where her home is located is very naturistic and serene much like the western deserts she spent a majority of her childhood in (Walls 130). Her mom’s comment on their self-sufficiency is reminiscent of a time in her childhood when she had to provide food for herself because of the family’s food shortages (Walls 172). Her decision to include both the self-sufficiency comment and the naturistic description could be an homage to her childhood and could also hint - perhaps for the sake of not painstakingly and explicitly explaining everything - to the reader why she decided to move out into a more rural area away from the city. Clearly she cannot be ashamed of where she came from if she made an homage to her childhood as well as based a big decision of buying a house on her childhood

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