Category: Drama

The Joshua Tree symbolizes the strength and beauty of something and the struggles are what give it its beauty. Jeanette and her family were driving and she looks out to the window and she saw a tree standing at an angle it was growing sideways which shows that this tree is unique and different. “From the time the Joshua tree was a tiny sapling, it had been so beaten down by the whipping wind that, rather than trying to grow skyward, it had grown in the direction that the wind pushed it. It existed now in a permanent state of windblown, leaning over so far that it seemed ready to topple, although its roots held it firmly in place” (Walls 35).

The words in this sentence “it had been so beaten down by the whipping wind”. This shows that maybe Jeanette has been beaten down by her parents and how they don’t have any money to survive and this also shows how Jeanette’s family is dysfunctional. This can also relate to the wall kids because they have not been raised properly for example they weren’t raised with proper parents or rules and this could show how they could be so beaten down. The Walls kids and Jeanette are really similar because they both grew up with parents who didn’t really care about them and they both feel like they are different and are not like the rest of the kids. The Joshua Tree also reminds us about the The Wall kids and how they can be seen as an individual Joshua Tree.

The Joshua Tree stands out because of its differences. “Mom frowned at me “You’d be destroying what makes it special,” she said. “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty” (Walls 38). The word choice being used in this quote is beauty. Beauty shows that Rose Mary does not think the tree is beautiful because it doesn’t grow straight like the rest of the trees she thinks it is beautiful because of the struggles that it had and its differences and uniqueness. The Joshua Tree shows how people can be seen differently and when Jeanette was younger she did not understand the struggles and she thinks the tree is ugly when it is really beautiful. This can also show how Jeanette’s mom can mostly always light up a situation even though the roots are struggling a little bit. Jeanette’s mom really loved the tree and thought it was the most beautiful tree she ever saw. “One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight” (Walls 52). This shows how Jeanette wanted to protect the tree and make sure nothing bad happens to it. For example, Jeanette didn’t have any support or help from her parents and she wants to help the tree because she knows it feels.

The tangled branches show how imperfect the tree is and this represents its uniqueness and how it’s different this relates to Jeanette because Jeanette is different from the other kids because her family doesn’t have a lot of money and she has a lot of family issues. The idea of the tree having challenges to grow as strong as it has shown the coming of age for Jeanette and how she changed. Jeanette learned how to do things on her own at such a young age which helped her become more independent as she grew up.

“‘I had never heard of chewing gum, so she went out and got me a whole pack. I pulled out a stick, took off the white paper and the shiny silver foil under it, and studied the powdery, putty-colored gum. I put it in my mouth and was stunned by the sharp sweetness. ‘It’s really good!’ I said…When Mom wanted to know what it was the doctors and nurses were doing that was so nice, I told her about the chewing gum. ‘Ugh,’ she said. She disapproved of chewing gum, she went on. It was a disgusting low-class behavior’” (Walls 12).

Within the chapter Walls recalls a time when she ended up in the hospital after getting burned cooking hot dogs. She was merely three years old, and when the doctors questioned what she was doing cooking hotdogs, she did not find her behavior unusual. She was simply cooking for herself, “It wasn’t like there was some complicated recipe” (Walls 11). Throughout her stay in the hospital, she was exposed to new experiences and she “liked it” (Walls 11). She was even given chewing gum by a nurse; Walls “had never heard of chewing gum” and when she tried it she thought it was “really good!” When she tells her Mom about the chewing gum, she disapproves, calling it “disgusting low-class behavior.” The significance the passage holds is in how it presents a contrast between Walls’ opinion, and her Mom’s. She did not understand what the doctors found strange about her cooking hot dogs at age three, and she did not understand why chewing gum was vulgar behavior. It is clear that Walls’ views are not just based on experience, but her parents’ influence. She does not find cooking for herself unsafe, because her Mom trusts her to do it; as soon as she gets back from the hospital she goes right back to making hot dogs. When given the gum she gets a chance to form her own opinion, and it does not match her Moms. She likes the hospital, and she likes chewing gum, but her Mom disapproves. Creating conflict for young Walls’ individual views compared to her Moms.

“Once I got my breath back, I crawled along the railroad embankment to the road and sat down to wait for Mom and Dad to come back. My whole body felt sore. The sun was small and white and broiling-hot. A wind had come up, and it was roiling in the dust along the roadside. I waited for what seemed like a long time before I decided it was possible Mom and Dad might not come back for me. They might not notice I was missing. 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).

This passage occurs after Walls falls out of the family car. They had recently left their initial trailer park and had Walls’ Dad throw their cat, Quixote, out the car window for not liking the car. Walls cried at first, but after telling her “Don’t be so sentimental,” and that “we could always get another cat,” her parents got her to forget about Quixote (Walls 18). When Walls herself tumbles out she fears that “like Quixote the cat, [she] was a bother and a burden they could do without.” Walls’ sudden shift in tone provides a very different way she viewed her family. Previously from a young age, she had been proud of her family, sharing their stories with the reader. She explained how her sister, Mary Charlene, had died (which her mom was never upset about), and her father’s dream of building a “Glass Castle” for all of them to live in. When she gets thrown out, she applies her family’s words about Quixote to herself and is able to logically believe that they will not be coming back for her. Their lack of sentimentality over Quixote, and Mary Charlene fuels Walls’ convinces her “[she] was a bother and a burden they could do without.” Rather than being infatuated with her family’s life of instability and adventure she fears it. The purpose of the text is to show how Walls’ parent’s behaviors affect her. She knows they mean what they say, and though she loves them for what they believe, she fears it will lead to her being left behind.

