Category: Drama

Yann Martel uses the island as a way to showcase Pi’s transition from the beginning of the novel to the end. In the beginning, Pi was very religiously focused and innocent. He had not yet been exposed to the cruelty and harshness of the real world and the animals that lived in it. As the book continued, Pi started to loose his values as he came in contact with more difficult situations. These situations, such as getting stranded at sea and having to kill the dorado and the sea turtle, showed his true nature. Being put in difficult situations such as life or death can bring out the saltiness in a person, just like it did for Pi. At the end of the novel Pi got rescued and ended up in a mexican hospital where he was questioned by two Jappanese investigators. Pi told two completely different stories, and Yann Martel had the reader choose which one they believe. Symbols in the book such as the island and alage really represent Pi throughout the novel, and show his sweet yet salty side. The author, Yann Martel, uses the island to represent Pi’s journey from his once innocent life style to a life of savagery and killing.

Pi grew up in Pondicherry India where his family ran a zoo. Pi was a very innocent child, and he didn’t realize that the world was cruel and so were the animals that live in it. As Pi grew up, his father noticed how naive he was. Pi’s father realized how important it was to care for wild animals, but also to fear for them. His father decided to make him aware of the worlds true savagery, by making Pi and his siblings watch a tiger devour a goat. Pi suffered throughout his life, and things such as religion and zoology helped him try and find some peace.“When you’ve suffered a great deal in life, each additional pain is both unbearable and trifling.” (5) Even though Pi suffered, and faced lots of hardships, he remained innocent until later in the novel when he gets stranded at sea and ends up on the island. Being stranded at sea made Pi venture off from his once innocent lifestyle. Pi’s life was pretty traumatic, so he turned to religion and zoology for comfort. Even though, while he was stranded he ventured from his religious bveliefs, the three differetn religions which were Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam stayed with him until the very end of the novel. Religion was so important to Pi he decided to choose three and it took some time, but Pi’s family accepted his decision to follow the three different religions.

Pi’s many negative and unpleasant life experiences caused him to lose his innocence. The traumatic incident of being in a shipwreck and getting lost at sea forced Pi to kill to survive which went against his once religious and innocent lifestyle. Pi really started to lose his innocence and evolve into the savage person he is when he killed the dorado. “I wept heartily over this poor little deceased soul. It was the first sentient being I had ever killed. I was now a killer. I was now as guilty as Cain. I was sixteen years old, a harmless boy, bookish and religious, and now I have blood on my hands. It’s a terrible burden to carry.” (183) Pi regretted killing the dorado and wept afterwards. He felt guilty for killing the dorado in such a violent and vicious way. Pi was sweet but salty in this scenario, just like the algae is on the island. The algae on the island was sweet on the outside, but once you got into the middle it was salty. Just like Pi is, he is sweet on the outside, but once he is put into a difficult situation his salty side shines through. Pi cried over killing the fish, but later in the novel he sawed open a sea turtle and butchered it to death. “ I jammed the knife just to the right of the turtle’s head, at an angle. I pushed the blade deep into the folds of skin and twisted it. The turtle retreated even further, favouring the side where the blade was, and suddenly shot its head forward, beak snapping at me viciously.” (201) This shows how he relates to the alage, by feeling remorseful for killing the dorado, but then later killing the sea turtle in such a horrible way.

As the novel came to an end Pi ended up in a mexican hospital, where two Jappaneese investigators interview him and ask him questions about his journey. Pi tells them his story of getting lost at sea on a life raft with Richard Parker the tiger, and the island with the alage. This part of the story was very unbelievable and had a carivius island and animals like Richard Parker in it. The investigators don’t believe Pi, so he tells them a story that was more believable with humans and not animals. The two stories were a way for Pi to be able to cope with what a terrible thing he had just been through. Both stories had sweet and salty components to them. The story with the animals was sweet and comforting to Pi, and made it easier for him to live with the terrible traumatic experience he had just been through. The story with the humans was more salty and it was the truth, which was a harder pill for Pi to swallow. Therefore, the author, Yann Martel left it up to the reader to choose and decide which one was more believable.

Pi’s journey from the start in Pondicherry India, where he was innocent and didn’t know the dangers of the world, suddenly evolved when he was lost at sea and had to make decisions that went against his past lifestyle. Being lost at sea for a long period of time brought out sweet and salty part of Pi. When Pi got rescued he had to find a way to cope with what he had just been through, so he had two different stories, and both had sweet yet salty parts to them. Yann Martel, used the island and alage to represent Pi and his journey of transitioning from innocent and sweet, to savage and salty.

A perfect childhood may consist of many different components. Some may be involved in every sport, play every instrument, or have everything they ask for. However, almost all have a perfect in-love pair of parents, getting a good education in a stable home. Although not all people get to experience this perfect childhood such as Jeannette Walls. According to Merriam- Webster dictionary neglect is defined as giving little attention or respect to: disregard. Jeannette shares her story in her memoir, The Glass Castle, of herself and her siblings in which physical, emotional, medical, and educational neglect is clearly evident.

Rose Mary seemed to find Rex the only one guilty of ruining the Walls children’s lives. Rose Mary was just as guilty as her husband considering she would allow Rex to act this way without any form of confrontation. She would rather stay out of Rex’s way than take action for the best interest of the kids. “The rest of [them] had to get used to stepping over broken furniture and shattered glass (Walls 113),” is a clear example that Rose Mary will be careless about the children’s emotional health. No child should have to learn to live with him in the aftermath of their parent’s rampages and emotional issues.

The Walls children felt like they were a hardship to their parents, no child should feel such a way to their family. When Jeannette fell out of her parents moving car she felt “they might decide that it wasn’t worth the drive back to retrieve me; that like Quixote the cat, I was a bother and a burden they could do without (Walls 30).” The emotional trauma that is so clear at a young age is appalling, considering a young child would compare herself to a family pet they got rid of.

Every child needs the proper care of a pediatrician and doctor their whole life throughout adulthood. When parents choose to refuse medical care for their children it is almost always seen as complete carelessness. Rex Walls seemed to have his own opinion on “heads-up-their-asses med-school quacks(Walls 13).” Both of Wall’s parents actively chose to refuse medical care or chose to ignore the needs of their children, putting them in danger. Rex and Rose Mary both have fairly similar attitudes involving their parenting style. Jeannette at the age of three was severely burnt while cooking herself hotdogs. When the nurse asked her why she clearly says “Mom says I’m mature and lets me cook for myself a lot. (Walls 18)” It is clear that Rose Mary does not care for the general safety of her children considering she was letting her three-year-old cook with boiling water.

