Reality In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

To most people their appearance is everything and what people think about them is the most important thing. There are many more factors that have an influence on a person’s understanding of life and their reality. In Fact, in the book The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls had a very clear understanding of her life and the sad reality that came with it. In the book the Walls children had to take care of themselves and each other starting at a very young age. The Walls family eventually ventured out to New York, where the children blossomed and succeeded. In Romeo and Juliet, unlike Jeanette Romeo did not have a clear understanding of his life and did not know much about reality. Since Romeo did not know much about reality he did not realize how …show more content…
In today’s world everyone is judged by what one wears, how one looks, and the decisions that one makes. In the book people do just this. Society had a major impact on Maureen and she quickly surrendered to society. While Maureen was still in elementary she started to hang out with people who were not poor and she would spend all of her time with them. But soon after highschool Maureen had tried to go to a community college in New York but could not handle it. Therefore, she had to move in with Rex and Rose Mary. After she moved in with Rex and Rose Mary, Maureen spent most of her time smoking cigarettes, reading, painting, and arguing with her father. Rosemary then decided Maureen needed to find her own place, “Maureen couldn’t bare the idea that her own mom would kick her out onto the street, and she snapped” (Walls 275). This was when Maureen had stabbed Rosemary and was later arrested. Maureen had this psychotic breakdown because she could not handle the pressure of society and the way it was overpowering her and her mind. This event is showing the way society can pull a person into a negative direction. In this case Maureen has been pulled in a negative direction, and that direction is going to have a negative impact on her life forever. Since she got arrested she will later be declined things throughout her life and be viewed differently by many people. Society has imbedded the idea that if a person has …show more content…
In the book Romeo and Juliet, Romeo wanted to be with Juliet so bad he let his guard down and let society influence his behavior. He wanted to be with Juliet even if she was dead or alive. Romeo would do anything to be with her but at the same time he could not, for their love was forbidden. One day Juliet had concocted a plan to be with Romeo. She decided to take a sleeping potion to make it look like she was dead so she could later sneak out and be with Romeo for good. But, when Romeo heard the news he was devastated and still wanted to be with her so bad. So Romeo decided to, “Why I descend into this bed of death, Is partly to behold my lady’s face” (Shakespeare 5. 3. 221). The evidence shows how society can easily influence a person to make bad decisions. In this quote Romeo states that he is going down into the tomb of the dead, to observe his wife’s face. Society easily influenced Romeo’s decision to leave this Earth to be with Juliet, because that was the only way he thought he could see her face again. Society forbade Romeo and Juliet’s love and allowed people to view their love as a disgrace and it changed Romeo. Because Romeo was so determined to be with Juliet he fought, and fought hard to be with her. He even killed someone doing it. The way Romeo fought for love changed the way people viewed him. But in The Glass Castle Jeannette had a way out but she did not know how to fight for it, “There was no