“The Glass Castle ” by Jeannette Walls.
Jeannette Walls’s 2005 text “The Glass Castle ” is a reminder of her and her family’s history. The family was always trying to settle in with little food and money. The memoir manages to communicate itself without reviling the Walls’ parents despite the family being dysfunctional. The memoir is a true story that describes a child’s unconventional childhood, characterized by parental neglect. But in the end, the children succeeded except one. The work is saturated with humour in a cheerful tone. The goal of this paper is to provide a summary of the book “The Glass Castle ” by Jeannette Walls.
The first part of Wall’s book describes the family living in several mining towns on the west coast of the United States. Jeannette Walls’ childhood memories in the desert focus on how the Walls’ family-dad (Rex) mom (Rose Mary), Lori, Brian, Jeannette, and little Maureen- moves around. In particular, the family usually moves from one city to another to live there while the father works. However, the paranoia of the state and organized society and their alcoholism caused the family to move a lot. The family settled in Nevada for a few months (Walls). Jeanette grew up in the desert and was fascinated by the limitless limits of nature and her father’s fantasies for her family. He participated in the collection of rocks in the desert and explored the region’s natural and artificial properties with his brother Brian. Their mother also worked as a teacher to extend their stay. However, a brief discussion with the police forced the family to move to Phoenix, and they moved to a house that their mother had inherited from their mother.
Living in Phoenix provides family stability for a while. The house is large, has a terrace and children go to school. However, alcoholism is again widespread (Walls). His drinking problem bothers Jeanette, and she asks him to stop. She tells him that he can sober up and drink again for a few weeks. Desert life is short-lived when money gets dark, and Dad’s alcoholism increases. They are forced to move to West Virgin in the town of Welch, where their father grew up. They have evolved in the hope of finding better prospects.
Living in Welch presented the family with new challenges. For example, the city went through the winter, and the children were eager to return to the desert. His father’s mother sexually abused Brian. Besides, the city is isolated, impoverished and does not like newcomers (Walls). The family lives in a dilapidated cabin with no internal pillows and central heating, and the roof is lost. The children were often hungry. The situation worsens, and children realize that they must leave their parents for a stable life. Jeannette and Lori decide to move to New York and save. They recognize that their parents are irresponsible and should distance themselves from them.
Eventually, all the brothers moved to New York to escape Welch’s suffocating atmosphere. Jeannette finds a job as a journalist and she; Lori, Brian and Maurine can eat good food and live in a decent house with hot and hot water. Just as when everyone founded and lived independently, their parents Rose Mary and Rex appeared in Manhattan. Neither father nor mother was ready for a job (Walls). After a while, parents become poor and expelled, and their children can no longer support them. Rose Mary and Rex are beaten on the uninhabited ground until Rex dies of a heart attack. While Brian, Lori and Jeannette can find a job, Maurine assigns her mother, who closes her in a psychiatric clinic. After her father’s death, Jeanette examines her own life and finds that she has known her parents and their past, but the relentless freedom they brought was still part of it. Jeannette claims divorce, moves in and finally reconciles with her present and her past.
Throughout the book, Walls is described in different ways. Growing up in the Wall’s family, it became clear that they were fighting every day (Hockett 269). They wore old and worn-out clothes, usually very dirty from the dusty cities where they lived. In the cold winters of West Virginia, she only had one buttoned jacket that barely kept it warm. Her father described her unique appearance. He said she was very thin, red and was leaking.
“One time, I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. “You’d be destroying what makes it special,” (Walls)
Her parents couldn’t afford orthodontics, so Jeanette’s brothers always laughed at her teeth to let her in and out. The school kids never paid attention and made fun of the walls because they were poor and poorly dressed. Jeanette and her brothers and sisters always had difficulties with their children because they felt they had to defend their surname because their father had taught them to protect themselves (Hockett 269). Walls enjoyed exploring with his little brother. Wherever you have lived, you have always viewed your new home as an adventure. While living in Phoenix, she collected unique stones that she discovered through exploration.
During her school days, she loved reading and writing. The walls went into the library and read as many books as he could. Sometimes Walls’ children read their dictionary because they think it’s the only way to learn. Teachers often despised Wall Kids for not believing they were smart, but when they answered questions in the classroom, their intelligence shone (Hockett 269). While in high school, she wrote for the school newspaper and even became a writer in her third year. Here he grew up dreaming of moving to New York to become a writer. So, he decided that one day, even if he found it hard to leave his family, it would be something else and that dream would come true.
Finally, this article summarizes Jeanette’s memories of family problems she faced in childhood and adulthood. Jeanette grew up in a poor and troubled family. The text is a journey of self-awareness and represents a person who is ashamed of his past. However, the author can come to terms with his past and present. This frees up memories by allowing him to participate in what he prefers, i.e. write and communicate with the world. Despite her family’s shortcomings, she was able to live an effective life based on her situation. The memoir is very educative. It shows a family that was united despite all the challenges, such as an alcoholic dad. The author expresses how the alcoholic dad nearly made their life to be hard. Luckily, he tried all means to ensure that they were all safe.
Work Cited
Hockett, Jessica A. “The glass castle: A memoir.” The Gifted Child Quarterly 52.3 (2008): 269.
Walls, Jeannette. The glass castle: A memoir. Simon and Schuster, 2017.