The book, Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, is an unbelievable memoir about a dysfunctional family. The author, Jeannette Walls, is also the main character in the book. Jeannette and each of her unique and interesting family members differ from any other character in a book you can imagine. Jeannette’s father teaches and inspires her each and everyday with new and interesting things. But when Jeannette’s father was not helping them embrace life, he was drinking alcohol, leaving his children with no one to take care of them. “In my mind, Dad was perfect, although he did have what Mom called a bit of a drinking situation.” (page 23). This quote describes how much Jeannette cares for her father, but sometimes his drinking problem got in the way. Jeannette’s mother was a very nice, sweet, and caring woman, but the whole idea of responsibility and being a parent wasn’t her cup of tea. Jeannette and her brother and sister are left to take care of themselves. Throughout the story Jeannette and her family persevere greatly, and prove to each other how…
Notes on the author Synopsis Genre, structure and style Background notes on alcohol abuse Chapter summaries Themes, motifs and symbols Character analysis Quotations General discussion questions and activities Essay questions Oral assignments Short written responses Extension work Appendix: How to plan a text response 3 4 5 6 7 17 22 26 29 31 32 33 34 35…
This novel is full of elements that point to Rex Walls’ alcoholism and the consequences it…
In Jeannette Walls’ memoir “The Glass Castle” many of her family members and other people in the book display certain characteristics that make her story unique and intriguing. Often such characteristics can cause problems for the characters and sometimes their own downfall. In particular, Jeannette’s father displays irresponsibility that affects not only him, but the other people in the story as well. This ultimately ends up causing his downfall and his children losing faith in him.…
I have just finished reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and I would like you to know the importance of Jeannette Walls’s story. In this book, Walls highlights her experiences with heavy topics, such as sexul assault, poverty, rape, and alcoholism. I believe these topics are the reason why Jeannette Walls wrote this book, due to the fact that it informs readers about the topics from someone who experienced these adversities first hand. For example, she uses her success story to inspire others, implying the message that your past makes you who you are now, but you make who your future will be. Furthermore, she spreads the idea that there's always more beyond money. Walls grew up in poverty with an alcoholic father and a day dreaming…
The Glass Castle is about a girl who tells the events of her childhood past and how dysfunctional her family was, especially her father Rex Walls. Jeanette’s father, Rex Walls is a drunk and sometimes abusive to his family. He drinks all the time to escape reality. Rex has been drinking since he was a teenager. He is a prime example of an everyday drunk who takes any opportunity to get alcohol.…
It was a very touching story: the Glass Castle, in which author Jeannette Walls tells the world about her greatly influential past. This passage I chose reveals one of the most significant characters in her life, her father; it recalls on the things that he did for her, or his attitudes and ways of life that is very influential in the author’s life. When her father speaks in the book, it can be interpreted that he is someone who has dreams, but could never achieve anything. It’s ironic and displays flawed reasoning in how he kidnaps his daughter from the hospital, but then tells her that “she’s safe” and that she “doesn’t have to worry anymore.”(Walls, 14) She then goes on and talks about her father’s stories. He talks about “stories” of his past, which is inferred that in realty, they’re really just fiction. The way Wall’s dad portrays himself symbolizes his need to have his children believe in him, to prove that he can still be strong and intelligent-not the drunk that he is-, to describe what he wants his life to be. Walls explains to her audience why her childhood was troubled through using parallelism, she said that her and her family didn’t fit in “because they had red hair, because dad was a drunk, because we wore rags and didn’t take baths…..” (Walls, 164) In this passage, Wall’s uses simple words, easy to understand diction, and clearly tells us her story. Even though it may not be the best experiences a child can endure, she doesn’t complain, but simply looks at it as something that she has overcome. Jeannette Walls wrote a story about her life, her parents, her upbringing, and she did so calmly and objective, yet still connecting with her readers on an emotional…
The Glass Castle, a memoir written by Jeannette Walls is an eye-opening look at the world of poverty that touches so many lives within in the United States. There are many reasons for poverty wheather they be out of consequence or one is simply born into it there are many reason for its occurance. The story of Jeannette Walls is not only inspiring but motivating as her climb from the depths poverty allow her to become the successful journalist and novelist she is today. Throughout her life there have been many struggles including her own father, Rex Walls, the finicial instability their family faces together, and the bullies Jeannette must face alone. She clearly outlines her own growth with her father throughout the novel and proves that with…
Alcoholism is a dreadful affliction that plagues all of those who are tempted by “the drink”. Alcohol is a cruel mistress that turns gentlemen into savages and destroys the families of those who fall for its temptations. How might someone who is an alcoholic affect one’s life and how might they deal with said alcoholic especially if that someone is their father? In Frank McCourt’s memoir Angela’s Ashes, McCourt takes the reader on heart wrenching journey through his childhood that is filled with poverty and hardships and some daresay claim that the cause of such hardships is his father’s alcoholism. McCourt’s father’s problem is what set the family down the path of poverty and being liberated from this alcoholic prison may just be what the…
In the autobiography "Under the Influence" in an Anthology of Norton Reader by Melissa A. Goldthwaite, the author Scott Russell Sanders tells his story about growing up with an alcoholic father. Sanders family go through many obstacles because of their father. His fathers drinking problems made Sanders shame and guilt because the main character felt like it was his fault that his father was drinking and wanted to save his father from his drinking habits. Sanders uses imagery and diction to tell the reader about growing up with an alcoholic father and what consequences it had in his life.…
The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, is a story of an unconventional family trying to make their way in the world. This memoir recounts the struggles the author faced growing up. Problems such as poverty, starvation, illness, homelessness, and addiction surrounded her family life. None the less, they overcame these predicaments. The Glass Castle has a wide array of ideas, but the themes I found most relevant were unconditional love, self-realization, and perseverance. These themes were most relevant because they appear most often throughout the storyline.…
Alcoholism is a very prevalent problem in The Glass Castle and Jeanette Walls’ life. This quote from the book, “No child is born a delinquent. They only became that way if nobody loved them when they were kids. Unloved children grow up to be serial murderers or alcoholics,” (Walls 83) shows how much her life was influenced by this problem. Maybe she knows what happened in her father's past that turned him to alcohol, and maybe she thinks that when people are treated the way she is by her father, their only option is to use things like this to cope with there problems. There are thousands of children in America alone that have to deal with this problem in their daily lives. Whether it be grandparents, parents, or siblings, they watch and feel…
A person’s childhood or past should not define who they are or become. In the narrative text, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls expresses the life of homelessness, neglect, and poverty in her childhood. The author uses characterization, imagery, and epiphany to convey the truth that the difficulties in your past should not have to alter who you become in the future.…
5 percent of global income is made up of 40% of the world's population.. In the memoir, The Glass Castle, one of the Walls family main problem is the father of the family. In the book the main character, Jeannette Walls always explains her dad's alcohol problem. It gets so bad that for her birthday gift she asked him to get sober. He also gets very angry, violent, and isolated. Fiction needs to be included in the curriculum because fiction brings people in a different world, a better world, and being taken from reality is good for people. Life can be hard. People can do bad things. Sometimes people just want to escape.…
"Oh my god, I am so drunk", I hear someone shout out above the crowd. I stop for a second and think to myself. "Wait a second, why am I drinking?" my friend comes up and hands me a beer and says, "Hey wimp drink up!" So I figure, hey why not. Two o'clock roles around and I am feeling like I drank myself stupid, which I have. All of a sudden I realize I have my dad's truck, and he needs it in about three hours. So little time, what am I going to do? Here are some easy steps to sober up quickly, that even a drunk can follow.…