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Symbolism In The Glass Castle

1763 Words8 Pages

Matthew Seikel
Mrs. Wood
English III
07 February 2023
The Importance of The Metaphor The Glass Castle The goal of building The Glass Castle caused many ups and downs for the Walls family. In the book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls the family is very poor and Rex who is the father wants to build a glass castle for the family. Jeannette who is the author and one of the main characters has positive outlooks and negative outlooks on her father wanting to build the glass castle. Rex tries his hardest throughout the book to bring happiness in trying to build the glass castle however, it seems he hurts the family rather than helping the family. The metaphor of the glass castle affects Rex and Jeannette when Rex starts his journey to build …show more content…

The money problems in the Walls family really is what was holding Rex back from building the glass castle. When Jeannette is home in Phoenix and Rex is not to be seen, a neighbor comes to the door and asks where her parents are. She then explains that her dad is out finding them food, “And finding work” (68). Jeannette realizes that the family has problems like Rex’s drinking habits and gambling, but she also knows that even though her dad does not seem like a hard-worker, she makes him seem like one throughout the book. He practically gives up his life for his children, he tries to get money for the kids and for the glass castle. Rex and his wife Rose Mary have arguments as well when it comes to money. They started getting into fights about spending money, and how Rex behaves. One night they got into a fight and it startled Jeannette and her siblings. She tries to take her dads side when she describes what Rex was doing, “Dad explained that he was out trying to earn money” (69). Jeannette knows that her father is trying to do whatever he can do to help the family. However, he has his problems and as Jeannette starts getting older he realizes that his time is running out to make his dream come true to build the glass castle for her. When the kids start getting older he starts to …show more content…

The family had a lot of hard times and money problems. However, Rex had a lot of planning for his goal to ultimately build the glass castle for the family and especially for Jeannette. The metaphor of the glass castle was said throughout the book when Jeannette had faith in Rex, when she had lost her hope in Rex, and when Rex had started his hunt for the perfect place for the glass castle. The goal of building the glass castle was a way for Rex to show his love to his family, instead it gave the family

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One day Dad told us to dump it in the hole. ‘But that’s for the Glass Castle,’ I said. ‘It’s a temporary measure,’ Dad told me” (155). After Rex fills the glass castle’s foundation that the Walls children worked so hard to dig, the chances of the Glass Castle being built became clearer to them. Rex tells the kids that creating a landfill in their own front yard is a “temporary measure” in a desperate attempt to reassure the children that he is still on track to building the glass castle.

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In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, a dysfunctional family with a delusional mother and a paranoid father try to prosper in the world with their nomad style of living. In the novel Walls stresses on the importance of home ownership, and the value of promises. In many occasions, Rex Walls, the father attempted to bring stability to the family, but each attempt was met with failure, for he was an irresponsible man. Although he tried to stop drinking, in the end, he miserably failed. Also, Rex attempted to maintain a stable job, but due to his alcoholism and his severely clouded perception of the world, he pathetically failed.

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Glass Castle: The “glass castle” symbolizes Rex’s; Jeanette’s father’s hope and dreams. Before Lori was born; Rex and Rose had a baby girl whom unfortunately died at nine months. This caused a spiral downfall in Rex’s life making him become bitterer, gloomy, dark, and an increasing consumption of alcohol. But even though that situation occurred he still held on to that dream of building the glass castle. One of the biggest current problem he faces in his life is alcoholism.

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The Glass Castle. The Wells family lives poor by choice with a father who makes very questionable decisions. The fathers name is Rex, Rex birthed three children Brian, Lori, and Jeannette. Because of their father these children experience so many different things in their lives but the main character of this story is Jeanette Walls. Rex Walls the father exhibits poor parenting because of the way he causes his children injury, and teaches them terrible morals, Some may argue that he does

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The memoir, The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, has many conflicts between parents and children. Rex and Rose Mary Walls both have their good but also have a lot of bad and are incredibly irresponsible sometimes. They also neglect their children throughout the story, make poor decisions, and believe a lot in self-sufficiency. At the beginning of the book, Jeannette Walls is three years old cooking hot dogs all by herself. She is using the stove unsupervised at an extremely young age, with her mother in the other room focusing on her painting.

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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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It was getting harder. ”(169) Jeannette’s trust and love in her father is getting very small, because of the way he abuses alcohol and lets her down. When Jeanette tells us that she believes she is a fool for believing in Rex, it shows a change in her town to be unbelieving and critical. Throughout The Glass Castle, Jeanette’s tone of Rex Walls goes from very trusting to very disbelieving.

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A balance between a enriching intellectual environment and comfortable living conditions is what all families, especially parents want. This is a constant struggle in the Glass Castle because of the Walls poor living condition, but eagerness to explore and adventure the world. Rex and Rosemary Walls, parents of Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen, obviously take an exploratory and learning environment over a comforting living space. Although living in rough conditions, which leads to bullying, poverty, I believe that it was more important that the Walls created circumstances for most of the children to explore and enjoy learning. Jeannette Walls, the author and the narrator throughout the book, tells a story about her life from when she was

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The Glass Castle is the one idea that helps the family continue to grow and move forward even though the Castle has different meaning to each of the members of the family. To Jeanette and her siblings the Glass Castle is a symbol of hope, to the mother, it is a symbol of relaxation and what life would be like without responsibilities, and to dad, it symbolizes every broken promise he has made to his children, but in the Glass Castle, he has not broken a single one.

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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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Jeannette take up the responsibility of taking care the household. She had grown up to think carefully of the way to spend the money, since most children of her age would spend money on their own needs and amusement, not on the thing they really needs and what others needs. As you can see, sometimes you can be mature and responsible at a very young age.     In conclusion, the theme for The Glass Castle is sometimes you can be mature and responsible at  a very young age.

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Throughout the novel, readers can constantly find symbols with a deeper meaning behind it. Every one of the symbols in the novel is Jeannette’s treasured memories. As the title of the book, the glass castle is one of the main symbols mentioned throughout the novel. The glass castle is a house that the family planned to build together. “It would have a glass ceiling and thick glass walls and even a glass staircase.

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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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Once he finished the prospector and we struck it rich, he’d start work on our glass castle” (25). Walls’ innocence and optimism for the creation of the Glass Castle is indicated through her belief that Rex really is on the verge of finding gold and building the Glass Castle. In reality, he was out drinking all day, spending money that could have been used to feed Walls and her siblings. She still thinks that her father will follow through on his promises, and in doing so bring her happiness. She is unaware of his deception, which is becoming increasingly damaging to his family, as they have trouble affording food.

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As Rex’s children get older rex get more and more worried about the kids. In the end of Rex’s parental run Rex becomes more productive with the way the kids run their own lives. Throughout The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, rex changes from an intelligent drunk to a paranoid person to a helpful father. In The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, Rex Jeannette’s father shows that he is very smart.

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