Jeannette and her siblings all thrived off neglect. While Jeanette was young, Rex taught Jeanette how to swim by simply letting her struggle until she nearly drowned then stated, “If you don’t want to sink you better figure out how to swim (Walls 66).” Although this may seem normal to some, Jeannette described the situation to be so traumatizing.

All the children endured physical neglect on a daily basis, especially when they were deprived of food and their basic needs. The children knew that if they wanted to eat, they must figure it out on their own. Considering their own mother told them “It’s not my fault if you’re hungry! (Walls 69).”

The Walls children spent their life moving cities following their father who believed he was being chased. This left no time for any of the children to be enrolled in school if they were only going to move within the next month. Rex was actually smarter than one would think, he cared about the kid’s education and attempted to teach the children what he could. He would teach things such as geometry, physics, astronomy, and how to convert math homework into binary numbers. Rose was a teacher herself and taught the children the importance of literature. In third grade, Jeanette and her siblings were recognized for their love of literature and were all placed in a gifted reading class.

Rex and Rose Mary both fail to care for themselves and their children, repeatedly failing to provide life’s necessities, like basic hygiene, food, clothes, and medical care. Rex continuously focused on his abuse of alcohol and Rose Mary just ignored the children as a whole. Leaving the Walls children isolated without receiving the proper and necessary love, care, and nurture. Throughout their childhood, they endured neglect in more ways than one can simply think of or imagine. Each of the Walls children transformed their stumbling blocks, created by their parent’s dysfunctionality into stepping stones, which allowed them to strive and succeed in their own ways.

“After dinner, the whole family stretched out on the benches and the floor of the depot and read, with the dictionary in the middle of the room so we kids could look up words we don’t know…Occasionally, on those nights when we were all reading together, a train would thunder by, shaking the house and rattling the windows. The noise was thunderous, but after we’d been there a while, we didn’t even hear it.”

This scene depicts one of the few peaceful, bonding moments shared between members of the Wells family. Not coincidentally, the family bonds around literature and reading. The importance of this scene shows that the Wells family does not comply with the stereotype of a lower-class family. The scene debunks stereotypes about the homeless being uneducated or dumb and shows that even those without means and luxury can be educated. Secondly, it shows how Jeannette becomes influenced at a young age by the written word and is a possible explanation for her later interest in journalism. It is the parents’ literary bent that ultimately helps the children, by giving them an education that allows them to escape their parents’ life of poverty and the Wells parents are trying to reveal a better future for their children.

This scene explains that even though the Wells family lacks the resources to have the proper school education, that doesn’t stop them from continuing their learning through constant reading. This quotation with the Wells family explaining how well-read and educated they are even though they lack the resources to be “properly educated” through the school system is connected to the text because it shows the lifestyle of the Wells family yet they make it into a positive thing by not letting that stop their education. These specific sentences used in the passage are extremely important to the meaning of the text because they show that the Wells family is educated. These phrases are being used as points to understand that the Wells family educated themselves without having the money and resources for the proper school.

While reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I fell in love with how the book was centered on Jeannette Walls’s real-life struggles. The one theme that stood out to me the most throughout the story was forgiveness. Even though Jeannette and her siblings were neglected on a daily basis as children, she harbored no hate for her parents and stayed optimistic as she reflected on the events that occurred in her past. The movie also captures this well in many different scenes. Many directors, however, find movie adaptations to be quite challenging since it is difficult to compress the plot and details of a whole book within a 2-hour movie, but that is something to be expected. Although these two works were based on the same story, they each have their own unique characteristics that set them apart from each other.

When watching the adaptation, book readers should be quick to point out many obvious and subtle changes from the original. One significant change that sets the movie apart from the book is the significant increase in appearances from Jeannette’s husband, David. Unlike in the book, David plays a major component in the main plot as the story progresses. For example, in the movie, there is a scene when the whole family gets together at Jeannette’s parents’ house.

Rex and David get drunk and have an arm-wrestling match to settle an argument they had. When David ends up winning the match, Rex punches him in the face. Rex does not accept David and thinks he is not right for his daughter. This scene was not in the book and may not even have actually happened, but this was the change that caught my eye the most as I was watching the movie. David’s increased appearances could be argued to be an unnecessary addition to the film but nonetheless, it made the movie more interesting and complex.

Another major difference between the book and the film is the sequence of events. The events that took place in the book were more of a constant chronological flow, unlike the latter. Throughout the movie, the perspective of Jeannette jumps back and forth from childhood to adulthood, which is something that I personally liked because we got to see more of her in her later years. The addition of events that triggered Jeannette’s flashbacks brought the audience to become more emotionally invested in the film. This can be due to the fact that only the viewers know the other half of her life that the everyday people she meets do not know; this causes the audience to feel that they have a deeper bond with Jeannette since they know her “secret”. Another added scene was when Rex got into a conflict with the lifeguard after he tried to teach Jeannette how to swim. In the movie, Rex punches him, which gives a reason as to why they moved to Welch, West Virginia. However, In the book, the lifeguard altercation never happens.

Despite their differences, these two works share the same key events and themes for the most part. In my personal opinion, both the book and the movie are great. The film captures the main themes perfectly as it shows Jeannette’s life struggles from the beginning. It does a great job visualizing the struggles that the Walls went through; even though the context of a lot of scenes was cut out, the film stayed focused and revolved around the key events. One of my favorite scenes to see being played out was when Rex, Jeannette’s father, was struggling as he was tied up in the bed trying to stop drinking because his daughter asked him to. During this scene, Rex is screaming and asking for help, showcasing how much he struggled to end his addiction and become a better father to his children.

Even though the movie was only 2 hours and the director couldn’t capture everything, he still showed how the Walls family struggled. It was great to see actual people play the characters, which made the visualization of the book a lot better in my opinion. The recurring appearances of the glass castle kept its significance throughout both works, which was a great choice because of its importance as Jeannette grew up. My interpretation of the glass castle was that it represented the stability of Jeannette’s family. The children and their father continuously added their hopes and dreams into the castle, but as they encountered issue after issue, the stability of their family, symbolized by the fragile castle, fell apart again and again.