“I wondered if the fire had been out to get me. I wondered if all fire was related, like Dad said all humans were related if the fire that had burned me that day while I cooked hot dogs was somehow connected to the fire I had flushed down the toilet and the fire burning the hotel. I didn’t have the answers to those questions, but what I did know was that I lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire. It was the sort of knowledge that kept you on your toes” (Walls 34).

Walls recalls her memories with fire. The novel began with the day she was burned cooking hot dogs, and since that incident, she’s been playing with fire; melting her Tinkerbell doll, and most recently she flushed fire down a toilet. Her parents encouraged her interest, telling her, “You can’t live in fear of something as basic as fire” and teaching her to pass her finger through a candle flame (Walls 16). Having been burned does not strike fear, but fascination. While she watches the burning hotel, she wonders if all fires are connected. She expects the fire to follow her around, becoming one of the few familiar aspects of her life. Walls uses fire to symbolize the nature of her family. Even though she keeps testing fire, she doesn’t know what or when to expect it, it keeps her on her toes. Just like her life on the road with her family, something she’s certain of is that “[She] lived in a world that at any moment could erupt into fire.” Even with a life of uncertainty, Walls has found consistency in exactly that. No matter how badly she gets burned she can not live in fear.

“From the time the Joshua tree was a tiny sapling, it had been so beaten down by the whipping wind that, rather than trying to grow skyward, it had grown in the direction that the wind pushed it. It existed now in a permanent state of windblown ness, leaning over so far that it seemed ready to topple, although, in fact, its roots held firmly in place. I thought the Joshua tree was ugly. It looked scraggly and freakish, permanently stuck in its twisted, tortured position, and it made me think of how some adults tell you not to make weird faces because your features could freeze. Mom, however, thought it was one of the most beautiful trees she had ever seen. She told us she had to paint it” (Walls 35).

While driving Rosemary Walls spots and becomes captivated by an ancient Joshua tree. The passage details what the tree looks like: it has faced so much wind, that it no longer grows in the right direction, but despite this, its roots will not allow it to fall. Despite the tree’s crooked state, Rosemary Walls believes it is the most beautiful tree she had ever seen. Later on, Rosemary explains “It’s the Joshua tree’s struggle that gives it its beauty” (Walls 45). The Joshua tree symbolizes Rosemary’s methodology for raising her children. She strongly believes in self-sufficiency, disapproves of rules, and lets her children learn from their mistakes. It is their struggles, whether it be getting burned, or falling out of a moving vehicle, that makes them who they are. Forcing her children to suffer alone, when Jeanette tells her Uncle Stanley touched her inappropriately Rosemary claimed she imagined it and sympathized with Stanley. The only empathy she offered Jeannette was the idealized advice “that sexual assault was a crime of perception, if you don’t think you are hurt you aren’t” (Walls 184). Rosemary Walls insists her children learn to be self-reliant and strong, just like the Joshua tree. They can not rely on doctors, society, or their parents for help, it was her policy. Jeanette did end up like the Joshua tree; though she has been “beaten down” and grows in the direction society pushes her, her roots hold her firmly in place.

‘“I want that one,” I said. Dad grinned. “That’s Venus,” he said. Venus was only a planet, he went on, and pretty dinky compared to real stars. She looked bigger and brighter because she was much closer than the stars. Poor old Venus didn’t even make her own light, Dad said. She shone only from reflected light. He explained to me that planets glowed because reflected light was constant, and stars twinkled because their light pulsed. “I like it anyway,” I said. I had admired Venus even before that Christmas. You could see it in the early evening, glowing on the western horizon, and if you got up early, you could still see it in the morning, after all the stars had disappeared. “What the hell,” Dad said. “It’s Christman. You can have a planet if you want”’ (Walls 40).

The passage above is a memory of a Christmas when once again, Rex Walls had lost his job. Since they could not afford toys, the children each got a star as a present. The unconventional give symbolizes Rex Walls’ views on life, which can be considered unconventional. Compared to a toy, a star should not be too much for a five-year-old. But the Walls family laughed at the kids who got nothing but cheap plastic toys. Rex told his children that “Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten…you’ll still have your stars,” (Walls 41). The stars symbolize Rex Walls’ beliefs, that, for a long time, his children shared. They really believed all his crazy ideologies and dreams for the future. He wanted to be their father figure and give them everything, but his alcoholism lead to them being disappointed over and over again. Those fantastic dreams and ideas made up for his imperfections. He gave Jeanette the planet of love, and she treasured it until after he died. Jeanette did lose faith in her father, but “as awful as he could be, [she] always knew he loved [her] in a way no one else ever had” (Walls 279).

‘“Lori’s and Brian’s teachers also put them in gifted reading groups. Brian hated it because the other kids were older and he was the littlest guy in the class, but Lori and I were secretly thrilled to be called special. Instead of letting on that we felt that way, however, we made light of it. When we told Mom and Dad about our reading groups, we paused before the word “gifted,” clasping our hands beneath our chins, fluttering our eyelids, and pretending to look angelic. “Don’t make a mockery of it,” Dad said. “Course you’re special. Haven’t I always told you that?”’

The family has just moved to the house on North Third Street and the Walls kids just entered a new school. When the kids were placed in gifted reading groups, Walls admits that both she and Lori were secretly thrilled. When they told their parents, they mocked the groups by “pretending to look angelic.” Rex Walls’ response told them to stop making a mockery of their achievement. He exclaimed “Course you’re special. Haven’t I always told you that?” The text emphasizes Rex Walls’ genuine love for his children. He refuses to submit to any form of authority, so he did not need a gifted program to believe his children are special. If you look over his irresponsible nature, Rex Walls is an excellent father, and his affection toward his children is genuine.

