In the book, The Glass Castle, I feel each character I can identify with in some way, whether that is through actions, thoughts, or events. However, there is one character that stood out to me and that is Jeannette. She chronicled her life and her dysfunctional upbringing along with the struggles and challenges that go along with it. No matter what she went through, she never allowed herself to feel defeated or depressed. She saw her situation for what it was and found ways to improve her condition through pure determination. There are many similarities I feel we both share such as, we both were taught independence from an early age, we are both middle children, and we are both carefree and intelligent. Though, the main contrast between Jeannette and I are that we are both timid, positive, and forgiving. Jeannette’s timid nature is a shared characteristic that we both share. This was evident through her reluctance to take off her dress while she was at the community pool with her classmate, Dinitia and other women. She was self-conscious about her body and the scar that was on her ribs as a result from an accident she had at three years old cooking hot dogs. After a few moments of encouraging herself, she was able to take off her dress and put on a bathing suit. Like Jeannette, I have struggled with shyness when it comes to body image. I started puberty at eight years old, and the children I went to school with, were relentless in teasing me about having to wear a bra. This caused my self-esteem to plummet and lead me to bind my chest with tape …show more content…
No matter what obstacle or challenges we faced, we still managed to find solutions to our problems and kept being optimistic. Going through a rough childhood it is easy to harbor hate and bitterness but being able to look logically at a situation and motivate it to change you that is strength that Jeannette and I
In fact, the glass castle, itself, is the true symbol of Jeannette and her father’s colluded idealism. The perfect fantasy, an escape from authority and responsibility, exists as the goal for Rex Walls and his daughter. When sleeping under the stars, Jeannette remarks, “We could live like this forever.” Clearly, her own childhood innocence has given her idealism a firm ground to be planted in. Later on, as she grows older, Jeannette’s illusions begin to fade, and reality takes root. No longer could she simply dream: she would have to take life seriously and recognize her desires, her obligations, and her own reality. Her idealism became first cracked after she was scolded for rightfully standing up to Erma; after which she said, “Situations like these, I realized, were what turned people into hypocrites.” Her hopeless ideals cannot stand up to the tough nature of reality and its merciless batter of the person. The foundation of the glass castle is turned into a trash dump just as her own dreams were discarded and transformed into more pragmatic plans. While her father still lived in a fantasy, Jeannette’s clouded vision was lifted by her own maturity and awareness. Ideas of being self-sufficient and living freely gave Jeannette a sense of hope to carry on, until her dreams, the glass castle, were
Jeannette Walls, American writer and journalist, in her memoir, The Glass Castle, shares her vividly stunning childhood growing up with her family. Due to her misguided and dysfunctional parents, Jeannette and her siblings had to suffer through poverty, negligence, and abuse. Jeannette Walls states, “Some people think my parents are absolute monsters and should’ve had their children taken away from them. Some think they were these great free-spirited creatures who had a lot of wisdom that a lot of parents today don’t [have].” Although a handful of individuals believe that the Walls’ parenting style was justified and has led to the sibling’s success, their children should have been taken away to be raised properly because their parents were unfit, and they experienced an immense amount of physical and sexual abuse and neglect throughout the process.
The Glass Castle is a memoir of the writer Jeannette Walls life. Her family consists of her father Rex Walls, her mother Rose Mary Walls, her older sister Lori Walls, her younger brother Brian Walls and her younger sister Maureen Walls. Jeannette Walls grew up with a lot of hardships with her dad being an alcoholic and they never seemed to have any money. Throughout Jeanette’s childhood, there are three things that symbolize something to Jeannette, they are fire, New York City and the Glass Castle, which shows that symbolism gives meanings to writing.
In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the author's earliest memory is her injury at the age of three, and in this memory she is all but unhappy. Jeannette's childhood was full of inconveniences. The Walls family had a hard time conforming to society and shaping their future for success. Rex and Rose Mary had different morals than others when it came to raising their children: Brain, Lori, Maureen and of course Jeannette. During her childhood, Jeannette was dealt with hardships, but showed maturity and independence throughout it.
Each survivor has a set of tools at their disposal that can be used throughout their lifetime. Jeannette was able to overcome staggering odds to with her ability to use almost anything to her advantage and by being able to bend to the situation around her and constantly change. And finally, by having a drive in life that is simply incomprehensible, a drive and purpose so deep we cannot even begin to fathom its depth. Jeannette used these techniques to conquer her life and overcome every obstacle that stood in her way.
