William Faulkner’s Acceptance Speech, performed at the Noble Banquet at the City Hall in Stockholm, Sweden, December 10, 1950, embodied the purpose of the writer’s duty. “He is immortal, not because he alone… has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul… the writer’s, duty is to write about these things.” Faulkner’s speech summarizes the duty of a poet, a writer, a man, not just to entertain readers, but to remind them of the hardships humanity has endured and to display this with a sense of pride, compassion, and glory. Which brings the audience to Jeannette Walls’ and Annie Dillard’s memoirs The Glass Castle & An American Childhood. Both written works describe tumultuous childhood full of ups and downs, but one unlike the other are
…show more content…
She perfectly depicts the struggles, sufferings, and salvation at the time she was in Welch with which William Faulkner urged writers to infuse within their works. As a child, Walls did not obtain functional parents and this affected the struggles she had endured. “Mom waved at the crowd… With our garbage-bag-taped window, out roped-down hood, and the art supplies tied to the roof...” page 129. Rex Walls who is Jeannette Walls’ dysfunctional father was tremendously convoluted for the fact that he can easily take care of his children, but chooses to go on a path that would worsen the situation. “Dad had taken to disappearing for days at a time…, his explanations were either so vague or so improbable that I stopped asking.” page 171. In addition, the impotent mother of Walls, which is Rose Mary, was the same and because of that Walls had to suffer through pain and often hunger. Rose Mary did nothing but indulged herself with selfish reasons and food, “Brian yanked the covers back. Lying on the mattress next to Mom was one of those huge family-sized Hershey Chocolate bars… She’d already eaten half of it.” page 174. As for the hard working kids that strived to get out of the deep end of this hole they call a family, Jeannette, Brain, Maureen, and Lori Walls learn at a young age not to be dependent upon their parents. “We fought a lot… Not just to fend off our enemies but to fit in.” page
She perfectly depicts the struggles, sufferings, and salvation at the time she was in Welch with which William Faulkner urged writers to infuse within their works. As a child, Walls did not obtain functional parents and this affected the struggles she had endured. “Mom waved at the crowd… With our garbage-bag-taped window, out roped-down hood, and the art supplies tied to the roof...” page 129. Rex Walls who is Jeannette Walls’ dysfunctional father was tremendously convoluted for the fact that he can easily take care of his children, but chooses to go on a path that would worsen the situation. “Dad had taken to disappearing for days at a time…, his explanations were either so vague or so improbable that I stopped asking.” page 171. In addition, the impotent mother of Walls, which is Rose Mary, was the same and because of that Walls had to suffer through pain and often hunger. Rose Mary did nothing but indulged herself with selfish reasons and food, “Brian yanked the covers back. Lying on the mattress next to Mom was one of those huge family-sized Hershey Chocolate bars… She’d already eaten half of it.” page 174. As for the hard working kids that strived to get out of the deep end of this hole they call a family, Jeannette, Brain, Maureen, and Lori Walls learn at a young age not to be dependent upon their parents. “We fought a lot… Not just to fend off our enemies but to fit in.” page