Is there ever a time to give up? At what circumstance is giving up a justifiable act? How do you find the strength to persevere? The book The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is a memoir focusing on her childhood and how grew up with dysfunctional parents. Her mother, Rose Mary, was almost always focused solely on her art career- art was such a huge part of her mother’s life that, at times, the maternal duties were of no concern. Rose Mary justified her withdrawal from her children’s life by saying that she had trust in them- trust that they could grow up without any outside help. Jeannette’s father, Rex Walls, was an alcoholic who spent more money than he had and always had his head in the clouds. The author’s family went through some really
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Perhaps the most heartbreaking one of all was the one that took place a couple of months after Jeannette’s tenth birthday. The author starts off by saying that birthdays were something her parents usually forgot- “Mom and Dad might get us a little present- a comic book or a pair of shoes or a package of underwear- but at least as often, they forgot about our birthdays altogether” (116). So Jeannette was pleasantly surprised when her father took her outside and asked what she wanted most in the world. Little Jeannette had a good grasp of reality by this time because of everything she went through, and she knew what a danger her father becomes when he drinks alcohol, so she asks him to stop drinking. He doesn’t reply at first, but every day he spends moaning in a bedroom because of withdrawals brings him one step closer to regaining that faith Jeannette once had in him. Jeannette was on Cloud Nine- she loved that her father listened to her, and she quickly reverted back to believing that her father could do no wrong. Then the promise was broken, and the trust that had just been taped back together fell back down and shattered. “I didn’t feel like celebrating. After all he’d put himself through, I couldn’t believe Dad had gone back to the booze” (123). How much heartbreak can one person go through? Jeannette and her siblings have had to endure so much at such a young age- a type of normal that is extremely rare. If things aren’t going according to plan, how long does it take for things to get back on
Perhaps the most heartbreaking one of all was the one that took place a couple of months after Jeannette’s tenth birthday. The author starts off by saying that birthdays were something her parents usually forgot- “Mom and Dad might get us a little present- a comic book or a pair of shoes or a package of underwear- but at least as often, they forgot about our birthdays altogether” (116). So Jeannette was pleasantly surprised when her father took her outside and asked what she wanted most in the world. Little Jeannette had a good grasp of reality by this time because of everything she went through, and she knew what a danger her father becomes when he drinks alcohol, so she asks him to stop drinking. He doesn’t reply at first, but every day he spends moaning in a bedroom because of withdrawals brings him one step closer to regaining that faith Jeannette once had in him. Jeannette was on Cloud Nine- she loved that her father listened to her, and she quickly reverted back to believing that her father could do no wrong. Then the promise was broken, and the trust that had just been taped back together fell back down and shattered. “I didn’t feel like celebrating. After all he’d put himself through, I couldn’t believe Dad had gone back to the booze” (123). How much heartbreak can one person go through? Jeannette and her siblings have had to endure so much at such a young age- a type of normal that is extremely rare. If things aren’t going according to plan, how long does it take for things to get back on