In the novel “Life of Pi” By Yann Martel, in order to survive his ordeal, Pi must meet his physical, emotional, and spiritual needs by focusing on each equally so he can hold onto his faith as well as keep his mind stable and his body nourished, as he is struggling for survival when stranded in the pacific ocean with a tiger.

When Pi is forced to get off the ship, he is lucky enough to have a lifeboat, which contains enough food and water to last a few months. However, since he is in the pacific for so long, and is sharing the food supplies from the lifeboat with a tiger, he becomes hungry very fast. He slowly makes a transition from a devoted vegetarian to a hunter and a carnivore to meet his physical needs as he knows he will have to eat meat in order to survive due to there being no other options available for food. Pi’s fear of dying leads to him breaking his diet and he described fear by saying, “It is life’s only true opponent. Only fear can defeat life” (Martel 161). This quote shows that Pi only changed the way he eats because of survival. His fear was dying of hunger at sea. So, Pi was forced to change his diet and ate meat. “You can get used to anything – haven’t I already said that? Isn’t that what all survivors say?” (Martel 223). Pi eventually started to accept the fact that he needed to eat meat because there was no vegetation around for him, there was only meat. As a result, Pi killed a baby hawksbill turtle and drank its blood and said that “Turtles were an easy catch indeed, as the survival manual said they were (Martel 247). His determination to survive, made him go against his religious beliefs to meet his physical needs in order to survive.

Pi also faces the challenge of trying to survive while sharing the lifeboat with Richard Parker who is a tiger. After going through his options, Pi, concludes that he will have to keep the tiger alive. Pi realizes he must take care of the tiger and not become enemies with it in order to survive which is a physical need due to that fact that Pi is physically trying to stay alive and not be eaten by a tiger. All of Pi’s efforts are then focused on finding how to feed himself and Richard Parker as well. In his first step toward this goal, Pi creates a raft that separates from the lifeboat and begins to inhabit the raft. Pi even describes how “The lifeboat and the raft had already separated as far as the rope would go, about forty feet.”(Martel 154). Which leaves him out of the immediate reach of Richard Parker, assuring his safety. Pi does this to keep himself safe as he is unsure what the tiger will do to him. Pi is meeting a physical need as he is attempting to keep himself from getting physically eaten by the tiger.

While lost in the pacific Pi must not only tend to his physical needs but also his emotional needs as well. He faces several emotional obstacles that he must face in order to survive. Pi keeps a journal, in it he follows a daily schedule to maintain his sanity, humanity, and self-respect as he says that he “kept a diary…Words scratched on a page trying to capture a reality that overwhelmed me” (Martel 208). He is able to maintain his sanity which means that he is able to meet his emotional needs by writing about them while stranded at sea. He takes his writings and seals them into a glass bottle and casts it into the water. While stranded at sea, Pi knows that he must conquer his fear of Richard Parker and tame him in order to survive while on the lifeboat. He convinces himself that he “ had to tame him. It was at that moment that I realized this necessity. It was not a question of him or me, but of him and me” (Martel, 164). Emotionally, Pi meets his need which was to overcome fear of the tiger in order to survive because he realized he had no other option but to emotionally face his fear.

As Pi battles through the ordeal he must not only meet his physical and emotional needs but also his spiritual needs. Pi is able to meet his spiritual needs through his practices of all three major religions which he draws upon to pull himself through his physical, and mental suffering on the lifeboat. Pi’s commitment to the three different religions proves to be the foundation from which he draws the strength and the desire to survive his ordeal. However, maintaining his faith is not easy, Pi recalls the difficulty of loving God, “Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to life it back up. At such moments I tried to elevate myself…I thank God it always passed” (209). But faith always comes through for Pi. At moments of hopelessness, he does not give up. He chooses to have faith in God, and this faith allows him to survive. Without meeting his spiritual need to maintain his faith Pi very well may have died but him choosing to meet his spiritual need and not give up on faith is what poteitaly keeps him alive because he is able to think to himself that through meeting his physical and emotional needs, there is a light at the end of the tunnel which is why his faith is significant to his survival.

Pi is able to survive his ordeal by meeting his physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. He needed to equally meet each need as they are related and necarray for his survival. If Pi was not willing to meet one of his needs he poteinealy could have died at sea because while he must eat in order to survive physically he must have a clear mind and a sense of direction to be able to survive his ordeal.

Survival is a common theme that is imbedded throughout the book Life Of Pi this can be seen mentally through Pi, symbolically through Pi and also color. When it comes to survival, there is no plan, you’re just trying to get through the day. There is no time for preparation, only time to get into the right mentality for what’s to come. The novel Life Of Pi written by Yann Martel tells the story of a young boy stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger struggling to make friends with the tiger Pi has to survive with.

For someone in a solo survival situation for a long amount of time the hardest thing to is to keep a strong mental health. During Pi’s journey of survival Pi says this, “Survival had to start with me. In my experience, a castaway’s worst mistake is to hope too much and do too little.” Soon after Pi comes across Richard Parker on the lifeboat, he then starts to take action for his plan for survival. Pi realizes that all this time he has been waiting for a ship to come along rather than himself save him. He then takes action by finding shade, learning how to control Richard Parker with sea sickness, figuring out how to stay sane with writing daily journals, talking to yourself, playing card games in your head, learning to fish to not only to feed himself but also Richard Parker.

Rewind a bit, when the ship is sinking and Pi is in the water, he says this, “Something in me did not want to give up on life, was unwilling to let go, wanted to fight to the very end. Where that part of me got the heart, I don’t know.” When this is happening Pi is thinking two things, one, his parents and all his loved ones are gone and that he needs to survive. Yet, Pi thinks to himself, why he should even try to survive when he has nothing to look forward to, as a reader of this novel you can tell that Pi feels not only thel desire to not try to survive, but also a strong faith in God, which creates a power in himself to not give up. Due to his strong faith this makes Pi have the strength and determination to stirve forward.

In the book Life of Pi Yann Martel uses the color orange to symbolize survial. Early in the novel the narrator talks about Usha carrying a orange cat symbolizing that nothing bad will happen to Pi. Later in the story this comes to importance due to Pi being on a boat with a big orange bengal tiger named Richard Parker who goes on to help Pi survive for 227 days. An orangatang also shows up on the lifeboat with Pi as well who provides Pi with emotional support as well as a sense of support along the way. Smaller things like the whistle, life jacket and life jackets are also all orange symbolzing a reminder of hope along the tradegy happening right at his feet.

