In life, one learns that certain qualities allow one to progress. The books, The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck, and The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls, are very similar in the sense that the families face many hardships. Throughout the hard times, family unity is just one aspect that helps keep both groups moving forward. Hope also plays a big role to help the families thrive, despite the situations they may be in. In The Glass Castle, Jeanette and her family are constantly on the move. With alcoholic father Rex and irresponsible mother Rose Mary, it is hard to maintain stability, or any hope for it. In The Grapes of Wrath, the Joads are also financially unstable and find themselves traveling just to get by. Family unity, loyalty, self-sufficiency,
…show more content…
In The Grapes of Wrath, the family is moving around and looking for work in order to survive. Steinbeck writes, “Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create – this is many.” (Steinbeck 58). This quote shows that all members of the family are desperate for work in order to create a better life for the family as a whole, showing large amounts of selflessness. In The Glass Castle however, drunken Rex drags his family around to pursue his big dreams. In all the traveling, fighting and hard times, sticking together makes pushing forward a little easier. No matter what, the love of the family is the motivation. As Walls writes in The Glass Castle, ”Later that night, Dad stopped the car out in the middle of the desert, and we slept under the stars. We had no pillows, but Dad said that was part of his plan. He was teaching us to have good posture. The Indians didn 't use pillows, either, he explained, and look how straight they stood. We did have our scratchy army-surplus blankets, so we spread them out and lay there, looking up at the field of stars. I told Lori how lucky we were to be sleeping out under the sky like Indians. 'We could live like this forever, ' I said. 'I think we 're going to, ' she said” (Walls …show more content…
Life on the move is never easy, and more difficult with an alcoholic father, no money, or little food. A lack of stability can easily lead people to give up on what they are striving for. In The Glass Castle, Jeanette and her siblings come very close to giving up hope. They soon realize that hope is the only thing keeping them going, which makes hoping for the days ahead that much more important. Walls writes about her father’s hopes and dreams, “Once he finished the Prospector and we struck it rich, he’d start work on our Glass Castle” (Walls 7). This quote shows that each day the family is full of high hopes that they will thrive. Rex is always going on about how one day, he would build something successful, and give the family money, allowing them to build the Glass Castle. Although it is obvious this was never going to happen, the children hold on to the hope that some day it would. “He simply waited for me to fork over the cash, as if he knows I didn’t have it in me to say no,” (Walls 209). This quote shows that Rex does not have his life together if he has to go as far as to ask his children for money. In most cases, the parent figure helps the kids out with money. Hope is also evident in The Grapes of Wrath; for example, Steinbeck writes, “For man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of
In The Grapes of Wrath, the family is moving around and looking for work in order to survive. Steinbeck writes, “Muscles aching to work, minds aching to create – this is many.” (Steinbeck 58). This quote shows that all members of the family are desperate for work in order to create a better life for the family as a whole, showing large amounts of selflessness. In The Glass Castle however, drunken Rex drags his family around to pursue his big dreams. In all the traveling, fighting and hard times, sticking together makes pushing forward a little easier. No matter what, the love of the family is the motivation. As Walls writes in The Glass Castle, ”Later that night, Dad stopped the car out in the middle of the desert, and we slept under the stars. We had no pillows, but Dad said that was part of his plan. He was teaching us to have good posture. The Indians didn 't use pillows, either, he explained, and look how straight they stood. We did have our scratchy army-surplus blankets, so we spread them out and lay there, looking up at the field of stars. I told Lori how lucky we were to be sleeping out under the sky like Indians. 'We could live like this forever, ' I said. 'I think we 're going to, ' she said” (Walls …show more content…
Life on the move is never easy, and more difficult with an alcoholic father, no money, or little food. A lack of stability can easily lead people to give up on what they are striving for. In The Glass Castle, Jeanette and her siblings come very close to giving up hope. They soon realize that hope is the only thing keeping them going, which makes hoping for the days ahead that much more important. Walls writes about her father’s hopes and dreams, “Once he finished the Prospector and we struck it rich, he’d start work on our Glass Castle” (Walls 7). This quote shows that each day the family is full of high hopes that they will thrive. Rex is always going on about how one day, he would build something successful, and give the family money, allowing them to build the Glass Castle. Although it is obvious this was never going to happen, the children hold on to the hope that some day it would. “He simply waited for me to fork over the cash, as if he knows I didn’t have it in me to say no,” (Walls 209). This quote shows that Rex does not have his life together if he has to go as far as to ask his children for money. In most cases, the parent figure helps the kids out with money. Hope is also evident in The Grapes of Wrath; for example, Steinbeck writes, “For man, unlike any other thing organic or inorganic in the universe, grows beyond his work, walks up the stairs of his concepts, emerges ahead of