Glass Castle By Jeanette Walls Essay

Improved Essays
Jeanette Walls, an American writer and journalist, tells the story of her early life in her hit novel Glass Castle. The novel spans from her toddler years and finishes off in present times. Walls uses great tools and techniques to make the reader feel as if they were right there with her on her journey. Jeanette Walls’ novel, Glass Castle, can be represented by the following quote by Thomas Merton: “The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt,” which represents how each Walls child deals with their troubled childhood. Glass Castle gives an insight on the lives of troubled kids, and how they deal with their misfortune. What makes this novel so interesting is that there is more than one character development, and the stories inside are shockingly real. The Walls kids are starved, ignored, unprotected, but some surpass it. Jeanette Walls deals with her suffering by trying to always handle the situation and not complain. In addition, she becomes a hard worker and puts forth 110% into anything she’s doing, which lands her numerous jobs in New York. Jeanette also used her hard work to support her brother and sisters when food and money were a foreign concept in the Walls household. …show more content…
Thomas merton’s quote “The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt,” really portrays the importance of dealing with one’s suffering and to never let it get the best of them. The lesson that Glass Castle is trying to spread is for everyone tone their own hero and surpass

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The book the Glass Castle represents how a person can achieve the American dream. It shows how someone born and raised in poverty can still make the american dream a reality just like the Walls children did. Despite her past, Jeanette Walls was able to forgive her parents, and achieve her dream. The memoir can inspire people no matter who and where they came from, they still have the possibility of achieving their dreams and…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout Jeanette Wall’s memoir The Glass Castle, the author utilizes diverse and creative language, diction, and style to convey themes about nonconformity and self-sufficiency, while teaching strong lessons on individuality, endurance, and strength. Although both of Jeanette’s parents, Rose Mary and Rex, are irresponsible, selfish, and reckless, they did instill valuable life lessons and reflect meaningful sentiments onto their children, Lori, Jeanette, Brian, and Maureen. Rex Walls creates false pretenses to replicate a lifestyle of wanderers or explorers and to make up for insufficient income; however, he inspires young Jeanette radically and becomes a catalyst for her hopes, dreams, and uniqueness. The parents manage to teach their kids to be thoughtful, intelligent, brave, and hardworking, despite suffering and unfavorable conditions.…

    • 999 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jeannette and her three siblings Lori, Brian, and Maureen have been through so much in their lives from birth to a young adult. Jeannette Walls in her memoir of The Glass Castle shows that she went through almost all eights stages of Erickson’s Psychosocial Development. The memoir of Jeannette shows that she is a very strong individual and even though she has been through a lot of her early development she still over comes her struggles. The memoir of The Glass Castle shows that Jeanette goes through almost all of Erickson’s stages of Psychosocial Development. According to Snowman & McCown (2013), “Erikson described theses crises in terms of opposing qualities that individual typically develop.…

    • 2153 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The book The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls has left a great impact on me because I feel a few of Jeanette 's many problems she went through during her younger life is somewhat similar to what I have gone through. Not many people know about my life at home but this quote from the The Glass Castle I think accurately states the kind of life I am living and how Jeanette’s life is similar to mine,“I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even the people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.” This is a lot like my life because many of even my closest friends think I live a great life because my parents have plenty of money but they don’t know about all of my family 's troubles. My father could be seen as an alcoholic…

    • 1757 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jeannette Walls struggles with Individual vs. Society throughout her childhood because she grew up in her parent’s society but more than anything she just wanted to be her own individual who could have a better life than the way that they were living. From as far back as she could…

    • 903 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Glass Castle The Glass Castle, written by author Jeannette Walls refllects a beautiful memoir of her childhood. The focus of the story includes Jeannette 's struggles as a child and having to grow up in a dysfunctional family. The protagonist of the novel being Jeannette Walls herself , describes the brutal yet honest truth behind growing up within the circumstances of an unstable home of her alcholic father and her mothers rather rustic lifestyle. With the use of theme, symbolism and irony, Jeannette Walls has illustrated and captured the essence of a true story through The Glass Castle.…

