Review Of The Book 'The Glass Castle' By Mary Rose Walls

Walt Disney once said “I don't believe in playing down to children, either in life or in motion pictures. I didn't treat my own youngsters like fragile flowers, and I think no parent should. Children are people, and they should have to reach to learn about things, to understand things, just as adults have to reach if they want to grow in mental stature. Life is composed of lights and shadows, and we would be untruthful, insincere, and saccharine if we tried to pretend there were no shadows. Most things are good, and they are the strongest things; but there are evil things too, and you are not doing a child a favor by trying to shield him from reality;” Rex and Mary Rose Walls lived by this quote. The Glass Castles is an adventurous book that

Growing up poor was already difficult, but growing up with a selfish parent, specifically an unsympathetic mom, made life hell for the Walls children. The family barely had one source of income from Rex Wall, and instead of helping out with the family’s finance issues, Rose Mary spent her days at home painting. While struggling to live in Welch, Rose Mary quit her teaching job before it even started. She proclaimed she was an artist, not a teacher; “She intended to quit her teaching job and devote herself to her art… ‘It’s time I did something for myself,’ she said” (Walls 218). Rose Mary also hid food from her children knowing they were practically starving and gave childish excuses: “I’m a sugar addict, just like your father is an alcoholic” (Walls 174). Being that the family struggles to get food in the house, Rose Mary wasn’t afraid to shield her children from the reality of how difficult it actually is to keep food in the house. Not only did the Walls children have to grow up hungry with their selfish mother, they had to be led by a cruel

Usually when discussing kids and unfairness you think of not sharing something simple, taking something without permission, or one kid getting something better than the other. In the Walls children’s life, unfairness is getting sexually harassed, having your saved up money stolen from you, getting bullied, and not getting justice for any of those things even from your parents. For example, when Lorie fought Erma because she molested Brian Rex was quick to scold his children instead of confronting the person in the wrong, his mother; mother or not, your children should never be scolded for defending themselves. Rex knew this but he still took Erma’s side: “I thought Dad would come around to our side once and he’d heard what happened, and I tried to explain. ‘I don’t care what happened!’he yelled… He shook his head, but wildly, as if he thought he could keep out the sound of my voice. He wouldn’t even look at me” (Walls 147). Rose Mary also took the side of the wrongdoer when Uncle Stanley was sexually harassing Jeannette. “A few minutes later his hand came creeping back [up my thigh]. I looked down and saw that Uncle Stanley’s pants were unzipped and he was playing with himself… ‘Mom, Uncle Stanley is behaving inappropriately,’ I said… Mom cocked her head and looked concerned. ‘Poor Stanley’ she said. ‘He’s so lonely’” (Walls 184). Both