Symbolism, imagery, and characterization are used to show the decay of parenting as shown in The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. To be considered a bad parent; a person lacks emotional and physical appearance to a child, to express a feeling of absence.

Bad Parenting is the act of not showing the responsibilities that should be taken as a mother or father. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls reveals the faults of parenting through the use of symbolism, imagery, and characterization. Rosemary and Rex struggle to show their children the importance of the appearance and guidance of being by their side as a parent. Rosemary and Rex show their faults by destroying everything the children try to accomplish because of their personal bad habits.

Again, the danger of parenting is depicted through Walls’ use of symbolism. Jeannette being a child and having to cook and take care of herself is substandard. Having to be surrounded by hardship and struggle, she always thought that there was no value but she expresses disturbing emotion and says “Ugh, she said, she disapproves of chewing gum, she went on. It was disgusting low-class habit and the nurse should have consulted her before encouraging me in such vulgar behavior”(12). Jeanette’s childhood is largely defined by poverty and a lack of responsibility and worth. Rosemary and Rex should be cooking for their children and taking responsibility. Their ability to show or represent bad parenting captures the reader’s attention by emphasizing the struggle and lack of value Jeannette goes through.

Furthermore, the fault of parenting is illustrated through Walls’s use of imagery. With no limits or boundaries, Walls is thrown into a big body of water without knowing how to swim. Rex and Rosemary have a sense of doing it by themselves or not at all asserting “But the Hot Pot didn’t have any that edges like that swimming pool. There was nothing to cling to. I waded up on my shoulders. The water above my chest is warm and the rocks I was standing on felt so hot. Dad who watched me unsmiling “You’re going to learn today”(65). Rex, throws Jeanette in water with no edges, knowing she can’t swim. He puts Jeannette in a live-or-die situation. Rex shows the faults of parenting because the parents have no regard on Jeannette’s safety or life and Wall states, ”You’re going to learn today’ declaring “Dad pried my fingers from around his neck and pushed me away. My arms flailed around and I sank into the hot smelly water. Water surged in my nose and down my throat. My lungs burned He pulled back and did it again” (65-66). Putting a child in a dangerous situation to show them a lesson shows bad parenting. Rex and Rosemary cause the reader to reflect on their lack of responsibility as a parent so that they can understand from both sides of the view of the poverty situation.

Finally, Jeanette shows the faults of Rex’s and Rosemary’s parenting through Walls’s use of characterization. For example, When “Lori heard about a scholarship sponsored by a literary society for the student with the best work of art. Dad came home drunk” and “Studied the sculpture. Then suddenly reached over and smeared off Shakespeare mouth with his thumb”(226-227). Rex destroys Lori’s project and thus her way to get a scholarship and get out of Welch. This characterizes Rex as selfish which represents being a bad dad because he is always trying to do stuff for himself rather than see the reality of him preventing Lori from going to college. Lori, trying to earn a scholarship for a work of art, was destroyed by her dad, Rex who was drunk. Rex shows a fault in parenting by destroying one of her accomplishments to get her out of poverty and struggle. Later on, Walls writes” I began looking through all the junk in the bedroom and finally found oz (piggy bank) on the floor. Someone had slashed it apart with a knife and stolen all the money[…] I knew it was dad[…] so he let the crumpled money fall to the floor”( 228-229). Walls exposes Rex as a thief who steals from their own daughter. Rex being characterized as a thief clarifies his faults of parenting by expressing his way of treating himself and not his kids. Through characterization, Jeanette depicts Rex as a selfish drunk who will sabotage his children’s attempts to get out of Welch and build a life for themselves in order to satisfy his own needs.

Therefore, symbolism, imagery, and characterization are used to show the decay of parenting as shown in The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. To be considered a bad parent; a person lacks emotional and physical appearance to a child, to express a feeling of absence.

I must admit, I’ve always found identifying book and film genres excruciatingly challenging, because of my indecisive nature. And Yann Martel hardly aided me in learning how to do so efficiently with ‘Life of Pi’, as the novel itself mingles complicatedly between fiction and non-fiction. I will have to take a guess that this specific genre is called ‘Magical Realism’, which is also the dominant one.

Basically, Magical Realism is where magical and surreal elements are imported into a kind of realistic and logical environment. To set an example, in the classic ‘Les Misérables’, Jean Valjean is described to have a strength that surpasses humans, being able to lift an entire loading cart by himself, while the story itself is set in a very historically correct period of the great French revolution. Correspondingly, in Life of Pi, though having taken place in a real Indian historical event called The Emergency, there were various hyper-realistic aspects which existed throughout its story, for instance the entire carnivorous island, or the boy surviving 227 days on a lifeboat with a bengal tiger.

Another book of the same genre, controversially with an extremely similar synopsis, is ‘Max and the Cats’ by Moacyr Scliar, which tells the story of a man named Max stranded at sea with a panther. Scliar’s story has no clear indication at any point whether Max’s story was true or not, so as a result, readers have to wonder to themselves if they should believe in his words or their logical thinking. Meanwhile, Martel borrowed the words of his own character at the beginning to express that the story about to be told was indeed factually accurate, hence hypnotizing us all into subconsciously believing in Pi’s every word, following his breath-taking journey without a single moment of doubt. It wasn’t until the very end that reality was brought back to us suddenly through two incredibly skeptical reporters, who forced him to tell a different version of the story, replacing all animals with humans. This credibility is a major difference between the two novels, also between ‘Life of Pi’ and other books of the same genre.