    • 1026 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    While this provides the reader with a lot of information on the negative affects of parental negligence, this story may not be suitable for all viewers. This story is certainly dark compared to other memoirs. Sadly, this story is not fiction and is a true recollection of Jeannette Walls childhood. I personally would not recommend this for future book lists. Only because it may put a negative stigma on any type of “free-thinking” parenting…

    • 1630 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Jeanette’s parents Rosemary and Rex Walls did not welcome any help that was given to them or their children, even if it would benefit their deficient lifestyle. When Jeanette was three, she wrote about the time she was cooking…

    • 2034 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    For example, she would sneak out in the middle of the night to go dumpster diving for food and help her mom grade papers without any reward. Many barriers would arise for the Walls family within the small towns and in the schools. When the kids went to public school they would get bullied by other kids, scavenge for food at lunchtime, and wear grungy clothes. Eventually, after months of saving, Jeannette and Lori managed to have enough money to start a new life in New York City. Their problems were solved because they had the availability to various resources that allowed them to flourish.…

    • 1215 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Children going into foster care is the most scariest thing for a child. Especially moving from one home to another and not knowing how the foster parents will treat them. Foster parents could either be very dangerous or very helpful, but most kids end up in bad situations because most of the foster parents care more about money than helping the child. The Walls kids never had to go through what Sharp experienced because Jeannette’s parents do really care for their children, but they are just unfit to raise them. They don't have the will to keep a job, pay the bills, or feed their children.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This passage is about the Walls family getting kicked out of Erma’s place so they go and buy a run down house for them to live in then fix it up so it’s more suitable to live in. Some would say that it’s what some has that would keep you going, but in this passage Jeannette Walls conveys an idea that it’s the intangible possessions that can really keep you going. The author helps convey this idea through the use of symbolism. This is a passage from Jeannette Wall’s memoir, The Glass Castle.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the memoir The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette endures many events that have shaped her childhood and made her the woman she is today. One day when Jeannette was cooking hot dogs at just the age of three she caught on fire and was burned badly, later being rushed to the hospital. After being in the hospital, this life threatening event turned out not to be the worst thing that could have happened to her. In fact she turned out to enjoy the time she spent during her stay there. Being a part of the Wall’s family you quickly learn to fend for yourself when it comes to education, food, clothes and survival in general.…

    • 1153 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Jeannette Walls takes us on a journey through her memoir The Glass Castle and explains her struggles throughout life. Jeanette grew up with a set of neglecting parents who never tried to provide for her siblings or herself like they should’ve. Jeannette begins to see just how bad her living situation is and so do those around her. Bullying and struggles with her self image start to play a factor in Jeanette’s life. Some struggles she has throughout the whole book is being belittled, made fun of, not understood, and…

    • 1427 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book, The Glass Castle, the author named Jeannette Walls opens up about the hardships her family was forced to experience. Main factors in those hardships were poverty and Jeannette’s father’s drinking habit. Through these issues, Jeannette along with her siblings managed to tackle the parental role and take care of themselves, as well as each other. Although Jeannette’s parents were at times negligent, they had undoubtedly taught their children long-lasting morals and values. These lessons have proven to play a significant role on the children and brought them together, even in the worst of situations.…

    • 994 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In the Walls family, the three eldest children-Lori, Jeannette, and Brian-all ended up living good lives, both financially and emotionally. They realized they didn’t want to be like their parents, and that drove them to try to live better lives. However, the lack of parental guidance while the children were growing up took its toll on the youngest child, Maureen. After moving to New York and then later moving back in with her parents, she fell into the habits of drugs, alcohol, and smoking. Soon after these habits began, Maureen stabbed her mother; although it was not fatal, Maureen had to spend a year in a hospital.…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays