The Glass Castle Analysis

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls, published in 2005. It recounts her poverty-stricken childhood, and the upbringing of her self-sufficient ideal parents. In this memoir, her parents seek freedom from society’s rules, and cherish their unstable way of living.
Their children, however, want the exact opposite. They desire the comfort and organization of a normal life. In The Glass Castle, they slowly get fed up with their parents, and face many obstacles on their way to security and independence. Jeannette tells this story in first point of view, which proves effective in various ways.

One way the telling her story in first point of view is effective in storytelling is creating intimacy with the reader/audience.
The reader is in the protagonist, Jeannette’s, head, which makes them be able to see themselves in the story. First point of view creates an immediate emotional appeal. We read all of Jeannette’s thoughts and fears, which makes an immediate connection between us and her. If The Glass Castle were to be told in any other point of view, the reader may not have felt as if they are in the story, which would make the characters seem much more distant, and there would be no connection between the reader and the protagonist.

Using first point of view was effective for character development as well. Through this point of view, we see that she is responsible and smart for her age, but she still innocent and doesn’t see the harm of her parent’s way of life.
We see how certain events in the story affect her and alter her perspective on the world; events such as sexual abuse, bullying, racism, hypocrisy, and more. We watch Jeanette go from a clueless daddy’s girl to a young woman who understands their situation and knows who to blame.

While first point of view is effective in The Glass Castle, it does have its limitations. An obvious limitation of first point of view is that we can only read about that person’s emotions and experiences. In this case, it’s Jeannette’s feelings and thoughts. We don’t know what’s going through any of the other character’s head. An example of first point of view that shows its limitations is Lori’s eyesight. The reason why she didn’t join Brian and Jeannette’s adventures outside is because everything seemed blurry to her. Because we only had access to Jeannette’s thoughts and emotions, we didn’t know about her vision until nearly halfway through the memoir. A memoir and an autobiography are both narratives that tell the experiences of the author.
However, because of key differences, The Glass Castle is better told as a memoir rather than
an autobiography. If The Glass Castle were told as an autobiography, the intimacy between the reader and the protagonist would have been lost. Although autobiographies are traditionally written in first person as well, facts are the foundation of it. The story is detailed with facts with emotion being the least important thing. Autobiographies make you see the story more as history than something more intimate and passionate.

Another reason why The Glass Castle is more effective told as a memoir and not an autobiography is because of the content and details. Autobiographies are told in chronological order, including phases like childhood, teens, and adulthood. Because autobiographies are told that way, some events may not have been told as thorough and detailed as it should have been.
Also, since The Glass Castle was told as a memoir, there was more concern for writing about the emotion for certain parts.
Just as Gore Vidal states in his own memoir, Palimpsest, “A memoir is how one remembers one's own life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked. It is more about what can be gleaned from a section of one’s life than about the outcome of the life as a whole.”

As can be seen, using first point of view was effective in Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass
Castle. It helped create a connection between us and Walls in the very beginning. We, the readers, are able to see her innocence slowly taken away from her because of this perspective. As great of a literary device first point of view is in The Glass Castle, it did prove to have limitations, such as not having access to other character’s thoughts and emotions. In addition, writing The Glass Castle as a memoir rather than an autobiography is another decision that made the storytelling more effective. It made Walls’ story more than just history and facts. As Susan
Cheever has said, “I believe that the memoir is the novel of the 21st century; it’s an amazing form that we haven’t even begun to tap…we’re just getting started figuring out what the rules
are.”