One good aspect in this field is, as mentioned before, the overall feeling of credibility within this story. The way that Martel planted an idea of a false truth inside our heads through his character at the beginning was truly magnificent and sneaky, as there is really no way of telling the psychological effect one small detail has until you’ve re-read the novel a second time.

Another notable feature of the novel is its main character – Pi himself. Piscine Molitor Patel is meant to be just like any other ordinary Indian boys of his time, but as a matter of fact, his positive characteristics are anything but that. Having been raised by a father who owned a zoo, he was practically attached to the animals as though they were his own flesh and blood, gradually forming inside him a kind and caring heart for all animals, even a Bengal tiger – Richard Parker.

Moreover, the issues within India’s spirituality at the time is excellently reflected in Pi’s unique trait: extreme and over-the-top religiousness. Born and raised as a Hindu, Pi eventually discovered not one, but two other religions: Islam and Christianity, both in the same city. Although each religion has its own gods or goddesses, he convinced himself to devote himself to all three equally, which further emphasizes the ridiculous faith situation in India.

One more trait of his is an astounding bravery and resolve like no other, realistic yet fantastical. Said trait is best demonstrated through his adventures at sea. Though having just lost the entire zoo along with his animal friends and his whole family in the sunken cargo ship, not only does he not feel too depressed to continue living, but Pi chose to cling onto whatever he could, tried his hardest to survive the ordeal, and made an effort to save some animals as well. One disaster after another, the animals he saved were gradually killed off one-by-one, until there was only Richard Parker left. Nevertheless, he still didn’t give up on life, developed a kind of odd relationship with the tiger, survived 227 days on a lifeboat with it, and came back alive. Truly extraordinary strength, yet from an ordinary boy.

Last but not least, the ending twist, where Pi told the two reporters a different, more normal and believable story after being persuaded, replacing all animals with corresponding humans. This particular detail is quite unique, because it forces its readers to realize how unrealistic the entire story had been, yet still ponder whether to let themselves indulge in the wondrous tale of animals and gods’ miracles, or logically limit their imaginations to the scientific and tragic story.

In this novel, Martel utilizes perfectly uncomplicated and easy-going language, which allows Life of Pi’s audience to absorb the work more easily. Since he doesn’t aim at a specific targeted reader, his word choice can be firmly assessed as extremely informal, plain and straightforward. He also makes incredible use of mundane occurrences to draw parallels, so as to make his ideas even more perceivable.

Just like how a tiger plays with its prey, Martel plays with the readers by switching constantly between simple and complex sentence structures, obliterating any existing blandness in the novel. Because this is a chronologically linked story told in first-person narrative, Martel uses hypotactic statements, and rapidly alter from finite to non-finite clause with the aim of allowing a smoother and simpler storyline.

Resilience By Empathy

While being faced when growing up with adverse conditions, humanity possesses endurance and the ability to accept and forgive those responsible. In Jeannette Walls ‘ The Glass Castle (2005), Walls shows the ability of a child to develop resilience in the face of difficulty, early independence, and eventually redemption for all the hurt caused. Jeannette prefers not to live a bitter life of grudges against her family, even though they are the ones responsible for the sorrows of her childhood. Jeannette describes her formative years so that both sides (her sisters and her parents) get a vivid picture of the reader. While she grows, Jeannette faces three major obstacles: obesity, parental neglect, and empty promises. Nevertheless, she was motivated by her determination to conquer these obstacles. Interestingly, it is the same hardship that has reinforced the desire to live in her and not to be like her family. A classic bildungsroman novel, the book covers the childhood of Jeannette into adulthood where Jeannette develops in a dysfunctional family and grasps the principles of resilience and redemption successfully. Resilience is a quality that generates power, resilience, and obduracy. Forgiveness, on the other hand, is more linked to softness, tenderness, and weakness. Mixing both hard and soft roles is important for a well-balanced life as she develops the skills needed to survive in a tough world and love and cherish a family that in her decisive years has not provided for her properly.

Jeannette notices her parents ‘ palpable absence at The Glass Castle and she still experiences a lack of love and care on the rare occasions they’re there. The first case of parental neglect happens when she recovers from burns while baking at the tender age of three. The parents of Jeannette pick them up lifelessly, abandon them to their own immature devices, and leave them at a very early age to fend for themselves. Because Rex her dad hates hospitals, despite her getting all the care she needs, he checks her out of the hospital. Nevertheless, Jeannette pays loving, dutiful attention to past parental neglect. When Jeannette needs her, she chooses not to leave her friends. She stands by their side, at home, at the hospital bed, and at the funeral to forgive them for past hurts, expressing unconditional love. She fosters a brave spirit of reconciliation even when she does not neglect and look out for her tramp family. The parents of the Walls are putting their children at unnecessary risk. Jeannette confesses that ‘with Dad’s gun, a tall, black, six-shot revolver, I was pretty good when I was four’ (Walls 2005). In reckless neglect, the parents have the family handgun exposed and within sight of the children. When they are squirted by a threatening neighbor with a water gun, the kids take the gun and fire it seriously.

