How Does Jeannette Walls Influence Her Father's Relationship

In the story The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, a great emphasis is put on Jeannette and her father’s relationship and the affect it had on her life. He had a severe drinking problem, which often resulted in anger and outrage inflicted on his family, but in the end he always meant well and truly cared for them. His one child that always had faith in him was Jeannette. There was something in him that gave her hope he would make of something good. And although he never changed his ways, he helped influence her to accomplish everything that she has today. In their last conversation he proclaimed to her, “Whenever I think of you, I figure I must have done something right.” (Walls 279). Her dad’s lifelong dream was to build his family a glass
castle. He and Jeannette would look at the blue prints together and dream, but Jeannette knew it could never really become a reality. With little money, there was not much he could provide for her. But one Christmas, in place of any gift or toy, Jeannette’s father told her to pick any star in the sky. (Walls 40). She chose the planet Venus because it was the brightest of them all. And he proved this was better than any toy by telling his kids that “Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten, you’ll still have your stars.” (Walls 41). Unlike so many things inconsistent in their lives, their stars would always be there to look back on. After many years passed, Jeannette had grown up and graduated college to work for a magazine company and her father could not be any more proud. But he soon grew to be near death. The overwhelming smoking and drinking he would do daily did not treat him well. He broke the news to her when she came to visit and just two weeks after he had a heart attack. “In the months that followed, I found myself always wanting to be somewhere other than where I was.” (Walls 280). Jeannette found comfort in moving around, as to distract her from her thoughts. So she took up ice-skating, but this habit soon wore off. Jeannette began taking long walks at night. And under the city lights, she could make out Venus in the night sky. (Walls 281). A reminder of her father and the love they shared. In the story, Venus is the sort of “spiritual reassessment and moral reconciliation” (described by the British novelist Fay Weldon) that gave Jeannette a closure to her fathers death. It helped to remember all the good times they had together and gave the story a happy ending. Jeannette’s father really cared for her and tried to prove that to her. Even though his addiction caused a lot of harm to their family, it was something he had no control over. Drinking was all he had ever known to numb the pain of his childhood. Jeannette knew this and had sympathy for him and through this they shared a bond. Venus was a symbol of their relationship and how it too was brighter than all the others in the family.