In the book, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls portrays her life searching for steady ground in a world of chaos, created by her alcoholic father and irresponsible mother. Lori, Jeannette’s oldest sister blazes the trail for her siblings escape from their whirlwind childhood into a stable adult life. Lori voices her feelings and emotions through sarcastic comments as well as providing emphasis or relief to the situations.…
Cape Coast Castle was a horrible place. An example is that the cells that they had to stay in where dark and smelled of waste and slime. In addition, the slaves received almost no food or water and were always starving and thirsty. One last example was that they lived in fear and there was little to no hope. To conclude, Cape Coast Castle was a dark, smelly, and horrible place and held the suffering of many different slaves.…
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…
The memoir “Glass Castle” covers a variety of serious concerns that affect any modern society. One of these concerns is child abuse. Child abuse is defined as any deliberate action taking against a child by an adult. These actions may be be physical violence, emotional or verbal abuse, refusal to meet a child's basic needs and even sexual molestation. There is much debate as to what exactly could turn someone, particularly a parent, to cause harm to child. However, a general consensus is that a few basic factors can increase the risk. Among these are mental health issues, substance abuse, lack of support and socioeconomic stress. Of all of these, socioeconomic stress is the most prominent cause of child abuse. This stress is often seen in a…
The Castle (1997) is an Australian comedy film directed by Rob Stitch, renown for perfectly incapsulating the spirit of Middle class Australia. Starring Michael Caton, Stephen Curry, and Eric Bana, The Castle utilises an all Australian cast to illustrate the lives of Australians in the 90’s. The purpose of this essay is to deduce the parallels between the castle and life in 1990’s Australia. The Castle not only represents life in 90’s Australia, it is a landmark film in 90’s Australian culture.…
What would it be like to grow up in a family where your dad is a drunk and your mom has the desperate urge to have no kids? Well, after reading The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, I can begin to comprehend. There are six members in the Walls family, Rex and Rosemary, parents, and Lori, Jeanette, Brain and Maureen, the children. Jeanette’s dad was an enormous player in the children’s childhood, when sober Rex was inspiring and charming, but when he drank he was very destructive. Therefore creating a terrible situation for the family to be in.…
In addition, The Glass Castle, “Poverty in America Is Mainstream”, and “Number Of Homeless Children In America Surges To All-Time High: Report” all have a similar author’s purpose. Jeannette Walls’s purpose of writing her memoir is to teach readers to achieve their dreams and not let their past hold them back. Especially, she describes her house as a compact residence that is located on a steep hillside. The front of the house includes a drooping porch, which is supported by spindly cinder-block pillars. It has been a long time since someone has painted it (Walls 150). Evidently, Jeannette Walls has had many obstacles while growing, but she does not let them stop her from prospering throughout her life. She decides she would like to move to…
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.…
Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, characterises Jeanette’s childhood as having dysfunctional parents and having constant poverty. What I found remarkable about Jeanette’s story is that although Jeanette’s parents were careless, neglectful and irresponsible, they were able to manage to create key children qualities and raise well adjusted adults. Jeanette's parents taught their children to be independent, resilient and to have a love for learning. These are invaluable gifts that will last a lifetime and breed success.…
In most families children look for guidance parents, in the memoir The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, the opposite seems to hold true. Jeannette and her siblings were given virtually no rules to follow, or standards to be held to. They were often dirty, hungry, and left to fend for themselves by their self proclaimed “excitement addict” parents. Luckily Walls was able to turn potential tragedy to triumph by using her common sense when it mattered the most. Usually characters develop during the duration of a book, but Walls remains the same throughout.…
It is more than likely that more than one person has read or watched fictional works of literature where the main character faces obstacles and trauma, but in spite of all the adversity they overcome their struggles and go on to live a long successful and happy life. Today, many individuals are suffering from trauma and are faced with many obstacles in their lives. For example, young adults, may live in situations where they suffer from abuse due to alcoholism, mental illness, or food insecurity. A work of literature that relates to this real-world issue is The New York Times Bestseller, The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls. In the book, Jeanette discusses her abnormal life as a child and as a young adult. Regardless of their struggles in life,…
Traveling as a family should be one of the safest and most worry free times you experience as a child. You bestow all your trust upon your parents without even realizing it and you expect to be in good hands. You expect your family to keep you away from bad situations and keep you out of harm’s way. This is quite typical for most families, but for Jeannette she experiences things much different. In The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls, the moving and traveling that her family partakes in on pages 48-50 reveals how irresponsible the parents are when it comes to their children and also how accustomed the children have become to a life full of bad situations.…
In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, four dysfunctional kids learn how to grow up on their own and take on new responsibilities due to the absence of their parents. The parents, Rex and Rose Mary live very different lives but seem to always be on the same page when it comes to doing things for there kids. The story takes place in many different states because Jeanette's dad Rex does not always have a stable job. The Walls family moved to various towns in the Desert until they had to move again due to their lack of money and Rex’s poor reputation. Rex was an alcoholic, which hurt the families budget and made things difficult. As a result of this, the kids got more independent and took on responsibilities that they should not have…
No two childhoods are exactly alike. Some children are lucky to be born into wealthy families, while other families struggle to make ends meet. In the memoir, The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls she described the events in her childhood which lead her to become independent at a very young age, made an effort to make the most of the education offered to her, and learned to appreciate what she had. Her unusual upbringing and lifestyle as a young child shaped her into the successful woman she is today.…
Reading Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, I really got a feel of what one person’s life is about, of someone who I do not even know. That may be the reason why the book interested me so much. Hearing about all of those crazy experiences she has gone through and the way she overcame them is really something special. Talking about personal issues and overcoming challenges in life is something hard to do, but writing it all down and making a book about it for the whole world to read, is something I probably could never have the courage to do. While I am currently a senior in high school at age 18, I am now discovering that more people than I thought have their own little life secrets. People always think that I seem…