The children develop an enhanced sense of self-looking for danger and taking precautions to protect or defend themselves. If the parents of the Walls had been over-protective, coddling their children and holding them under their wings, they would not have been able to take care of themselves in adversity. Because of parental neglect, Jeannette and her parents have to lose a life. He recalls that ‘one day, when Brian and I had come home to an empty refrigerator, we went out to the back of the house in search of bottles for redemption’ (Walls 2005). There are two elements in this statement: poverty and proactive self-preservation. In the Walls household, cash has always been scarce. Her father, the breadwinner, who works as a miner, would fritter beer and women with his meager earnings. In the face of this traumatic alienation, the siblings demonstrate courage by finding their own food and treatment. The nighttime house arrangement (the time of most effective danger) gives a microcosmic image of the reality of the Walls boys. Jeannette attests that ‘Mom and Dad closed the front door at night and the back door and unlocked all the doors’ (Walls 2005). This transparent weakness reflects parental neglect where children are exposed to danger without any involvement by parents. The moment that Jeannette was almost attacked by a vagabond robbing inside Jeannette’s home simply states that ‘Dad was out that night and she was dead to the world while Mom was asleep.’ (Walls 2005). The irresponsibility of the parents also endangers the kids, however durable as a hard leather, with ongoing hardship, the children of the Walls are stronger and motivated in the future to withstand more difficult circumstances.

The conclusion is a bittersweet one, the novel appears. Gathered for Thanksgiving at the family dinner, the Walls family is coming together to mourn after the death of Mr. Walls. It’s funny that Jeannette’s only Thanksgiving celebration is the one she planned on her own, which her family never took the time to do in her childhood. Walls crown the final chapter of the book, ‘Thanksgiving’ to show the peak of her resilience and forgiveness success and how it affects her empathy. She’s going through a hard, tumultuous life – a life the average American kid doesn’t have to go through: alcoholism, parental neglect, and broken promises. However, she has a lot of reasons to harbor recriminations, she chooses to forgive and move on.

Jeanette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, recounts the unconventional chronicles of Jeanette’s unusual childhood marked by tenacious poverty and a chaotic lifestyle embodied at the hands of her dysfunctional parents and their errant manner of living. Exceptional attention to Jeanette’s story arises as although her parents were observed as irresponsible, remiss, and inattentive, they did cope to instill their children’s laudable qualities and rise them into well-balanced adults. Jeanette’s parents taught their children to withstand difficult situations, to be individualistic, and to have a love for learning. These are invaluable aptitudes that could last long term and portray triumph in the years to come.

All barriers, especially ones faced as a young child, are chances to mature pliability and resilience. The Walls children grasped at a young age the idea to depend upon one another for essential needs because both their parents were self-centered and preoccupied with their attentiveness. Jeanette’s father, Rex, was a persistent alcoholic and her mother, Rose-Mary, was stubbornly engrossed in her hobbies; painting, reading, and writing. Both parents although they gravely omitted their children, authentically cherished them, and the children were content despite their day-to-day obstacles overcoming poverty, despair, and adversities. The Walls’ children adjusted to their domain and situations of having dysfunctional parents by upending roles with them. The children cooperated to help their parents undertake outside the home. This turnaround of roles is evident when the children composed their mother to start up a teaching position. Since the principal threatened to fire her for her untrustworthy actions, the children took the responsibility to make sure their mother can continue to work. Jeanette mentioned“Miss Beatty threaten to fire Mom, so Lori, Brian, and I started helping Mom with schoolwork. (Walls 74). The children took the capacity to perform occupational activities such as walking, feeding, clothing, and organizing rides for their mother. They also took on the duty to clean her classroom, mark necessary assignments, cleaning her classroom, mark her assignments, and produce lesson plans for her students. In an ironic matter, with her unskillful actions, Rose-Mary furnishes her children with the fundamental experience of what follows to be a practicable adult.

Rex and Rose Mary’s continuous neutral attitude towards the children’s simplistic needs for safety and age-applicable intentions are imaged in the stories of Jeanette’s early childhood. When Jeanette was three years old, age three, she was painfully burnt while making hotdogs, and as she was asked by the nurse about her intentions to make a hotdog, Jeanette states that “Mom says I’m mature and lets me cook for myself a lot (Walls 18). Being only three years old, Jeanette was aware that she needed to be self-sufficient and learned the things she needed to eat whenever necessary. As the Walls Children grew up, they learned to flourish off their despair, and instead, became strong and determined. When Jeanette was young, Rex taught her how to swim by letting her break that dear until she was close to drowning, and he then said, “If you don’t want to sink you better figure out how to swim” (Walls 66). This quotation further emphasizes how Rex’s and Rose Mary’s careless motion toward parenting heedfully educated their children to uphold themselves because they didn’t have another option but to survive and fulfill their lives.

Lastly, neglecting the fact that Rex and Rose aren’t able to be reliable enough to hold down a job and bear on their academic acknowledgments, they coped to teach their children the essentials of having an education and instill a mature mindset. The Walls family was able to be unified as a whole by sharing the characteristics of enjoying learning and is the source of children’s lovable memories. They would read together and bond over learning. Jeanette remembers her joyful moments as “after dinner, the whole family was stretched out on the benches and the floor of the depot and read with the dictionary in the middle of the room so we could look up words we didn’t know (Walls 56-57). The Walls not only believed in an expanded and matured; sharing knowledge was in fact how Rex and Rose Mary best communicated their love and affection towards their children. When Rex was clear-headed, he taught his children the knowledge of geometry, physics, astronomy, and how to change their math homework into binary numbers. Rose, a teacher herself, shared with her children the value of literature. In third grade, Jeanette and her siblings were honored for their affection towards literature and were all put in a gifted reading class. Because this expression of love from the parents was pure, they succeeded, to inculcate in their children the initiatives to become triumphant and live a fulfilled life.