Introduction

Symbolic interaction theory is a sociological theory that explains the importance of the meaning we attach to our communications with others. The theory describes the ways people interact with each other, the meaning people attach to those interactions, and furthermore, how those meanings shape our individual selves and society (Rogers, 2016). The theory’s focus on the meanings that a client places on their experiences help explain and predict their behavior. Applying the symbolic interaction theory to analyze Jeanette’s behavior in her memoir The Glass Castle allows us to explain to a certain degree, how Jeanette uses the meanings she attaches to her experiences based on her interactions with others to form her reality.

Literature Review

The symbolic interaction theory was pioneered by George Herbert Mead. Mead asserted the core concept of social interactionism in his work Mind, Self, and Society, published posthumously by his students. Mead defined the main concept of social interaction as the differentiation of I and me: “I” as the self, an active subject, and “me” as the acceptance of the self as perceived (Kuhn, 1964).

In 1937 Herbert Blumer, a student of Mead’s termed the theory “symbolic interactionism” and further developed Mead’s assertions. Blumer based symbolic interaction theory on three premises: we act on our world based on the meaning we construct through our experiences; the meanings we construct through our experiences are based on our interactions with others; and, these meanings are affected by our interpretations of our interactions with others (Aksan, Kisac, Aydin, & Demirbuken, 2009).

The symbolic interaction theory indicates that the interaction of people takes place with various symbols and is centered on the meaning they attribute to those symbols (Rogers, 2016). Wood (1992) asserts that symbolic interaction theory pertains to how people assign meaning and interpret various events or circumstances through the comprehensive arrangements of symbols. Subsequently, it is through varied and continuous social interactions of humans, the symbols meaning emanate and evolve.

Symbolic interaction is a longstanding theory. While the basis of the theory stood, it was differences in the conceptualization of the theory that lead to different methods of its application. These methods became known by the universities of groups of similar-minded scholars. For example, the Chicago School focused on the macro level in the human development of the social world, while the Iowa school focused on the micro level of human interactions (Shalin, 2015).

More recently, researchers have further expanded the concept of symbolic interaction to include interactions made possible through social media. Researchers have been exploring the complex human interactions that have become possible through technological change. They are expanding the historical meaning of individual speaking and social interactions from easily identified and isolated to an ongoing dialogue of interactions. Furthermore, they have expanded Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical approach, which likens everyday life interactions to a classical theater, whereby we go through our lives acting and projecting images that are important to us, to the interactions of social media as well (Richey, Gonibeed, & Ravishankar, 2018).

The social work profession involves interacting with a wide variety of people and assisting them in solving their problems. Social workers apply theories in understanding the basis of these problems and formulating solutions as appropriate. The symbolic interaction theory provides useful skills in developing understanding from the client’s standpoint incorporating conscience, and recognizing the importance of the client’s experiences (Lishman, 2015).

Application

Symbolic interaction theory can be used to understand the various experiences that Jeanette Walls faces in The Glass Castle. In the story, Jeanette experiences a sad adventure that characterizes her life. In her youth, Jeanette had low self-esteem and considered herself unattractive, as she was extremely tall, thin, and frail, with big protruding teeth (Walls, 2005). From a symbolic interaction perspective, these feelings stem from Jeanette’s interaction with her peers. Her twisted reality and assumption about her looks originate from a common understanding of the world around her. In school, classmates criticized her looks, making her even more worried about a scar she picked from a burn at the age of three. The joint nature of symbolic interaction is seen in the fact that both Jeanette and her classmates disapprove of her looks. Both of them are social agents, and their views affect each other.

The reciprocal and ongoing nature of symbolic interaction is further seen when Jeanette’s view changes as soon as she meets her second husband. According to Jeanette (2005), he regarded her as an interesting and fine-textured person whose scars were a sign of massive strength. Unlike her mean classmates and anyone else who used her appearance against her before, she has found someone who accepts and embraces all her flaws. Owing to this newly constructed view of herself, her spirits are lifted. She becomes more self-conscious and even loves herself more. She drastically changes from self-hating to a self-loving woman as a result of her second husband’s attitude.

In application, symbolic interaction is critical in transforming people, helping them draw meaning from their experiences and formulate better-coping mechanisms for every situation. By learning from the behavior of others, Jeanette develops her own set of characteristics and takes responsibility. Rose Mary, her mother, is a painter who spends most of her time painting while ignoring the welfare of her children, including Jeanette. Rose Mary is so selfish that she sometimes eats in secret despite her children going hungry for days. Raised in comfort, Rose Mary thinks she is encouraging her children to be self-sufficient and strong. Her husband, Rex, is a manipulative thief with a passion for gambling. The two parents are utterly negligent and absent. In response to their undesirable ways of being, Jeanette becomes an agent of change in her world. Unlike her parents, she loves and cares for her siblings, thus acting as a parental figure. Notably, in an attempt to cultivate opposite characters from her parents, she is committed, works hard, and brings home money for food. In fact, at the age of seventeen, she becomes independent by taking her sister Lori from home and making life for them elsewhere. From a symbolic interaction perspective, her desirable characteristics are an unconscious campaign to make her current world better than the previous one.

Critique

Though symbolic interaction theory explains, to no small extent, the reasons Jeanette differentiated herself from the ways of her parents including selfishness, alcoholism, gambling, and negligence there are some drawbacks. For instance, the objectivity of the ideas formed cannot be ascertained. It is not possible to gauge the degree to which Jeanette’s experiences as a child contributed to her outlook on life. It is hard to determine whether the socially constructed knowledge Jeanette gathered over the course of her life is reliable. This doubt is further compounded by the fact that Jeannette’s siblings have entirely different outlooks on life despite being raised under similar conditions. Social construction, therefore, offers only a partial explanation of the outcome of Jeanette’s life.

