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The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls Character Analysis

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Perception, a fragile construct, is profoundly shaped by external events. In Jeannette Walls' memoir "The Glass Castle" and Kathryn Bigelow's film "The Hurt Locker," the central characters, Rex Walls and Sergeant James, undergo significant transformations in their perception due to these external events. Through a comparative analysis, this essay explores how these characters' perceptions are molded by external circumstances, despite their differing situations. Additionally, I will share a personal experience from my life to illustrate the transformative power of such events on an individual's perception. Starting with "The Glass Castle," Rex Walls initially perceives himself as a free-spirited individual, unbound by societal norms. He embodies a romanticized version of freedom, viewing his nomadic lifestyle and disdain for …show more content…

This external event forces Rex to confront the consequences of his actions, leading to a profound shift in his perception of himself and his role within the family. Similarly, in "The Hurt Locker," Sergeant James perceives war as an exhilarating and adrenaline-fueled experience. He finds purpose in the chaos of the battlefield and embraces the danger and excitement of his job as a bomb disposal expert. However, external events such as witnessing the death of his comrades and innocent civilians, as well as the increasing pressure of his responsibilities, erode Sergeant James' perception of war as a thrilling adventure. Like Rex, Sergeant James' perception is changed by the external event of facing the consequences of his actions. As he witnesses the devastating impact of war on both himself and those around him, he begins to question his previous beliefs and motivations. Despite the differing circumstances of Rex Walls and Sergeant James, both characters experience profound shifts in perception due to significant external

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The memoir, “The Glass Castle”, written by Jeannette Walls, is a novel filled with hardships and obstacles faced by the author and her dysfunctional family. Living with her depressed mother who weeps and sobs about her struggles in her teaching job, her alcoholic gambling father who, on a daily basis, would not arrive home, and her two sisters, Lori and Maureen and brother, Brian. Though their constant moving and chasing from the debt collectors, one person who has affected Walls life would have to be her father, Rex Walls. Although his constant gambling and consistent job loss, he has become a significant figure in Walls life. He has shown her the problems of alcoholism, the struggles, and corruptions of the world, and especially allowed

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The Walls family consists of Rex (father), Rose Mary (Mother), Lori, Brian, Jeannette, and Maureen (Children). Jeanette starts of her memoir in new york where she has made a living for herself, a good home in park avenue a nice husband and yet her parents are living out on the streets of the “Big Apple”. Not that she hasn't tried to help them, she has but her father insists they don't need anything and her mother asks for something silly like “perfume atomizer or membership in a health club”. Jeanette recalls her memories of when she was three, her parents are carefree and don't believe in rules or discipline.

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Every once in awhile a horrible situation occurs expecting the worst to happen when in reality something good comes out of it, such as the events in the Walls family in the Glass Castle by author Jeannette Walls. An event that would of turned terrible but went another direction was when Rex and Rose couldn’t buy christmas gifts for the kids (pg.39). During that period the Walls were pretty poor and couldn’t afford to get each other gifts during the holiday’s. The result of this could 've ended in sadness and disappointment, but to spare that Rose and Rex told the kids the truth where Santa wasn’t real. Telling the kids that Santa wasn’t real made them feel apart of a secret other kids didn’t know, which made them feel special.

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Many people who read Jeannette Wall’s autobiography The Glass Castle were shook at the Rags-to-Riches story and the stories her childhood in poverty provided. Growing up with neglectful parents, however had the result of three out of four successful adults who once slept in cardboard box beds and used a yellow bucket for a toilet, causing a controversy of how independent should kids really be. The Glass Castle overflows with symbolism, emotion, and tone. However, the tone of her father is particularly peculiar and as the book progresses, the word choice describing her father changes from one of hope and heroism-like traits to slowly seeing Rex Wall’s calamitous characteristics while loving him the entire time. All of Rex’s children looks

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Jeannette’s Tone Change As a result of maturing and learning new things, perspectives on people usually change. This is what happened with Jeanette Walls in her novel, The Glass Castle. Her initial attitude towards her father, Rex Walls, is loving, supportive, and faithful. However, when she is able to process how many times her father has let her down, her tone in the book changes to being very critical and clinical.

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The silent screams of childhood abuse echo through the corridors of adulthood, shaping the future of their lives. The Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, takes place in multiple areas of America and emphasizes various traumatic episodes that children endure. The memoir facilitates hazards such as unsupervised cooking, tolerating abuse, and neglect. In The Glass Castle, the theme of child negligence and trauma individually changing development is seen through Billy Deel’s assault against Jeannette. This idea of development through irresponsibility and negligence is also viewed through Brian and Jeannette’s experiences with Rosemary and Rex Walls.

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Witnessing my father chasing down my mother because of a pointless argument of my parents not caring about my siblings and I where abouts would be devastating to say the least. In The Glass Castle Jeannette and her siblings chose to appreciate the small things as they got older because they were not given materialistic items or a hot meal when they could afford it. Their mother made poor financial decisions and hardly ever put the kids first. For example, the mom chose to rent a piano over buying Brian a pair of male jeans. He had to suffer wearing girl clothes that did not even fit.

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Imagine a close friend who is very intelligent, very good at his job and has hopes for his family to become rich and achieve all of their dreams. Seems like a great person right? Now imagine, this same person is an alcoholic who is addicted to gambling and loses most of the families money doing so. Is he still a great person even with his flaws? Although well intentioned, Rex, from The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, is self- absorbed, and thus impacts his children in a negative way.

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Nicholas Sparks once said, “I don’t know that love changes. People change. Circumstances change.” In the memoir, The Glass Castle author Jeannette Walls shows how her father Rex Walls changes with everything thrown at him as a father or four. In the beginning of being a parent Rex shares his intelligence with his children.

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