In conclusion, Jeanette’s parents may have had a ton of blemishes and weaknesses, but when it was brought to how Wall’s children came along, they learned to be self-sufficient, tough, determined, and educated. It was their parent’s sincere compassion combined with ridiculous neglect, which empowered the Walls children with the implements to overcome the hurdle of their raised. It is because they were aware of their affection towards them, that the Walls children, together, modified their faltered blocks, created by their parent’s dysfunctionality into means, and allowed the children to venture and become victorious.

Book: The Glass Castle Author: Jeannette Walls

• Date: 9/4/19 I am on page 288 of 288
• I give this book 5 out of 5 stars
• This reading is captivating and heartfelt

The question I chose is: “If this book has already been made into a movie and you have watched the movie, how are the movie and book similar? Different?”

While watching the movie, I noticed many differences and similarities compared to the book. One of the first differences I found was Lori’s glasses. The movie starts out with Lori wearing glasses, while the book goes into great detail about her experience when putting her glasses on for the first time and why her mother didn’t want her to have them. Her mother believed, “If you had weak eyes, they needed exercise to get strong” (Walls 96); however, the school said that Lori couldn’t attend without glasses. Another big difference was that the movie didn’t show any scenes of the kids going to different schools. The book talks about every experience they had at each school from being the smartest kid in class to being bullied on the playground.

The movie also has a lot of similarities with the book, including the Erma incident with Brian. It is very similar to the description given in the book. Jeannette explains, “Erma was touching Brian in a way she ought not to be…Erma said she was merely mending Brian’s inseam” (Walls 147). Jeanette says that Erma reached over to slap her and Lori tells everyone to calm down. Then Erma hits Lori and Lori strikes her back. This is exactly what happened in the movie. The only difference I noticed in this scene compared to the book was how she found Erma and Brian. In the movie, she was writing and asked Lori if she had a sharpener and then she starts going to their room to get one when she hears what is going on. In the book, she just hears him while she and Lori were watching TV. A difference I found related to Erma was the time she died. In the book, she died when Jeanette was young and still living at 93 Little Hobart Street. The movie puts off her death until Jeanette is in high school and right before she moves out to New York.

Another notable difference is the dinner scene at the beginning of the movie. In the book, this part happened near the end when she was talking to, what she described as “an aging, elegant woman in a silk turban” (Walls 270). The movie has her sitting at the table talking to a man instead, but the conversation is the same. The book also goes into detail about Jeanette seeing her dad for the last time in the hospital and talks about how he died. The movie shows him in the bedroom of their home and skips his death to go straight to Thanksgiving five years after he died. The movie also changed the name of Jeanette’s husband, Eric. His name in the movie is David and he’s known as her fiancé instead of her husband. They also don’t mention how she left him and found someone new after her father’s death.

The final difference between the book and the movie is where Jeanette learned to swim. The movie showed them swimming in a public swimming pool, while the book describes them at the Hot Pot, which Jeanette describes as a “natural sulfur spring in the desert…surrounded by craggy rocks and quicksand” (Walls 65).

The book has a lot more detail put into it than the movie portrays. The movie briefly mentions events like Jeanette’s dad taking them to pet a cheetah at the zoo and the car full of grapes from California, but the book describes every detail behind those stories. In all, the book and movie are very similar with slight differences, but overall they both portray Jeanette’s story very well.

For generations, mental illnesses were not considered a sickness or a problem that was worth talking about. As time passes and change happens, new illnesses began to rise as people begin to understand the reality of the problems that came with mental illnesses. The mind is so complex that there are discoveries of new mental illnesses often. Depression is one of the most popular mental illnesses, it affects over 3 million Americans per year. The worst thing about depression is that it does not come alone, usually, it begins with sadness, worry, and horror. Above all, there are other sicknesses that fall close to those categories. Autism for example is one of many mental disorders that not a lot of people know about it or what to talk about it, this mental problem is the cause of children or adults having trouble communicating with others. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is another disorder that affects the behavior of anyone that had that problem for them it is difficult to concentrate on one thing or are unable to do a simple task without their mind wandering off. Then there are more severe mental illnesses like Bipolar Disorder in which an individual cannot control their temper the way he or she thinks and many other emotional swings. Schizophrenia is another of the most dangerous mental diseases because one loses reality and can not tell the difference between one or the other, the voices in one’s head, or the people who care. There are more than enough mental illnesses that are dangerous, but of them all Early Psychosis and Psychosis are one of the most dangerous. Because he or she can become violent and crazy not knowing what’s real or what’s fake, leaves them frightened which comes with anger and more violence towards themselves and people close to them. Of course, there are a lot of individuals who have mental problems that are not as dangerous, most mental patients suffer from an inside problem. Such was the case with Lori Walls sister of Jeannette Walls who discusses Lori in her memoir The Glass Castle. Lori shows symptoms of Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and because of her actions, it is clear she suffers from this disorder. According to Anxiety and Depression, Association of America;(GAD) Affects 31.1% of the U.S. population and women are at a higher rate than men. Some of the most common symptoms of (GAD) are Constant worry, usually worrying about even the slightest little thing. Another major symptom is detachment from everything for example parents, siblings, or friends. Other symptoms that can also occur are Unable to relax, unable to take decisions unable to handle even the slightest tasks.

