Child left in car for several hours dies of heat exhaustion and stroke. This headline has become all too common in recent years and it needs to stop. In The Glass Castle, the parents were never responsible for and didn’t care for their children. This is a growing problem in today’s society that can and should be prevented for the following reasons: Many children are left in cars while caretakers shop or even go to work, many children are raised to live off of the system the US government has in place rather than contribute to it, many parents are too dependent on daycare or alternate childcare and spend less and less time with their children, and finally children need love and attention from their parents so they can grow up and be good parents …show more content…
In The Glass Castle, after Jeanette’s family returned to visit her, “she noticed Brian’s head was wrapped in a dirty white bandage with dried bloodstains. Mom said he had fallen off the back of the couch and cracked his head open on the floor, but she and Dad decided not to take him to the hospital. (13) This is a prime example of parents not caring for their kids and not depending on healthcare to ensure their children’s future. Parents are working more and more as they continue to become successful and “climb the ladder.” Less and less attention is paid to children by their direct relatives because third party care is depended on and it is rarely as one on one as parenting is. The future of our country depends on the children today and we should not stand by as they are raised to be non-contributing members of society. Another example from The Glass Castle of parental neglect is when Jeanette fell out of the car and no one noticed. “I tumbled out of the car. I rolled several yards along the embankment and when I came to a stop, I was too shocked to cry, with my breath knocked out and grit and pebbles in my eyes and mouth, I lifted my head in time to watch the Green Caboose get smaller and smaller and then disappear around a bend. Blood was running down my forehead and flowing out of my nose. (30) It took her dad over an hour to realize she was even missing. This is horrible and shows that the parents definitely did not care for their children as in the instance of Jeanette and her mother eating ham that couldn’t be kept in the fridge since they didn’t have one. “Mom was sitting on the sofa bed, eating the piece she had cut. ‘Mom, the ham is full of maggots,’ I said. ‘Don’t be so picky’ she told me. ‘Just slice off the maggoty parts. The inside is fine.” (172) Since they did not have electricity and they couldn’t
In this world there are many types of abuse or neglect that aren’t always noticed and no one really talks about. We never notice that there are many different types of abuse because we do think that it is so bad that we don’t want to look into it. Social workers specialize in removing the children from the home because they have these things in their lives. Some parents would never dream of abusing their children, and some would never call it abuse. There were several different types of abuse present in the book The Glass Castle, even evidence that the children should be removed from the home.
In the book, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls is trying to tell us that her parents are taking her happiness away. In this section, young Jeannette is witnessing how her parents get into argument about money and disrespect people who are trying to help their condition. Walls says, “I thought Grandma Smith was great. But after a few weeks, she and Dad would always get into some nasty hollering match. It might start with Mom mentioning how short we were on cash” (Walls 20).
Rex and Rose Mary were obviously very different from other parents. They thought their children should be taught from morals and knowledge, and wanted their children to be like them. Rex wanted his children to be tough and entitled to what they needed and not wanted. Even though Jeannette was injured, her parents thought it was a good thing. They thought it was better for their daughter to make her mistakes early so she could learn from her past experiences. Her father even let her play with fire, so that she could overcome her fear of the mighty flame. "Dad appeared alone in the doorway of my room. He told me we were going to check out Rex Walls Style. Dad hurried down the hall with me in his arms. A nurse yelled for us to stop, but dad broke into a run." Pg.
American businesswoman Carly Fiorina once concluded, “If a decision-making process is flawed and dysfunctional, decisions will go awry.” In the critically acclaimed memoir The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls pilots a turbulent excursion through the bottleneck of her childhood and dysfunctionality and flawed decision-making is all too common. Throughout this memoir the reader learns of the the appearances and disappearances of stability and functionality, discovers the theme of fantasy vs. reality, and determines how and why the familial dynamics of the Walls alter through the duration of the memoir. The reasons for the instability of the family are evident.
Jeannette Walls did not have your average childhood. She grew up poor and neglected and faced many hardships as a child. Many of the problems she faced as a child were caused by her parents. Her mother, Rose Mary, clearly suffers from narcissistic personality disorder which affects not only Jeannette but the entire family. It is evident throughout the entire story that Rose Mary clearly puts her wants and needs ahead of her childrens showing her narcissistic tendencies.
Positive thoughts lead to positive things happening, and that was what Rose Mary philosophy to dealing with her misfortune. Throughout the book, The Glass Castle, as trials are steadily placed in Walls’ life, she continuously uses a positive attitude to cope with her life. Mary seems to truly believe that the negative aspects in her life are positive because of the way that she thought about them. (ADD TRANSITION HERE) “Most pianists never get the chance to play in the great out-of-doors,” she said, “And now the whole neighborhood can enjoy it, too,” (53). Mary’s copes by producing a positive attitude. Instead of viewing the situation negatively, Mary thinks that she is lucky to have her piano stuck outside, and she views the problem as a fortunate
While growing up in life children need their parents to teach them and lead them on the path to a successful future. In the Glass Castle Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, neglects to take care of his duties as a father figure in Jeannette’s life. In the same way he teaches her to be strong and independent at a very young age. As we read through the story we see the special relationship that Jeannette shares with her father. Even though he, in many instances, failed to protect his children, refused to take responsibility for them, and even stole from them, Jeannette still loved him until his death for two reasons: one, for his ability to make her feel special, and two, because he is a never-ending source of inspiration.
