The Glass Castle: Jeannette Walls- Responsibility Haileigh Williams Upon reading The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, the reader will quickly notice all of the responsibilities Jeannette; the author and narrator of the novel, takes on throughout her life. The book itself is a memoir of Jeannette’s life that takes place from 1963 to 2005 and takes the reader through the ups and downs of Jeannette’s life in poverty and somewhat neglect. While reading the novel, the reader will be shown situations where they will be shocked and heartbroken. Jeannette’s family isn’t the average family from the south. With her father; Rex Walls being an alcoholic that couldn’t keep a job, her mother; Rosemary Walls who refused to get a job, her older …show more content…
It was decided with her parents and the school, that the summer before her senior year, she was going to move and start a new life living with her sister. She had been saving money that she had earned throughout the years and figured she would have enough money to buy a one-way ticket to new York. Her younger brother Brian and her began counting the weeks, and then the days, until she would get on the bus and leave Welch, West Virginia. The day after summer break started, she packed a suitcase and got on the bus. She met her sisters friend at the bus stop at the New York bus station and got settled into Lori’s apartment, the next day she got a job at a diner and officially started her new life in New York, New York. There are many other times that the reader will find an act of responsibility that Jeannette had but those were just a few that stood out in the novel. With her family being the way it was, there were two things that could have happened to Jeannette, she could have turned out like her parents or turned her life of poverty into a life of wealth. Jeannette is an inspiring author and also a motivational speaker with a story that needed to be told that wasn’t just told, but printed to hundreds of people that needed to hear her story