However, Erik Erikson’s theory could help explain Jeanette’s actions and behavior better. Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development postulates that human beings undergo distinct transitions physically, cognitively, and mentally as they grow up. According to Erikson, human beings undergo eight stages from birth through old age, dealing with developmental tasks and resolving crises particular to each stage (Rogers, 2016). Based on this definition, Jeanette’s behavior in The Glass Castle can be better explained using Erikson’s theory than by symbolic interactionism. This is evidenced through Jeanette’s changing behavior as she grows, which is consistent with the provisions of Erikson’s theory, whereas symbolic interactionism only explains the meanings attached to the interaction between individuals in society. While Jeanette with age comes to detest her father’s behavior of excessive drinking and her mother’s irresponsibility and selfishness, the rest of her siblings do not seem concerned by those problems. Consequently, Jeanette quits the family and heads to New York in search of a new life. Jeanette’s attempt at rediscovering life is better explained by Erikson’s theory which purports that human beings move through the stages of psychosocial development despite unresolved crises experienced at earlier stages. This helps us understand that Jeanette was more successful than her siblings at negotiating the crises of each stage, enabling her to maintain better control over her emotional state and better adapt to her environment.

Conclusion

Symbolic interaction theory gives an explanation of how individuals relate with each other and in society based on the meaning that they attach to their interactions. In the memoir The Glass Castle, symbolic interaction theory explains how Jeanette uses the meaning she attaches to her experiences to form her reality through her childhood, adolescence, and eventually her adulthood.

References

1. Aksan, N., Kısac, B., Aydın, M., & Demirbuken, S. (2009). Symbolic interaction theory. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 1(1), 902-904. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2009.01.160
2. Kuhn, M. (1964). Major Trends in Symbolic Interaction Theory in the Past Twenty-Five Years. The Sociological Quarterly, 5(1), 61-84. Retrieved February 24, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/4105182
3. Lishman, J. (2015). Handbook for Practice Learning in Social Work and Social Care, Third Richey, M., Gonibeed, A., & Ravishankar, M. N. (2018). The perils and promises of self-disclosure on social media. Information Systems Frontiers, 20(3), 425-437. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.daemen.edu/10.1007/s10796-017-9806-7
4. Edition : Knowledge and Theory: Vol. 3rd ed. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
5. Rogers, A. T. (2016). Human behavior in the social environment. New York, NY: Routledge.
6. Shalin, D. N. (2015). Making the sociological canon: The battle over George herbert mead’s legacy. The American Sociologist, 46(3), 313-340. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.daemen.edu/10.1007/s12108-015-9259-8
7. Walls, J. (2005). The glass castle: A Memoir. New York: Scribner.
8. Wood, J. (1992). Spinning the symbolic web: human communication as symbolic interaction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing.

Within the novel Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the father-daughter relationship displayed between Rex and Jeannette Walls is a complex one. A large portion of Jeanette’s childhood is represented throughout the novel. During her childhood, Jeanette experiences constant wondering about her father’s presence and accountability. Additionally, a large sum of tragic events is also present. After these tragic events occur, Rex seems to use something such as a positive action or remark in order to counteract them. At these points throughout the novel, the reader can see how Jeanette is able to view Rex. She can see him as compassionate, funny and feels as though he truly does love her. As poet George Hebert wrote, “One father is more than a hundred schoolmasters.” This quote stands true in the sense of Rex and Jeanette. By being both compassionate and unpredictable, this shows how complex Rex and Jeannette’s relationship truly is in the sense that he both lets her down yet assures her that what he is doing is in her best interest.

The earliest noted tragic event that took place was within the first few pages of the novel. it occurred when Jeanette was just three years old. Jeannette had burned herself one day while she herself was making a hot dog. The first wrong in this situation is that Rex was allowing his daughter to use a stove at such a young age. This burn caused Jeannette to have to enter the hospital in order to be healed. She lasted in the hospital for a few days, but during the middle of one night, Rex chose to take Jeannette and escort her out of the hospital without the doctor’s permission. By leaving the hospital, Rex understood that he would not have to pay a large sum of medical bills. When removing Jeannette from the hospital, Rex made the decision to avoid his daughter’s best interest to assure that his own best interest of not having to pay the bills was met. However, when Rex removed Jeannette from this situation he stated, “‘You don’t have to worry anymore, baby…you’re safe now” (Walls 14). By stating this, Rex tries to assure his daughter that she was in an unsafe situation while in the hospital although she was in good hands, and that his decision was best. This specific traumatic event set the scene of the novel and gave the reader an insight into a continued thread of tragic events, made up with a positive act or remark in return from Rex.

Another example of Rex’s unaccountability of being a father is demonstrated through travel. Rex was constantly changing the location of where the family lived due to not being able to keep a job. Therefore, moving from place to place with a family in one small car was not ideal. The children were most often forced to choose just one item to bring with them. The first travel mishap occurred during the family’s first move. As stated, when Rex was driving the car away, “He stopped the car, grabbed Quixote by the scruff of the neck, and tossed him out the window. Quixote landed with a screeching meow and a thud, Dad accelerated up the road, and I burst into tears” (Walls 18). This represents that Rex not only had the nerve to throw a living animal out of a moving car window, but he had the nerve to get rid of something that meant so much to his young daughter, Jeannette. However, Rex tried to turn this situation around by singing songs and talking about what was going to come once they got to where Rex decided that they were headed. As stated, “Dad started telling us about all the exciting things we were going to do and how we were going to get rich once we reached the new place where we were going to live” (Walls 18). While this journey was taking place, Jeannette was still a young girl. She was able to believe what her father told her was to come, and that gave her the sense that he was looking out for the best interest of his entire family.

Another example of a travel mishap was when Jeannette herself fell out of her family’s moving car. As stated, “Just when we took a sharp turn over some railroad tracks, the door flew open, and I tumbled out…I waited for what seemed like a long time before I decided it was possible Mom and Dad might not come back for me” (Walls 30). This quote shows that at such a young age, Jeannette was open to the idea that it would not be a surprise if her parents did not come back for her. However, it is unsettling to think that her parents even allowed her to be in a situation as unsafe as this one to begin with, never-mind the fact that she was able to fall out of this moving vehicle. Although, after the conclusion of this traumatic event, Jeannette was able to find something positive about this situation. As stated, “‘Damn, honey’, he said. ‘You busted your snot locker pretty good.’ I started laughing really hard. ‘Snot locker’ was the funniest name I’d ever heard for a nose” (Walls 31). By finding this positive, it shows that Jeannette still is a ball to believe that her father cares about her. Rex allowed this situation to happen but seemed to brush it off by making a joke about the situation to make Jeannette laugh about her nose and feel better about the overall situation. Once again, finding a positive to counteract the parenting failure he made.

