Poverty- the state of being extremely poor ;the state of being inferior in quality or insufficient in amount
Jeannette Walls grew up with her 3 siblings and her dysfunctional parents moving around constantly. Her family lived in extreme poverty her whole childhood. Her father was a violent alcoholic and her mother didn't want the burden of children. But when her father was sober he taught her important life lessons. When her mother was in a good mood she taught her reading, writing and arithmetic.
In the book The Glass Castle forgiveness is a prominent theme, Jeannette tends to be more optimistic when she forgives her family, she lets go of the anger she has towards them and it allows her to live in the moment.
In the book, Jeanette's father put her in a lot of violent situations but she always forgave him because she had a different understanding of him. One of the specific times he did this to her was when he threw her into the water when she didn't know how to swim. “Once I got my breath back, I figured he must be right.” (pg.65) Even though Jeannette could've died she still forgave her father. Jeannette and her father were closer than the rest of the kids were with their father, Jeannette knew that he was trying to teach her something important.
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“Good for you, you have to get right back in the saddle” (pg.15) When Jeannette gets home after 6 days of hospitalization her mother wanted her to keep cooking even though that’s what got her there in the first place. Jeanette's mother forgave the whole incident and wanted her to keep
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.
Jeannette and her siblings were all forced into completing tasks and taking on roles for themselves and their other siblings that are heartbreaking to read about and uncommon for most children to experience and tackle themselves. Much of this had to do with the lack of responsibility on their parents’ part and the ways they decided to live. As I have read the book, I have been amazed over and over again at the ways Jeannette handled the parental roles—both mother and father. She was very tough and never gave up, but you could tell there were other times she was just plain discouraged. One example we can see her using the roles to benefit her siblings was when her mom left to Charleston to “renew her teaching certificate” for 8 weeks and put Jeannette in charge of the money. She budgeted out $25 a week to provide the groceries and pay all of the bills that would need to be taken care of. Even though Jeannette gave her father (Rex) money when he asked, she
This quote from the text provides readers with the sense that Jeannette’s “glass” is always half full. Instead of Jeannette feeling sorry for herself, she tries to make the situation better.
Jeannette is on a quest to better herself. Jeannette and her sister Lori always talked about growing up and escaping to New York City (Walls 222). They dream of making it big unlike their parents. Lori began to see New York as “this glowing, bustling place at the end of a long road where she could become the person she was meant to be” (Walls 222). This idea began to rub off on Jeannette so she too felt that way. By viewing the city this way, Jeannette created a goal for herself. She went off to seek the person she was meant to be. She had a purpose now and this gave her a quest. She never gave up because she wrote the memoir from New York City and even sees her homeless mother as she passes by in a taxi on her way to her city apartment (Walls 9). Jeannette was determined on her quest and persevered through it all to become the person she is
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.
Love is the thing that holds a family together, without it the world would be a very lonely place. Hardships, misfortune, and trouble are all challenges people go through in life. With the support of family and love, it makes it possible to navigate through this mine field. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls makes several connections to loving family unconditionally. In the book, there is evidence of the kids being neglected and brought up in tough living situations. There are many conditions where the kids should not forgive the parents, but the kids turn towards a positive viewpoint, look for the bright sides of things, and love their parents no matter what. With the parents knowledge of their children’s ability to forgive
Her Mom was ashamed of her for acting like this but Jeannette really wanted her Mom to change her ways and stop being homeless. She really loved her mother and wanted her to have a good life.
Ultimately, Jeanette made the decision of ending her marriage and divorce her husband, thus seeking a place to live by herself. All she ever desired was an impartial life and some justice who would recompense her horrifying childhood lived with her paternities. She became a tremendously famous writer, Jeanette finally discovered what peace was, by basically enforcing self-justice.
Her family stayed three years at the camp. Jeanne did not enjoy living in these camps. The memories of the past still haunted her as she grew older. “Writing it has been a way of coming to terms with the impact these years have had on my entire life” (pg
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.
As humans, we are entitled to making mistakes in our lives, but by forgiving one free himself from anger. Marianne Williamson wrote this about forgiveness: “ Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.” In the book The Glass Castle undergoes many difficult circumstances in which the act of forgiveness is the only way to be at peace with her family, but more importantly herself. But the real question is does she truly forgive them. Jeanette’s ability to constantly forgive her parents enabled her to have a positive attitude because the negativity was released when
Ever since she was a young girl. Jeannette had set high goals for herself. Since she was so advanced in school and genuinely enjoyed learning, it made sense that she would want to do big things with her life. Whether it was being a veterinarian or a geologist, her dreams extended far beyond her homes in little desert towns or Welch, West Virginia. However, because of her poverty-stricken home life, many people believed it didn’t seem likely that she would be so successful. One day, while living in Welch, Jeannette goes to the bar to drag her drunk father back home. A neighborhood man offers them a ride back to their house, and on the ride up he and Jeannette start a conversation about school. When Jeannette tells the man that she works so hard in school because of her dream careers, the man laughs saying, “for the daughter of the town drunk, you sure got big plans” (Walls 183). Immediately, Jeannette tells the man to stop the car and gets out, taking her father with her. This seems to be a defining moment in which Jeannette is first exposed to the idea that she is inferior to others. Although this man said what he did not mean to offend her, Jeannette is clearly very hurt by his comment. To the reader, it seems as if she had never thought that her family’s situation made her subordinate to those
Towards the middle of the memoir, the theme is shown through the irony of Jeannette’s mother’s situation as well as Jeannette’s feelings towards
Jeanette's parents taught her the importance of knowledge from a very young age which also shaped her to become the person she became after her childhood. THroughout the story Jeannette is always learning, always reading, and educating herself to become more knowledgeable. She even at one point in the book begins a rock collection on different types of rocks which she sells to make money. Jeanette's parents instilled a large amount of positive traits and characteristics through their life of poverty to craft the amazing women Jeannette grew up to