Throughout the memoir, Lory only shows some of the symptoms, but by the end of the book, it is clear that she is not well. When Lori was a senior in high school with plans of going to new york she started to over-worry because of their situation with the money. Her parents did not help her and were in fact the ones bringing her down even more than she already was. She was worried and it was not a simple worry it was a constant and something worry that did not let her breathe. The constant worry was generated by various factors for example the way her parents never did anything to help her or her siblings Jeannette, Bryan, and Moorene. She has so many things to worry about that became her regular feeling for a long time. As she became to realize that her siblings were with her and everything that she was trying to do, her siblings made sure she could do whatever she could. That was a happy moment for her, but she was not cured at all, because of the constant harassment from her parents she could not stay out of worry. His dad Rex Walls did everything that was in his power to make Lory’s life miserable, he never realize that he was hurting her more than he thought he was. Before leaving her home there were incidents where Lory shows us her true self and how sad, worried, and distressed she was. “He studied the sculpture, then suddenly reached over and smeared off Shakespeare’s mouth with his thump” (pg; 227). Lory was working on a bust when Rex appeared and destroy the sculpture, after that, she went into a complete meltdown and destroy the whole thing. His parents were probably the whole cause of her (GAD) Rose Mary and Rex Walls had our children that they did not care for at all. Lori being the oldest, the one that has been with them the longest it is not a surprise that she is mentally unstable and on the verge of a meltdown constantly. Lori never wanted to incriminate her mother Rose Mary for not caring for them, even knowing well that her mother had as much fault as her father Rex. On various occasions Rose Mary made it her mission to make Lori’s life miserable.”[Rose Mary] had to Punish someone, and she didn’t want to upset the other kids, [Lori]”. (Walls75) Rosemary was teaching in Lori’s class she did not want to upset the other kids meaning that she cares about everyone else, and not her children it did not matter that her kids did nothing wrong. This action for sure is the cause of Lory always being in constant worry and anxiety even if she thought that she was fine and that all the things she feel were useless because that’s how things were done in her house. All of the Walls children’s problems revolve around their parents, especially Lori she was the one that was treated like the mother the one the kids went to when they had a problem or concern about something, she also took that paper to be the one in charge of what was happening in the house and what their parent was doing. She did not need that responsibility on top of her shoulders weighing her down.

Detachment is also one of the most common signs of (GAD). The novel is narrated by Jeannette Walls which is why is so difficult to realize that Lory is a big part of the story. Throughout the memoir, Lory is not mentioned a lot of times but when she is it leaves a big impact it is surprising how unattacked he is of people in general she lives in her own world. Even though that may be right she also shows how she cares in an odd way. She never speaks much as is hated to be left alone and discrete. “Do you guys miss me?” “I asked my older sister, Lory during one visit.” “Not really”. This happens when Jeannette is in the hospital and their parents did not really care about the health of any of their children. Lori is always detached doing her own thing following the steps of Rose Mary wanting to be an artist. She was always alone with her thoughts not having friends or being close with her family. Because she is the oldest she is the first one to realize the living conditions they were living by as soon as she realized there is no future for her she wants to do something. She is smart enough to realize that New York was the best place and their dream place to be after planning everything and Lory realizes that their parents are useless and can’t even do a thing for themselves she wants to leave, but of course with the worry and the knowledge that sh0e is not good with people. For the most part, she understood that she has a problem, but did not realize that this problem could go as far and as long as (GAD). One of the most important scenes that involve Lori is when she is granted a pair of glasses. After that point, she thought the world was unfair because she was in a February world that has been clear. Rose Mary of course disapproves of Gla0ses because she was against anything that made her children happy she said “Glasses are like clutches to the eyes only make them weaker” which was what she said when asking for permission. When Lory put the glasses on and realize how clear and beautiful the world was she was mad at what she was measuring out. That could have left her a trauma and only made her (GAD) worst by realizing that no one really care bout her or what was going on with her life and feelings.

Many people do not realize when you are going through problems or are feeling. Lory being the way she was and the problems she had was always a good student which is surprising knowing her past and the things she and her siblings have gone through. There have been discussions about the wall’s children coming out fine even though there bad experiences. Even if that is true there is s still some sequels that stay with the past of time. By the end of the memoir, Lori is still the same as ever. Caullet with her look and dark image was always this kind of person even what her mental illness she never gave in. (GAD) can affect anyone it’s common for older people between the age of 30 to 60 to have been affected by this. Most of the families that have an individual with this kind of problem don’t realize that she or he has this problem and usually leave it unattended. For teenagers the way this mental disease affects them differently by how they act and the way they have been doing things. Lory suffered a lot for not being able to express what she was going through and realize tha0t she could have a cure whit therapy and such. That would have been a dream because the wall children never experience even the most necessary care. Understanding people with this disease can be difficult as some (GAD) patients do not show a lot of signs of having a problem. For children and even adults, it is important to know that there is always a way and a reason and an answer for everything not just losing themselves in a horrible world. Lori is a strong woman that never shows a weakness even in the words of the moments she was standing strong defending what is right and what she believes in. One underestimates the number of problems other people have and is usually not bothered by what other people have to say or believe in. Lory Walls was different even after having (GAD) because of her parents and the life they were living she never complain or made the bad comment. Lori is a great example of surpassing a problem. After knowing the truth about Lory there is still to discuss about her life and the way she thought, but her personality speaks for itself.

How the Mother is Psychoanalytically important in the story In The Glass Castle including her hierarchy of needs. Her Id and superego are used in many situations throughout the story. She abuses her lifestyle making there will always be a happy ending to her interactions and if there isn’t there is always a fight or an argument about what happened. Her arguments are usually with family and always end with a happy conclusion.