One day, Rex was under the influence of alcohol and he decided to take his family to the zoo while they were living in Phoenix. When they purchased the tickets and entered the zoo, Rex decided that he wanted to have an encounter with the cheetah. So, Rex proceeded to climb over the chain link fence near the cheetah enclosure and then signaled for his kids to come over too. Rex gave the cheetah a pat first to show his children that it was okay, and then he allowed Jeannette to pet the cheetah, too. By stepping over the chain link fence himself, he set a bad example for his children to follow. Then, by allowing Jeannette to do it herself, Rex instantly put his daughter into a dangerous situation. As stated, “There was a small crowd around the cage now, and one particularly frantic woman grabbed my shirt and tried to pull me over the chain. ‘It’s alright,’ I told her. ‘My dad does stuff like this all the time’” (Walls 109). This shows that other individuals were aware of the bad parenting skill that Rex was demonstrating. Additionally, it shows how Rex is putting his children into danger although that is not what he believes he is doing. Yet, Rex convinced his children that it was ok, and Jeannette believed him.

As seen throughout the novel, Rex’s drinking problem also caused a multitude of problems within his and Jeannette’s relationship. One year for her birthday Jeannette stated, “He was asking what he could do, now that I was almost a grown-up, to make my last years as a kid everything I hoped they’d be. There was only one thing I truly wanted, something that I knew would change all our lives, but I was afraid to ask for it” (Walls 116). This quote represents the strong wish that Jeannette’s mindset was focused on, only on her tenth birthday. At this point in her life, Jeannette was already able to see that her father’s drinking was a serious problem and it was interfering with their entire family life. This one gift that Jeannette truly wanted was for her father to stop drinking alcohol. Jeannette told Rex this wish of hers, and he instantly felt as though his daughter was ashamed of him. However, he thought about it and decided to work on it. Rex did so by locking himself in his bedroom and trying to detox himself from the alcohol. This detox did not last long, though and Rex ended up letting Jeannette down once again.

Further into the novel, Rex became ill with tuberculosis and was in the hospital. Coincidentally, Rex is staying in this hospital, yet he removed Jeannette from one at the beginning of the novel because he believed that the medical bills were too much money. However, around this time Rex was also beginning to help more in his daughter’s life and do things that truly did benefit her. Eventually, Rex ended up passing from a heart attack. As stated, “I had this crazy urge to scoop him up in my arms and charge through the doors—to check out Rex Walls—style one last time” (Walls 280). This shows that Jennette still has this memory of her father doing this to her when she was younger. With death comes the reflection of one’s life. When Rex passed away from this heart attack, it was clear that Jeannette was able to reflect on their complex relationship. Although Rex did all of these tragic things to him, he always had a way to make it seem better in her eyes. Jeannette wanted to make things better for her father when a tragic accident happened to him.

In conclusion, through the series of these tragic events, it is clear for the reader to see that the relationship that Jeannette and her father Rex have is a complex one. These tragic events that seem to consume Jeannette’s childhood are symbolic of the wondering about her father’s presence and accountability. In addition, the reader can see how Rex used positive actions and comments in order to counteract his wrongdoings. By doing this, it gives the reader an insight into Rex’s mind. It is almost as though Rex had known exactly what he was doing and how it was wrong, but he always tried to convince himself and his children otherwise through these actions and comments. Rex will always be Jeannette’s father and she did care for him, despite the large number of tragic events that occurred under his watch.

Absurdity means meaninglessness, purposelessness, silly, strange, incongruence, ridiculousness, bizarre, and nonsense. An absurdity is a thing that is awfully unreasonable, so as to be foolish or not taken seriously or the state of being so. The Theater of Absurd is, a form of drama that emphasizes the absurdity of human existence by employing disjointed, repetitious, and meaningless dialogue, purposeless and confusing situations, and plots that lack realistic or logical development. In a simple word a type of drama that tries to portray the absurdity of human life using illogical, meaningless, and deliberately confusing action and dialogue.

According to Oxford English Dictionary, Absurdity means ‘the quality or state of being ridiculous or widely unreasonable’. The word absurd was coined by ‘Martin Esslin to delineate the anti-realistic post-war drama of playwrights as Beckett, Arthur Adamov, and Jean Genet’ (Nelson, 1993, p.67). Absurd play is the complete denial of old values. It has no plot, no characterization, no logical sequence, no rising, and falling action, on the story, no clear theme, no proper beginning, middle, and end, no pointed dialogues and finally its language is not poetic.

There are many dramas in the literature world based upon the philosophy of absurdism. Among those Samuel Beckett is more important because he has written many plays. ‘Waiting for Godot’ was his first play which proved to be the most successful absurd play.

Samuel Beckett (1906-1989) is one of the leading literary and dramatic figures of the twentieth century. Samuel Beckett was an author, playwright, and critic. He was born on April 13, 1906, in Dublin in Ireland.

During the 1930s and 1940s, he wrote his first novels and short stories. He wrote a trilogy of novels in the 1950s as well as famous plays like Waiting for Godot. In 1969 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for his outstanding contribution in literature. Samuel Beckett started his literary career as a novelist. He published many stories and poetry. Samuel Beckett is a revolutionary playwright. He is an iconoclast and an image breaker. He has shattered conventions and pioneered a new kind of drama. His drama is above the categories of tragedy and comedy. It is called absurd drama. His plays show the situation in which we are. They expose us in our existential predicament. He was well known for his notable play ‘Waiting for Godot’.

Waiting for Godot is an absurd drama. In fact, the absurd drama presents human life and human situation as absurd. This type of drama is free from the traditional plot, story or division into acts and scenes. Here we get few characters. They have symbolic significance. Dialogues are very short and crisp. Nothing significant happens on the stage. It prefers existential themes. Things are not explained but they are merely hinted at. One can find all these features in Waiting for Godot.

‘Waiting for Godot’ is an absurd drama and it presents the absurdity of human life. There is no female character and the characters of the play are not sure about their identities. The entire situation produces meaninglessness which is another characteristic of absurd play. In this drama, nothing is happening and no development of plot is found.

