Pursuit Of Happiness In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Pursuit of Happiness

“The official poverty rate in 2021 was 11.6 percent, with 37.9 million people in poverty.” (Census Bureau). Homelessness, insufficient amounts of food, inadequate childcare. That means 11 of 100 people face the challenges of poverty every day. This is what Rose Mary Walls experiences in The Glass Castle, a memoir, written by Jeannette Walls. Rose Mary is an aspiring artist who lives in a household with her four children and husband, Rex Walls, an addict. She finds herself dealing with abuse, poverty, and homelessness throughout her life, along with her hopeless children. Rose Mary’s attitude, though, stays positive, even if it is dramatically optimistic. She finds hope in every new situation her family faces. After her

Nonetheless they continue, happily living on the streets of New York City. Despite her difficulties facing poverty, Rose Mary acts overly-optimistic, and discovers ways to find happiness in life.

Quickly after the novel begins, Rose Mary and her children find themselves in unfortunate living and family situations. In the opening of the story, Jeannette sees her mother on a way to a party. Her children are successful and move on with their lives but Rose Mary sadly finds herself in a situation quite the opposite of luxurious living styles. Jeannette finds herself, “wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.” (Walls 3). Rose Mary is in a very difficult situation having to “root” through a dumpster when her children’s highest concern is looking “overdressed” for a party. Rose Mary and Rex are deep in poverty, and on the streets while their children are happily

“Mom gave [her] a startled look. [she had] broken one of [their] unspoken rules: [they] were always supposed to pretend [their] life was one long and incredibly fun adventure.” (Walls 69). Despite the challenges and poverty this family faced, Rose Mary was sure to stay happy and positive, even if that meant bending the truth. Rose Mary continues to “pretend” because it arranged a better life for her children, even though this rule is quite unusual and may have just been used as an excuse for her. Although her and her children may have noticed this untrue way of viewing their unfortunate lifestyle, Rose Mary remained persistent and cheery. Rose Mary viewed every shift in their lives as an “adventure” and made the better of it. Along with this, Rose Mary is also optimistic when it comes to future opportunities. When the Walls move to Phoenix, Rose Mary’s children quickly begin complaining about moving back to their old home. Rose Mary knows that will not be possible and when her children ask to go home she responds, “We've already been there… and there are all sorts of opportunities here that we don’t even know about.” (Walls 149). As mentioned previously, Rose Mary viewed every mishap as “opportunities” to become better. This positivity from their mother is what the reader may determine causes the Walls children to find success, even after a difficult