The Negative Effects Of Homelessness In The Glass Castle

Homelessness in America The author of the book The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, lived an unbelievable childhood that no child should have to go through. Throughout her story she told, she overcame lots of difficult situations that her parents had put her and her siblings in. Throughout most of her life, her family did not live in one place for very long. She wanted to change this and have a place that she could actually call home. Her parents did not provide for the children to the best of their abilities and because of this, they suffered from many situations that some people could not even imagine. One of these was homelessness. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette and her siblings experience first hand homelessness when they move to New York

This can range from divorce to mental illnesses (“Factors Contributing To Homelessness”). In some statistics taken from The Homeless Resource Network, the biggest cause of homelessness is from the loss of job or income someone is bringing in. If someone were to lose a job unexpectedly, they could have trouble finding a job with the same income they were used to earning, making it hard to keep necessities in their life. Another important element that contributes to people becoming homeless is the use of drugs and alcohol. Even though most people who have one of these addictions do not become homeless, it becomes a problem when they are poor and the addictions take over their life (“Homelessness in

Most of these stereotypes are bad perceptions of the homeless. One of the myths is that homeless people are taking advantage of the system (“Myths about the Homeless”). What most people do not realize is that only a small percentage of homeless people receive government aid; it is projected that 40% of homeless people are eligible for disability services, but only 11% take it or claim it(“Myths about the Homeless”). Another myth is that people may think that homeless people are different from them, and that they would never be homeless. The truth is that one simple disaster or unfortunate event could lead someone to homelessness (“Myths about the Homeless”). For example, someone could be very rich and a natural disaster, like a hurricane, could strike leaving them with nothing to their name and nowhere to turn to. One more major myth that people think about the homeless are that they are criminals when in fact, most of them are victims of crimes (“Myths about the Homeless”). John Hopkins University did a study about the homeless and crimes and found out that even though some did commit crimes, most were never against a person or property. People not knowing the true facts about homelessness should be educated about it because labeling them with a stereotype that is not accurate does hurt