Characteristics of Absurd Theater:

From the above-said remarks, it is crystal clear that absurd plays were entirely different from traditional plays. These remarks provide us following characteristics of absurd theater:

• No story or plot
• No characterization and motivation
• Neither a proper beginning nor end
• Unexplained themes
• Imitation of dreams or nightmares instead of nature
• Useless dialogues

‘Waiting for Godot’ as an Absurd Play:

‘Waiting for Godot’ fulfills every requirement of an absurd play. It has no story, no characterization, no beginning nor any end, unexplained themes, imitation of dreams and nightmares, and above all it contains useless dialogues.

The title of the play ‘Waiting for Godot’ reflects absurdity in the sense that it too is replete with problems and dilemmas as human existence is. As the title is ‘Waiting for Godot’, but still nobody knows that

Who Godot is. The subject matter of the drama is not Godot, but waiting which is an important aspect of the human condition. It is only while waiting we could experience the passage of time. The way Vladimir and Estragon pass time shows the utter meaninglessness of life and the struggle that existence is. The waiting of Vladimir and Estragon for Godot is endless waiting. They are waiting without knowing the purpose they are waiting for. Again the boy informs them that Godot is not coming and they wait for Godot till the next day. Such endless waiting also seems absurd.

In ‘Waiting for Godot’ the very first dialogue between Vladimir and Estragon has a meaningless and purposelessness of life. Estragon, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot. He pulls at it with both hands, panting. Estragon, sitting on a low mound, is trying to take off his boot. He pulls at it with both hands, panting. He gives up, exhausted, rests, tries again. As before Enter Vladimir. Estragon says:

ESTRAGON: (giving up again). Nothing to be done.

VLADIMIR: ((advancing with short, stiff strides, legs wide apart). I’m beginning to come round to that opinion. All my life I’ve tried to put it from me, saying Vladimir, be reasonable, you haven’t yet tried everything.

And I resumed the struggle. (He broods, musing on the struggle. Turning to Estragon) so there you are again.

This dialogue brings into exterior the absurd nature of the play. Actually it represents the entire human existence where man of the present world is disappointed.

The basic structure of the drama presents the idea not only about the usefulness and meaninglessness of time but also of life of the present world. The two main characters Vladimir and Estragon with non-sensical existence, in Act one and Act two, they try to commit suicides two times. They cannot bear this life anymore.

They invite each other to kill each other so that they can escape this meaningless of life. This incident is clear from the following dialogue.

VLADIMIR: You always say that, and you always come crawling back.

ESTRAGON: The best thing would be to kill me, like the other.

VLADIMIR: What other? (Pause) What other?

ESTRAGON: Like billions of others.

The continuous waiting for Godot increases their despair and their lives are disgusted in thus way.

The dialogues of Vladimir and Estragon revolve around one thing. In the whole drama they repeat the same dialogue.

VLADIMIR: Well Shall We Go?

ESTRAGON: Yes Let’s Go. (But they do not move.)

They change the dialogues but they do not take proper decisions. This shows the absurdity of human life especially modern human beings.

Every good drama has motivational characters but in this drama, we have five characters that are not recognizable human beings. They pass their time with doing meaningless activities. We don’t know past of the characters. They are not introduced to the audience. We know only their names and their miserable situation.

Thus this play ‘Waiting for Godot’ contains all the elements of absurdism. The central themes in Waiting for Godot include the human condition, absurdism and nihilism, and friendship. The human condition of the present world: The hopelessness in Vladimir and Estragon’s lives demonstrates the extent to which humans rely on illusions’ such as religion, according to Beckett’to give hope to a meaningless existence.

Here are some following points given about how ‘Waiting for Godot’ as an Absurd play

No story or plot:

‘Waiting for Godot’ does not tell any story nor does it has a plot. The play starts with waiting and ends with it. Lack of action is one of the major characteristics of an absurd play. There is nothing significant in the play. So is the case with Waiting for Godot. In this play nothing significant happens except waiting and waiting. The waiting also becomes meaningless because no Godot arrives. As soon as the play opens, we find Estragon, a tramp. Characters do not go anywhere. They stand still in front of an audience and do nothing except pass the ball. They talk and pass the time. The play lacks action. The actions of characters are not related to plot but to themselves. Vladimir and Estragon wait for Godot and the audience perceive that perhaps the real story of the play will start after Godot’s arrival but Godot does not appear on stage nor is he introduced to the audience. Eventually, play ends with waiting. In this way, ‘Waiting for Godot’ fulfills the first requirement of an absurd play.

‘Waiting for Godot’ is Absurd Play due to Lack of Characterization :

We don’t know past of the characters. They are not introduced to the audience. We know only their names and their miserable situation. Their motifs are unclear. Although it is explicit that they are waiting for Godot yet it is not told to the audience what purpose Godot will serve if he comes. Hence, lack of characterization proves that ‘Waiting of Godot’ is a play of absurd theater.

No Beginning and End:

It has no beginning nor has any end. It starts with a situation and ends with it. Both acts start and end in the same way. For instance, when characters come on stage they reveal their purpose. They say they are waiting but Godot does not come and the act ends with waiting. The second act is also a copy of first act with minor differences. The play goes on and eventually ends with wait. Hence, there is no proper start of the play nor does it has a proper end. It is a journey from nothingness to nothingness as observed by eminent critics.

Useless Dialogues Make ‘Waiting for Godot’ as an Absurd Play:

Most of the dialogue of this play serves no purpose. Incoherent babbling is also an important ingredient of the theater of the absurd as mentioned by Esslin. The whole play is based on the delivery of dialogues but most of them have no apparent meanings. Every dialogue is full of symbols. Every word refers to something in a hidden meaning but it lacks the interest of the audience because it lacks action.

Dialogues create action in every play. Action loses its importance without worthy dialogues. In the case of ‘Waiting for Godot’, no action has been presented, therefore, dialogues are boring and they are written just to pass the ball. Thus, they are meant to pass the time. The Word ‘nothing’ has is repeated numerously in the play. It actually indicates nothingness in it. Thus, the dialogues of the play are nothing but incoherent babbling. ‘Waiting for Godot’ can be called an absurd play due to this trait of absurd theater.

Unexplained Themes:

Unclear themes also make ‘Waiting for Godot’ a play of absurd theater. The audience do not observe any obvious theme in the play. The superiority of a play is always dependent on its themes. ‘Waiting for Godot’ has no obvious theme. If there is any, it is hidden. Moreover, it presents the individualistic vision of the writer. There is an effect of alienation in the play with respect to themes.