Gender role identity and body image are directly related to the relationship a young girl has with her mother while she is growing up. During the young ages, a girl needs to feel accepted and positively identified by her mother in order to be happy with her femininity. Mothers play a very important role in helping young girls establish their self-esteem, because a young girl’s first role model is most often her mom (Daniluk & Usmiani 47). If this relationship somehow goes astray, the young girl may easily form a negative body image of herself. Behaviors of self abuse often occur right around the age of puberty, and the reaction to a negative self-esteem may result in NSSI and cutting. According to Ruberman (120), girls who choose cutting as their means of self-injury are using their skin as a “canvas” to cut open and obtain some control over their own body. This behavior is derived from the lack of control they feel they posses. Ruberman (120), states in her article that a mother’s job is to stand by her daughter as she grows from birth without interfering with her own fea...
Throughout the Glass Castle there is a constant shift in Jeanettes tone through her use of diction. Her memoir is centered around her memories with her family, but mainly her father Rex Walls. Although it is obvious through the eyes of the reader that Rex is an unfit parent and takes no responsibility for his children, in her childhood years Jeanette continually portrays Rex as an intelligent and loving father, describing her younger memories with admiration in her tone. The capitalization of “Dad” reflects Jeannette’s overall admiration for her father and his exemplary valor. “Dad always fought harder, flew faster, and gambled smarter than everyone else in his stories”(Walls 24). Jeanette also uses simple diction to describe her father, by starting sentences with, “Dad said,” over and over. By choosing to use basic language instead of stronger verbs, she captures her experience in a pure and honest tone.
Jeannette Walls has lived a life that many of us probably never will, the life of a migrant. The majority of her developmental years were spent moving to new places, sometimes just picking up and skipping town overnight. Frugality was simply a way of life for the Walls. Their homes were not always in perfect condition but they continued with their lives. With a brazen alcoholic and chain-smoker of a father and a mother who is narcissistic and wishes her children were not born so that she could have been a successful artist, Jeannette did a better job of raising herself semi-autonomously than her parents did if they had tried. One thing that did not change through all that time was the love she had for her mother, father, brother and sisters. The message that I received from reading this memoir is that family has a strong bond that will stay strong in the face of adversity.
In “The Glass Castle”, the author Jeanette Walls describes her childhood and what motivated her to chase her education and move out to New York City with her siblings and leave their parents behind in West Virginia. The main struggle Jeanette and her siblings had was the conflicting point of view that they had with their mother on parenting. Despite their father Rex Walls being an alcoholic, constantly facing unemployment, and being a source of hope for his children, Rose Mary Walls had her list of attributes that shaped her children’s life. Rose Mary had a very interesting view on parenting in Jeanette Wall’s memoir and this perspective of parenting influenced her children both positively and negatively.
In the book The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls goes through more than enough traumatizing events in her childhood. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is an accurate cliché describing her childhood. Many times, in each of our lives, this cliché has been said to us or we have thought it when something hard is happening. In April, I moved out of my childhood home and into my cabin which was forty-five minutes away from school. For Jeannette, simply moving houses wasn’t a big deal and more of an excitement; for me it was a big step in my life. Many times, throughout this experience of moving out of my house, then into my cabin, and then into a new house a couple months later, I thought of the cliché “what doesn’t kill you
Jeannette is a major character and protagonist. She is a round, dynamic character, and the memoir focuses on her development and maturity. Due to her forgiving nature, she is Rex Wall's favorite daughter. Despite her father's destructive nature, she chooses to be optimistic and positive. Through her early childhood she chooses to ignore her father's drunken episodes, and thinks of him as a loving father and an excellent teacher of the wild. By the time she reaches her junior year of high school, she realizes the indisputable flaws that her father has. She uses her intelligence to eventually move away from her parents and Welch. She is a natural forgiver and it shows even when she moves away from her parents.
There are several different social issues presented in Jeannette Wall’s memoir “The Glass Castle.” These issues included neglect – medical and education,
These events have strengthened me mentally, spiritually, and educationally. Regardless of what occurs in life, at work or in school, I have the ability to overcome the obstacles and the strength of mind, a compassionate heart and the knowledge to succeed in any task I undertake.
As a woman of color who has always been a big girl, I started struggling with my body image when I reached my adolescence years. Growing up, I did not realize that my body was abnormal and unacceptable. I saw myself just like other peers and age group. My experience of body dissatisfaction first started within my own family. I got teased about my size by family members. My parents, especially my mother, reminded me constantly about how obese I was. Reaching a certain age, she started controlling my food intake and she made sure I ate no more than three times a day. With all those disciplinary actions from my mother and the pressure I felt from family, I started noticing of external standards of beauty and body image. In this lens, one can see that body image is influenced by many factors and my mother became a structure that carried out directives. This example demonstrates that feminine body is socially constructed and taught to us. When this ideal body image or feminine body gets inculcated in us at a young age, it becomes internalized discipline that enables one to distinguish herself from other
All things considered, with the recent obsession with body images, media had added extra stress. Many people in today’s society use this media as external validity, when in actuality when they don’t get the results they desire it ends with a lower self-esteem and a lack of self- efficacy. These standards are unrealistic and todays generation is having a challenging time realizing that