Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson is written from Isabel’s point of view in first person, which gives many advantages and several disadvantages to the story. An advantage of using this point of view is the reader sees what Isabel is thinking and feeling. “Madam will beat you bloody, he’s not your concern, it’s not your place. Go back, go back before it’s too late” (216) With this point of view, the reader is aware of what Isabel is thinking, something that would not be possible with another point of view. Knowing what the character is thinking gives the reader a better sense of presence, and in this case furthers the tension and creates a layer of uncertainty about the other characters. Another advantage of this point of view is it makes it more…
Jeannette and her family have to face many different issues. These issues include dealing with the consequences of not paying bills, stealing, and running from your problems. Throughout the book, Jeannette has trouble coping with her difficult life and all the obstacles that she must face. While reading the book, I noticed myself comparing life as it was then and as it was now. Jeannette Walls, as an author, does a phenomenal job of contrasting life then and how it is now. Although during both life today and then have many obstacles, difficulties, and issues, different issues are faced. A lot of these issues I noticed were actually relevant to my life. These issues include communal, racial, political, economical, and…
Rex and Rose Mary Walls always tried to encourage self-sufficiency in their children. Even though the book portrays her parents as greedy, evil people, they taught Jeannette how to live her life for the better. All the family members were determined on being happy in life. Even though Rex always came home drunk and abused his children, he later on gets his life back on track, when his children are living on their own. Rose Mary panhandles for money along the streets with many other citizens from the community. She searches through garbage cans when unstable, just to see if she can scrounge any items that might be convenient. Sometimes the family lives out on the streets, being asked if they need any help by total strangers, but Jeanette’s parents refuse. Through these actions, evidence can be seen that children who are struggling with poverty can try to accomplish self-sufficiency and live a better life in the future. Even though their parents might never succeed in life,…
To begin with, The Glass Castle is a memoir that follows Jeannette Walls and her family. Throughout the book Jeannette, her brother and sisters, and her parents move throughout the southwest living in all kinds of different places, but no matter where they go they are always facing poverty. Rex, Jeannette’s father, is a brilliant man, who when sober, taught Jeannette and her sisters and brother physics, geology, and most of all, how to take on life courageously. Rose Mary, Jeannette’s mother, who painted and wrote, could not handle…
Their family always was pleased and in check with the bills for the first few months when they moved to a new house. Two places where they stayed the longest was Phoenix and Blue Mountain. In both areas Dad found good paying job as miner or electrician in a mine and for the first few months all the family’s needs were full filled according to the writer. However, when dad lost his job, things around the house would go back into chaos and left mom no choice but to teach and this made life better with their needs met again. During these days everyone was happy and the children received presents regularly like a new bicycle. These events were when the most smiles and happiness in kids was shone off. Finally towards the end of the book everyone moved to New York City and from beginning to end in their stay everyone was joyful. However their dad did die and Maureen moved to California after stabbing her mother but order was still there. Jeanette went to an Ivy League college and after graduating she became a journalist which was what she always wanted to be since high school. The author made this time seem very cheerful except when they talked about her parents in the streets. Towards the end the thanksgiving dinner brought the family all together witch it brought forth a conclusion worth reading. The Glass Castle states on the last paragraph “We raised our glasses. I could almost hear Dad chuckling at Mom's comment in the way he always did when he was truly enjoying something.” This showed at the end of all the pain and suffering there was true peace for their family at…
The physical struggles mentioned above also come together to form the large struggle of finaical insecurity. Walls expresses in the novel that she along with the rest of her family went without food for weeks because of the lack of funds. Jeannette describes a scence where in her elementary school bathroom she would pick out the leftover food that the other children would throw out. Jeannette shows her lack of understanding when her peers “tossed away all this perfectly good food; apples, hard-boiled eggs, packages of peanut-butter crackers, sliced pickles, half-pint cartons of milk, cheese sandwiches with just one bite taken out because the kid didn’t like the pimentos in the cheese” (173). She points out that sometimes there was more food in the trash then she could of eaten, this is when she begins to take some of the food to her brother to ensure that he was eating as well, but she does not take any home for her mother. With the state of the Walls’ finaicial insecurity comes the the undeniable fact that they were unable to pay rent. Therefore the Walls family moved quite often to avoid the bill collecters or as her father…
The Walls family did not exactly live what you would call an ideal life, but to their family it was as good as it could get. In the book The Glass Castle, the author Jeannette Walls explains her life story. Jeannette, being the main character in the book, lives with her family who is always moving to different cities whether it be Arizona, California, or even West Virginia. Being a kid at the time, Jeannette does not quite understand how irresponsible her parents are, but by the time she is an adult she understands how badly her parents have screwed up. Jeanette decides to leave her family and build a new and improved life for herself. Throughout the book, Jeanette Walls changes from an adventurous girl to a responsible woman.…