Imitation of Nightmares:

This play does not hold the mirror up to nature. It does not portray the manners and mannerisms of the ages. Esslin is true in his definition of the theater of absurd. This play ‘seem[s] often to be a reflection of dreams and nightmares”.

Conclusion

Thus the play ‘Waiting for Godot’ by Samuel Beckett contains almost all the elements of an absurd play. It delineates all the elements of absurdity through the two main characters ‘Vladimir’ and ‘Estragon’.Waiting for Godot emphasizes on the absurdity of human existence by employing repetitions, meaningless dialogues, and purposeless, foolish, nonsensical, silly, and confusing situations which are opposed to truth or reason. Roby Cohn, an American theater scholar and a leading authority on playwright Samuel Beckett, looks upon ‘Waiting for Godot’ as one of the masterpieces of Absurdist Literature. As Nealon puts it ‘Waiting for Godot’ is an attack on modernism with its ideological and Grand Narrative that claims to interpret the world Estragon and Vladimir are trapped by their modernist nostalgia for legitimation in Godot’

At last but not least, ‘Waiting for Godot’ is an entirely unconventional play. Samuel Becket violated all dramatic conventions. Indeed, every ingredient of theater of the absurd has been fulfilled by him. Regardless of that this play is successful. He wrote this play to break the rules of traditional dramatists. ‘Waiting for Godot’ completes every factor of the theater of the absurd, therefore, it can successfully be called the play of the absurd.

Becoming successful requires hard work, but is putting in the hard work worth it? In the novel The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, the author is born into poverty and then grows to be an award-winning author proving that hard work results in success. A big role in Jeanette’s path in life and her view of the world is played by the people in her life. In addition, the conflicts throughout her childhood develop her into someone that pays more attention to herself and her mission of becoming successful. Lastly, Jean’s life takes her to numerous places, that provide her with new experiences which will lead to the decisions that guide her to a life of success. In The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, the author uses character, conflict, and setting to emphasize that determination, perseverance, and hard work are the key components that lead to success no matter the circumstance.

The characters in Jeanette’s life have a big influence on the decision that she makes, and on her view of the world because of the struggles that the characters give her; Jean becomes more empathetic as a result of this. The individuals in her life educate Jeanette that hard work will pay off and when she puts the effort in, she indeed finds success. One of the most important events that bring change in Jeanette’s life is when two filmmakers decide to go to Welch from New York and talk to her about how “[New York City] was a place of energy and creativity and intellectual stimulation” (Walls 222). The two men are the people who impact to make the decision of wanting to go to New York. The two men give her hope and inspiration that she needs to persevere to reach her aspirations: in addition, the inspiration causes her to work hard and become her best self. Another reason why Jeanette wants to go to New York is because of her terrible father. Jeannette’s dad’s drinking problem is so bad that he disappears from his family for days. This makes Jean believe he “would never be coming back [to the family]” (Walls 240). Moreover, the alcohol addiction causes Rex to be unable to support his children and for them to have a future. Jeanette knew if she stays with her father, she will not have a bright future; she has so many ambitions that are fading away because of him. Nevertheless, She becomes driven to work hard and concours all the goals she wants because of her alcoholic father. In conclusion, the people in Jeanette’s life have a big influence on her determination of doing whatever she needs to find her path to success.

Throughout her entire childhood, Jeanette faces many struggles and she is put down many times, but because of this, she develops into someone strong enough to overcome any obstacles on her path to success. For example, Jeanette lives in a town called Welch where her father is deep into alcohol addiction, which makes him unable to provide for the needs of his children. Her father continually goes up to Jeanette when he wants money for cigarettes and beer, but in spite of the fact that Jean encompasses a tight budget for basic needs, she “has a soft spot for him the way no one else in the family does” (Walls 209). While Jeanette gives her father money often, she learns that she needs to prioritize her money and give it to the people who need it. If she did not learn this, she will starve herself and her brothers and sisters. In detail, her family issues motivate her to work hard and persevere so that one day she can take care of her loved ones. Secondly, in the city of Welch, there is a big divide between African Americans and Caucasian individuals. Many times, Jeanette gets into fights with her colleagues of different races, and “as [she] fought, they called [her] poor and ugly and dirty, and it was hard to argue the point” (Walls 140). When Jeanette was a child, she believes that every person is born equal, which shows that she has strong morals and ideals about racial conflict. By using her ideals, she changes one of her foes into a companion. These strong morals propel her to become a successful and determined individual. As of result of Jeanette’s struggles in life, she gains experiences and wisdom that transform her into someone capable of overcoming all obstacles to gain success.

Jean’s life takes her to numerous places, each of them having a new viewpoint of the world and at the same time providing new experiences that lead to the decisions that move her to a place of success. New York is the city that gives her the opportunities and tools that helps her to become successful. New York is a fascinating place for Jeanette, but the best thing for her “was that the opportunities would come so easily” (Walls 247). In the novel, New York represents hope and opportunities whereas Jeanette seizes these opportunities which gives her the chance to achieve her goals. She finally gets to achieve the goals that she desires so deeply beforehand. To emphasize, New York gives Jean all the tools that she needs to become successful and this keeps her determined to achieve all her dreams. A big part of Jeanette’s childhood is their high school years at Welch High. There, she discovers her vocation for journalism and a way she could make a difference by running “The Maroon Wave”, which was the school’s newspaper. Jeanette writes “so many of the articles that … [her] name appears four times on the front page” (Walls 232). Welch is filled with poverty and struggles, especially for Jeannette’s family, but fortunately for Jean, she finds purpose and relief at school by reporting with “The Maroon Wave”. While working at the school newspaper: She envisions her future self working at a news station and sees a wonderful adulthood ahead of her. The high school gives her motivation to become a news reporter through “The Maroon Wave”; she gains the desire to work hard and persevere through the tough times, so she can achieve her goal. Each of the places that Jean lives in, helps her to grow, to find her passion in life, and to make the right decisions that lead her to success.

In The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls, the author uses character, conflict, and setting to emphasize that the key components that lead to success no matter the circumstances are determination, perseverance, and hard work. The characters in Jeanette’s life influence her decisions, the conflict she has to deal with as a child gives her perseverance, and the setting gives her a new view of the world. This shows that anyone can become someone successful even if they had a terrible childhood, as long as they put in the time and effort.

Work Cited

1. Walls, Jeanette. The Glass Castle. Scribner, 2005.