Education plays a big role in our daily lives. Education is commonly defined as a process of learning and obtaining knowledge. The story takes place beginning in the late 1950s to the early 2000s. Jeannette Walls is the main character of the story and the narrator. She tells the events of her life living with careless and yet loving parents. This family of six lived in many cities and towns and went through tough states to stay alive. Her mother and father never kept a good steady job, but they had great intelligence. Jeannette and her siblings barely went to school to get the proper education they needed. In the book The Glass Castle, author Jeanette Walls discovers the idea that a conservative education may possibly not always be the best education due to the fact that the Walls children were taught more from the experiences their parents gave them than any regular school or textbook could give them. In this novel readers are able to get an indication of how the parents Rex and Rosemary Walls, choose to educate and give life lessons to their children to see the better side of their daily struggles.
Jeannette Walls states in an interview “My mother could not take care of herself, how could I possibly expect her to take care of me?” (Diversity Conversation) She never takes responsibility or has the initiative to go out and make a better life for her and her children. Rose Mary uses guilt and verbal abuse to keep the children “in line,” so to speak. Rex even resorts to physical abuse after Rose Mary snitches on Jeannette. “‘How dare you?’ she shouted. ‘You’re in trouble now — big trouble. I’m telling your dad. Just you wait until he comes home’” (219). As neglected as they are, they somehow survive the crazy conditions they are forced to live with — lack of food, water, a stable shelter, lack of personal hygiene, and even lack of parental supervision. Lori, Jeannette, Brian and Maureen resort to the worst possible ways to keep themselves alive. For example, the three older children find a stick of margarine in the refrigerator and split the stick between each other because they are so hungry. When Rose Mary finds out ,she becomes very angry — stating that the margarine was for her. Another time, the kids want to eat ham, but find it infested with maggots, Rose Mary tells them to just cut off the parts with maggots and eat the rest. That it will be “fine.” “A big green Dumpster stood in the parking lot. When no one was looking, Brian and I pushed open the lid, climbed up, and dived inside to search for bottles. I was afraid it might be full of yucky garbage. Instead, we found an astonishing treasure: cardboard boxes filled with loose chocolates. Some of them were whitish and dried-out-looking, and some were covered with a mysterious green mold, but most of them were fine. We pigged out on chocolates,” (110). This just shows how desperate they were for food. At the same time, their mother is hiding food from them, eating it on the sly. “‘I can’t help it,’ she sobbed. ‘I’m a sugar
They lived in constant poverty and went to bed hungry numerous times because of their parents’ lack of money. The Walls children had to fend for themselves when they wanted something to eat. This was made clear when Jeannette said, “When we wanted money, we walked along the roadside picking up beer cans and bottles that we redeemed for two cents each” (Walls 62). They probably walked for hours only making enough money to buy a candy bar that would hold over their hunger for a few hours. The children were forced to make their own money because they knew that if they continued to wait on their parents they would starve. Jeannette also explains how she used to steal food at school. She says, “During recess at school, I’d slip back into the classroom and find something in some other kid’s lunch bag that wouldn’t be missed…and I’d gulp it down…” (Walls 68). Jeannette was hungry most of the time due to how her parents lived, and out of necessity she determined that one of the best ways to satisfy her hunger was to steal from her classmates. Both examples show that the Walls children had to rely on themselves and not be dependent on their parents. Most of the time, their parents were too self-absorbed in their own dealings and they did not have time to properly care for their children. This caused the children to become self-reliant and learn the importance of standing by each other. If it was not for
Every day the safety and well-being of many children are threatened by neglect. Each child deserves the comfort of having parents whom provide for their children. Throughout the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls explains the childhood from being born into the hands of parent who neglect their children. Many may argue that children need to grow with their parents; however, the removal of children is necessary if the parents disregard the kid’s needs and cannot provide a stable life for their children.
Fire. Neglect. Sexual Molestation. No one child should have to face what Jeannette Walls had to endure as a young child. However, Walls clearly shows this chaos and the dysfunctional issues that she had to overcome while she was growing up. Within her memoir, The Glass Castle, Walls incorporates little things that were important in her life in order to help the reader understand her story even more. These little things amount to important symbolisms and metaphors that help to give the story a deeper meaning and to truly understand Jeannette and her family’s life.
She was in the kitchen cooking hotdogs when she was three years old, and no one was paying attention to her. The fire burned her so severe that she acquired a large scar on her torso. After being in the hospital for several days, her father, Rex Walls, checked her out. Her parents later encouraged her to go back to cooking. It is clear that Jeannette’s safety was neglected by her parents. To be neglected as a child means “when a parent or caregiver does not give the care, supervision, affection and support needed for a child’s health, safety and well-being” (What is Child Abuse). In The Glass Castle, there are many times when the kids were neglected. Another time when the parents neglected the children’s safety is when their father took them to the zoo. But, they weren’t there just to look at the animals. On page 108, Jeannette tells of when her dad “took my hand and slowly guided it to the side of the cheetah’s neck”. Again, the father did not take into consideration that he was putting his children in danger because he believed that he had the situation under control. Therefore, it is clear that the children’s safety was
There are several different social issues presented in Jeannette Wall’s memoir “The Glass Castle.” These issues included neglect – medical and education,
In the novel The Glass Castle the children also have to rely on themselves and each other because their parents have a abusive and neglectful parenting style. As they have that abusive and neglectful parenting style there were instances in which the children thought their parents weren't going to come back for them. One such instance was when Jeannette fell out of the car and she wondered whether “they might not notice [she] was missing”(30) and that they would just leave her there like they did to the cat. A child shouldn't be wondering if their parents will come back for them. Jeannette wondering whether her parents are going to come