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Essay On The Glass Castle

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The Glass Castle, Is the Movie Worth Your Time? The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls is a compelling and heart-wrenching memoir of the hardships and abuse Walls and her siblings faced at the hand of their parents, Rose Mary and Rex Walls. The Glass Castle was adapted for the big screen in August of 2017. The screenplay was written by Andrew Lanham and Destin Cretton, the later directed it. The movie stars Woody Harrelson and Naomi Watts as Rex and Rose Mary, Ella Anderson as young Jeanette, and Brie Larson as adult Jeannette. The Glass Castle draws the reader in from the very first page. The hardships the Walls siblings endure and their success in overcoming them makes for a gripping and compelling tale. The movie, while at times …show more content…

Instead of going to the springs, the Walls go to the community pool to enjoy a morning swim. The Walls are enjoying lounging around the pool deck. Rex talks with Rosemary while he enjoys a drink. That is until he sees Jean clinging to the side of the pool. The site inspires Rex to teach Jean learns how to swim. His methodology is the same as it is in the book. Because they are at a public pool, Rex’s swim lessons create a scene. The other patrons become upset and concerned and the Walls are asked to leave the pool. As the Walls leave the pool Rex gives the same speech to Jeannette, except in the film the pool manager interrupts Rex asking if there is a problem. This sends Rex into a rage resulting in him assaulting the manager. The change in setting is effective because we see just how outrageous Rex’s behavior is viewed through the lens of normal parents.
Rex’s character is an integral part of the story. His character is responsible for the outrage the reader feels towards the Walls parents abuse, but the reader also feels some kindred with Rex because, like Rex, the reader, too, wants to see the Walls children succeed and overcome the obstacles their parents have created. Both the movie and the book do an equally effective job at conveying this conflicting response. However, the differences in setting and characterization result in a major shift in tone and mood, even if the take home feeling is the

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The Glass Castle: Controversial Topics. The Glass Castle is a 2005 book by Jeannette Walls. The memoir explains the author’s life, growing up with her family most especially with her parents who could be described as nomads and deadbeats. Notwithstanding the difficult upbringing, her siblings and she had, Jeannette perseveres and becomes a successful Journalist living in New York City.

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Rex’s method is not that of many fathers, his being “sink or swim”, providing not only the ability to swim but also a strong metaphor for the reader and Jeannette. This is a representation of not only the Walls’ teaching strategy, also for the struggle to succeed in a life the Jeannette has literally been thrown into. Jeannette takes this idea to heart even though she may not realize it, for her not to succumb to the environment in which encapsulates her, such as Welch and life on the road, she must be able to handle these hard situations and be able to stay

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“If you don 't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim” (41). Although Rex Walls was not always an admirable father and role model, he did make an essential point while teaching his daughter, Jeannette, how to swim. In life, not everything comes without resistance. As Jeannette Walls describes throughout her life story, sometimes people are forced to face hardships that make them question their whole life. However, as seen in her book, it is important to learn to take those hardships and use them to shape one’s future for the better.

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In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the Walls family is considered homeless and they are constantly moving from place to place. They constantly find themselves either with a somewhat decent amount of money or at times, no money at all. Jeannette, being one of four children always follows along with and listens to her parents and eventually notices that their family does things very differently than most other families. As Jeannette explains her childhood and how she is being raised by her parents, it is clear to see how different Rex and Rosemary’s parenting style is compared to the parenting style of other parents. Since their parenting style is so different, it seems that it affects their children in a negative way throughout their childhood, but in the end it makes Jeannette become a better and more successful person.

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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.

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In The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it tells about how the Walls family move to different desert towns, settling in for as long as their father, Rex, can hold a job. However, his perspective of the state and society, and his alcoholism led them to move frequently. The children - Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and little Maureen- experiences unusual childhood, where they travel like nomads to find new money source. This lead to the theme, sometimes you can be mature and responsible at a very young age. The theme is developed by how Jeannette learns how to take care of herself and her younger siblings, and the way her parent taught her.

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This normally would be a very fun activity, but Jeannette does not know how to swim or even float. Naturally, Rex throws her into the deep pool and keeps pushing her back and under the water, making her fear for her safety (Walls 66). This action shows that Rex Walls put no thought into his daughter's safety. This behavior is considered dangerous because his daughter was not properly prepared or trained to be put in such a deep pool without help from her parents. Rex was used to this type of behavior from his alcoholic mind so he did not think much of it, even though he was endangering his daughter.

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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.

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“Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy. You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more.” The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls has very important life lessons that will teach you to laugh at your tragedies sometimes. The most important lessons are that struggle makes you unique, you either sink or swim, and sometimes crisis makes you realize your potential. In the memoir, you will learn these and accept them.

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