After reading a vast majority of “The Glass Castle,” I have personally enjoyed reading Parts II and III the most. Throughout these two sections of the memoir, Jeannette was faced with an uphill battle each and everyday scarred by homelessness, poverty and starvation that has come to define this novel. Furthermore, the struggle experienced in these two parts allowed for Jeannette to truly reflect on her life and take control of her own destiny to realize that she needed to escape this lifelong rut that her family has been engulfed in since the day she was born. As a result, she became determined and unstoppable in her quest to rid herself of difficult circumstances and developed the strong characteristics that she is widely renowned for today.…
In Jeannette’s childhood, she faced many difficulties and roads that seem to lead to disasters after disaster. She faced those troubles very strongly. Once, Jeannette fell out of the car as she and her family moved away once again. Even though, her family did not come back to get her straight away, she still had faith that they will come to get her. This showed how she adapted to how non-observant her family members are, and she trusted them since she knew they loved her dearly. She also looks at moving around as an adventure so that she would be able to live her life to the fullest and not wither at the thought of what she did not have.Her siblings helped her fight against the other children that overpowered her. They worked…
“The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls is an extremely intriguing novel that really kept my attention throughout the whole story. The Walls family is definitely one that is unlike any I’ve ever come across, and the lessons that the children learned were ones that helped shaped their lives and made them who they are today. Jeanette obviously learned so much from her experience that she wrote a whole book about it, managing to hold the reader’s attention through all 281 pages. Jeanette Walls goes through many descriptions of situations that she faced that people normally should not face. For most of her childhood, she was traveling from place to place because her parents always thought that they would hit it big and never finding a steady job.…
Through The Glass Castle, Jeannette shows the world how an impoverished, neglected girl grows into a successful author and wife. Jeanette, herself, is a living proof of ultimate success showing the world that no matter what situation you come from, ultimate success is completely possible. She starts out with memories from the time when she was as young as three along with the rest of her family, constantly on the move, deserted towns in the middle of the night "Rex Walls ' style” and lived in numerous places, all the way up to her present-day. Throughout her life, Jeanette dealt with poverty, hunger, malnourishment, along with an alcoholic father and an unstable mother. But for Jeanette, the multiple horrific situations in her life only made her stronger, wiser, more loving and successful.…
The book is split into three parts, the first detailing the life of Sarah, a young teenage girl who lives through the nuclear war with her family and what they must do to survive. It shows the struggles of a family trying to survive the nuclear fallout, how they must change how they live, the food they eat and the way they interact with each other. Sarah’s story brings to light how hard it would be to live in a world that had suffered a nuclear war and the horror that would be a constant in your life. It details how Sarah must overcome the awkward relationship with her stepmother to try and ensure her family’s survival. Sarah’s little sister, Catherine, has a very strong instinct to survive, she makes a cubby under the table, will only eat canned food and drink bottled water that had no chance of contamination. Catherine is the only family member to survive.…
The novel Room written by Emma Donoghue focuses on the story of a mother who is kidnapped at the age of nineteen and ends up having a child with her kidnapper whom she names Jack. Her son is a special boy because he lives in an imaginary world created by her and is not aware of the existence of any other place but the room he lives in. As the story progresses both are rescued from their captivity but find it difficult to adapt to this new world. Jack’s mother however has a tougher time than her son even though she was once part of this society. Because of her isolation for seven years and the birth of her son, Jack’s mother struggles to readjust to her old life. Since her new life revolves around Jack her concern towards him at the beginning makes her adaptation a slower process but as she realizes his true importance in her life he becomes the reason for her sudden improvement.…
Challenges: Although Susan Rawlings is living what would be considered the American Dream she is somewhat ungrateful because Susan still cannot find happiness within her white picket fence.7 After leaving her job and moving to a new environment, she cannot find security or sanity within her own self. 8 Susan slowly ruins her marriage by convincing her husband she is having an affair and meets her breaking point when her husband, Mathew, asks her for a threesome.9 Susan is somewhat incapable of controlling her emotions; nevertheless, Susan longs for absolute nothingness.10 Her low self-esteem allows her thoughts to convince her that the new house girl and her husband are somewhat involved.11 Susan finds relief by spending time in an empty hotel room to embrace her nothingness which eventually fails and continues to ruin her.12 Susan then forfeits to suicide, as she is no longer able to tolerate her life.13…
Jeannette Walls chose her own path and way of life while being considerate to the rest of her family. After living at Battle Mountain, Welch, and in the car, she finally decided that New York would be a better way of living. She was planning on finishing out high school in Welch and then planning on going to college. “In the middle of my junior year, I went to Miss Katona, the high school guidance counselor, to ask for the names of colleges in New York. Miss Katona lifted the glasses that dangled from a cord around her neck and peered at me through them.” She told her that she wanted to go to college in the city but Miss Katona said that going to a state school would be easier to get into and cheaper. She had been speaking about moving to New York a year early than she planned. She decided she would wait until sh finished eleventh grade. By then she would be seventeen. “I had almost a hundred dollars saved, enough to get me started in New York. I could leave Welch in under five months.” She even told Brian that he could have her room because his had a hole on the ceiling. She didn't want her moving to affect the family in a bad way. She was very considerate and made sure that the family was ok with the move. Jeannette was able to plan her move to New York while being respectful of what her family would say.…