Forgiveness In The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle. Sounds like a story about some fantasy kingdom with a castle made of glass, but it’s not. This is a story about the early life of a young woman, Jeannette Walls. From drinking to living in the desert to going to New York, her life is a roller coaster ride. However, there is one thing you notice in the story: forgiveness. This happened many times in the Walls family. The act of forgiveness ultimately led the family to peace.

Forgiveness in a relationship is an important factor which makes the relationship strong. Rose Mary Walls, the mother, forgave Rex Walls, the father, multiple times throughout the memoir. Although it may be hard for her to forgive and forget due to all the blasphemy she had to put up with her husband,
She was brutally beaten until the day Hewitt watched Walls save an African American boy from an angry dog. That heroic act gave Walls the respect from Hewitt. Even though Walls didn’t exactly get an apology, she still accepted the indirect one she got. She says, “She never said she was sorry for the bullying, or even mentioned it, but she thanked me for bringing her neighbor home that night, and I figured that her request for help was as close to an apology as I would get” (142). This is an example of Walls forgiving in the memoir. As a result of this act of forgiveness, there was a friendship. Walls states, “Dinitia and I stayed in the pool all morning, splashing, practicing the backstroke and the butterfly. She flailed around in the water almost as much as I did. We stood on our hands and stuck our legs out of the water, did underwater twists, and played Marco Polo and chicken with the other kids” (191). This is evidence of peace. Hewitt and Walls are at peace with a great friendship even after several physical altercations. Without forgiveness, there would be no peace. This situation relates to the TED Talk of Aicha el-Wafi and Phyllis Rodriguez. Rodriguez's son was killed in the 9/11 attacks. Wafi's son was accused of being apart of those attacks, and was convicted. However, these 2 women found peace with each other as soon as they met. Rodriguez states, “Because, when people heard that my son was a victim, I got
However, instead of discussing what he wanted to say, it ends up being a trip where Jeannette forgives him for making her life chaotic and drinking a lot. In the text it states "But you always loved your old man, didn't you?" "I did, Dad," I said. "And you loved me." "Now, that's the God's honest truth." Dad chuckled. "We had some times, didn't we?" "We did" (279). They are speaking sympathetically towards each other and they are sharing laughs, showing Jeanette forgives her father. We see forgiveness of him again when in the text it remarks “But despite all the hell­raising and destruction and chaos he had created in our lives, I could not imagine what my life would be like—what the world would be like—without him in it” (279). She asserts that no matter how much he drove her crazy, she couldn't live without him; this is a major showing of forgiveness. Right before she leaves, it states “I kissed them both, and at the door, I turned to look at Dad one more time. "Hey," he said. He winked and pointed his finger at me. "Have I ever let you down?" He started chuckling because he knew there was only one way I could ever answer that question. I just smiled. And then I closed the door” (279). This is where you see the peace. The fact that they were kissing shows that they were at peace with each other. The smiling is another