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Symbolism In The Glass Castle

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The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeanette Walls in which she tells the story of her childhood and the way she became who she is. Her way to her balanced present was too difficult and full of hardships, yet she managed to become a successful and prosperous person whose life experience gave her a push to make her life happy. It stands to mention that the novel is full of symbols which contribute to reader 's understanding of Jeanette 's character and represent her most important traits and desires. Besides, all the symbols such as the fire, the Joshua tree, the geode and the glass castle are recurring and contribute to understanding the struggle of Jeanette 's childhood and her ability to overcome it and build a successful life. Fire is an …show more content…

Finally, the symbol of the glass castle needs to be discussed. It is an important symbol as it appears in the title and plays a significant role throughout the book. Jeanette 's father dreams of building the glass castle in the desert for his family, and his children are also overtaken with the idea. The glass castle symbolizes fragile illusion Jeanette carry through her childhood believing her father will fulfill his promises, and they will live happy together in the perfect house of their dream. She sees the castle as a matter of family unity, as she wants to work on it together. “I was certain that once everyone saw the amazing transformation of the house begin, they 'd all join in”, she thinks, but her relatives are reluctant to contribute to their dream building, and she cannot do it alone. When Jeanette admits her father will not build the house and lets her dream go, she became mature as she is no more trapped in the empty illusion and can see the life as it is. Jeanette Walls ' The Glass Castle is an outstanding example of symbolism that is used to help the reader understand the main character 's nature better. The fire, the Joshua tree, the geode and the glass castle are used to show Jeanette 's struggle through the hardships of life and her ability to take control over it

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Jeanette had to face tremendous troubles while growing up. Each one hopefully making her stronger. Her time in Battle Mountain, hopefully helped her realize she didn't want to be in that position anymore. In the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls, the author, was most influenced by her time in Battle Mountain, as indicated by how she describes her feelings there.

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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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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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Kai Sebastian English 10H Mrs. Denchfield 8/27/15 10H Summer Assignment: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 1.“‘We could live like this forever,’ I said. ‘I think we’re going to,’ she said.” (Walls 18) This is near the beginning of the books between the two siblings of the narrator (Jeannette Walls) and her older sister (Lori Walls) as they are lying underneath the stars on a clear night in the desert. The reason for these exchange of words was the fact they were on one of their dad’s

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We all have things from our childhood we remember. Maybe it’s a teddy bear from mom, or when dad brought home a computer, or a treehouse built with a sibling. We recollect these objects because they have a significant role in our lives, something about them changed us. Jeannette comes across many things during her childhood travels, they cause an immense number of problems but in the end they change her and her family for the better. Jeannette Walls’ story The Glass Castle, is filled with symbols that gradually release her and her siblings from the grasp of their negligent parents and the harrowing abyss that is their life.

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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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The Success of a Child The Glass Castle is a thrilling novel chock full of adventure, crisis, and experiences. A family moves around the country, with their highly intelligent father, who turns into a dangerous brute when he is drunk, a dysfunctional mother and three kids who must rely on one and other to survive. Watch as the children, particularly Jeannette, leave their chaotic life behind and build successful lives in New York. Unable to detach themselves from their children, the parents eventually follow them to New York. The success that Jeannette achieved was mostly due to her childhood, because her childhood taught her how to be determined, gave her strength, and made her fearless.

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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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Parental Influence Parents are the biggest influence upon their children. From the time a child is born to the time they leave the household, the values that the parents hold are instilled into their children. Parents are required to make crucial decisions about how to raise their children in order to guide them through the inevitable obstacles and hardships of life. In The Glass Castle, many would argue the lack of care and responsibility the Walls had for their children. The author, Jeannette Walls, uses Rex and Mary Walls to demonstrate that their strong traits of non-conformity, self-sufficiency and perseverance are passed on to their children, allowing them to develop to their full potential.

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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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The glass castle in The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls can be taken as so many things at first thought. It could be symbolic or literal but you won 't know which it is until you read it. For me, I thought it was a castle they were trying to get to, like a safe haven. It turns out that the glass castle stood for everything the Walls family had worked for, you see this through the characters, their life in Welch and where they ended up in the end. Getting to know the characters was a very important part of understanding the importance of the glass castle.

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Jeannette Walls also uses the symbol of the Glass Castle, which develops throughout the memoir to show how she slowly loses trust in her father as she realises that she can not depend upon him or anyone else for happiness. The symbolism evolves throughout the memoir as Walls evolves as a person. In the beginning of the memoir, her description of the Glass Castle is naive and hopeful. Her naivety is most apparent when Walls writes, “All of Dad’s engineering skills and mathematical genius were coming together in one special project: a great big house he was going to build for us in the desert… All we had to do was find gold, Dad said, and we were on the verge of that.

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It is evident that her childhood may have impacted her in a more severe psychological way. The book The Glass Castle is a very interesting narrative. The author Jeanette Walls is able to bring new light to circumstances that many people choose to ignore or overlook by writing about her own childhood. This gives the book a new perspective and allows the reader to gain insight.

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