Jeanetter Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, is an engaging book. The area where most of Walls’ writing talent is released is through the characters of her family members. In The Glass Castle the descriptions make it easy to picture every single character from the way they look to predicting how they’ll act. Readers develop a strong personal connection with every member of the Walls clan, almost feeling like a bona fide member of the family.
The Glass Castle isn’t a fairy tale
Even though the writing is magnificent, that doesn’t mean this memoir is full of positivity and happiness. Jeanette and her family lived a hard life. They lived out of their car, on the streets, in cardboard boxes and shacks. Many times they would go without food for days. They dumped garbage in a hole in their backyard and had their hard earned money stolen by their father to buy booze. Jeanette, her brother Brian, and sisters Lori and Maureen practically had to take care of themselves. Even then, they could only do so much.
Walls’ Bad Parents
The Walls’ are not by any means going to get nominated for “The Best Parents of All Time” award anytime soon. Rose Mary Walls was a lazy, selfish child, refusing to get a job, and Rex Walls was an alcoholic and a dreamer. He fills his children’s minds with false hope that one day they will live in luxury. He will build them a solar-powered glass house – the glass castle. Throughout their lives he continues to blow what little money is earned on booze and keeps dreaming of something better, never actually following through with anything he says.
Some Good in the Walls
Despite their negative aspects, Rex and Rose Mary were actually very bright individuals. Rex was an engineer and could get a job almost whenever he wanted. He taught his kids very complicated engineering skills and homeschooled them on things most kids never learn. Rose Mary was a great artist and very sentimentally attached to family, holding it dear to her heart. The Walls’ obviously liked the idea of having kids, they just weren’t ready to engage in the responsibilities of children.
Developing appreciation with The Glass Castle
The Glass Castle, through its vivid descriptions of how tough these kids had it growing up, forces the reader to develop an appreciation for food and shelter: things we often times take for granted. After seeing how a sugared stick of butter can be a treasured dinner, and when the slab of ham gets old, you eat around the maggots, it doesn’t take long to feel lucky for the food that you have. Most of us have sturdy roofs over our heads and don’t have to sleep under an inflatable raft to stay dry at night.
Jeanette Walls has a point
The whole point of the memoir, though, isn’t to pity poor Jeanette and her siblings, it’s to look at the good that came out of the tough rearing. Jeanette became a responsible, independent woman. She treasures the times spent living in the deserts of Arizona, throughout the Midwest and into the northeastern parts of the country, and most importantly the camaraderie developed between Jeanette and her siblings. Her parents may not have been the best, but Jeanette became who she is today despite the hardships.
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