The first reason I believe the mother acts upon her id and not her superego is when she is in the candy bar when the children had no food. The Quote being ‘My teeth hurt,’ Mom said, but she was getting all shifty-eyed, glancing around the room and avoiding our stares. ‘It’s my bad gums. I’m working my jaw to increase the circulation.’ Brian yanked the covers back. Lying on the mattress next to Mom was one of those huge family-sized Hershey chocolate bars, the shiny silver wrapper pulled back and torn away. She’d already eaten half of it. Mom started crying. ‘I can’t help it,’ she sobbed. ‘I’m a sugar addict, just like your father is an alcoholic.’

At the beginning of Rose Mary’s life, she ran away from Her mom and told herself that she would be nothing like her.” This leads the reader to believe this to be an act of her id and not a self-conscious move because of the way she tried to hide it and how she blamed it on her emotions and how everything is messed up and it leads the reader into her interpolation and how she acts as the dominant one as she gets to boss everyone around. Also, this brings the topic to how her id is more dominant than her superego because instead of being rational and just sharing she instead acted on her emotions and primitive instinct which was to eat it by herself. If she didn’t share the candy bar at the end who knows how many times she would have done this to protect her dominance.

The mom’s ability to always stay positive and right also kept the family going. An instance of this is ‘We may not have insulation,’ Mom said as we all gathered around the stove. ‘but we have each other.’ The way the mom does this is inhuman and she does this off of her emotions and her primitive way to be nice and always stick to the bright side. She also uses this to her advantage to gain dominance to help her remain a thought in the children. While the father is out drinking and the mom is painting another picture the kids are on their own throughout most of the story which brings in the importance of the parents. Well, the mom gains her importance through her ability to keep the vibes happy and not miserable. Another example is ‘All seasons have something to offer,’ she said. ‘Cold weather is good for you. It kills the germs.’ This example demonstrates that when the family is going through the worst which was during the winter season she uses her primitive instinct to stay afloat. This also ties into her hierarchy of needs. This shows how she uses her social level as a buffer to keep the family. Which leads to eventually the kids leaving her to move on and ironically be different than their mother.

The mom’s Psychoanalytical approach to all things is based on the unconscious part of the mind or the id can lead to consequences when talking to others or just living everyday life. This also ties into her behavioral thinking when she is constantly thinking about art and literature because she is constantly influenced by them in everyday society. A quote supporting this is about her art supplies. When Dad heard that, he acted outraged, as though he’d learned for the first time that his children were going hungry. ‘Dammit, that Rose Mary keeps spending money on art supplies!’ he muttered, pretending to be talking to himself. Then he declared more loudly. ‘No child of mine has to go hungry!’ After he dropped us off, he called after us. ‘Don’t you kids worry about a thing.’ In this quote, the mom spent all of her money on art supplies instead of using her consciousness and buying food. This is a prime example of this because it shows how she spends all her money. Supporting quotes from the story include In the meantime, Mom devoted herself to her art. She spent all day working on oil paintings, watercolors, charcoal drawings, pen ­and­ ink sketches, clay and wire sculptures, silk screens, and wood blocks. She didn’t have any particular style; some of her paintings were what she called primitive, some were impressionistic and abstract, some were realistic

I think that many Americans don’t trust the government. Maybe it’s part of that breaking off from the British. I think for most people this is a cultural thing, but for Rex Walls, a character in the memoir, The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls it is a reaction to his life experiences. Rex is an interesting person who is sometimes a loving father and sometimes a neglectful alcoholic. I think that Rex Walls uses chaos to try to build a sense of control because of his upbringing.

Rex Walls met his wife and he basically annoyed her until she married him probably to get away from her mother. The life they start is one where they are constantly moving from town to town avoiding bill collectors and law enforcement. Rex’s famous Rex Walls-style exit is where he leaves without paying for something. There is always a big chase out of whatever said building and then they leave. Rex tells his children stories about what a great guy he is and tries to build up this positive image in their minds. “Dad always fought harder, flew faster, and gambled smarter than everyone else in his stories. Along the way, he rescued women and children and even men who weren’t as strong and clever.”(Walls, 24). He wants to make sure that in his children’s minds, he is the best Dad ever, even though their life is one where they are constantly on the run. “We were always doing the skedaddle, usually in the middle of the night.” (Walls, 19). Loyalty is one of the most important things to this family, seeing is all they have is each other. When Rose Mary’s mother tells her to leave Rex she says that due to her Catholic values, she can’t leave him. “Mom would shrug and say there was nothing she could do about it, he was her husband.”(Walls, 20). Rex spends much of his money on alcohol. When Rose Mary gets a job as a teacher at a school in a town called Battle Mountain, Rex continues to use his wife’s paycheck on alcohol never keeping a job for a long time. Rex feels he has to distribute the money as the patriarch of the family, all the while his children don’t have enough to eat. When the family moves to a family house in Phoenix Rex gets a job as an electrician. All the while he still spends money on liquor. After Rosemary and the kids spend a long time preparing a Christmas together, Rex gets drunk and yells at the priest and gets them kicked out of the church. Rex doesn’t like institutions in general and he had argued with the priest before. It seems like Rex enjoys taking on the church and maybe to him challenging the church makes him feel better about himself because of the chaos he creates he can control. When Rex’s alcoholism has gotten bad, Rosemary thinks that the only thing that might control him is his parents back in Welch. Rex doesn’t want to go back to Welch at all, and feeling like he is the leader of his family Rex just won’t go. It takes the whole family getting in the car and begging for him to give in. “‘Dad please come, we need you!’, I hollered…Dad stood there looking at us for a minute. Then he flicked the cigarette he was smoking into the yard, closed the front door, loped over to the car, and told Mom to move aside-he was driving.”(Walls 125). When they go home he lights the Christmas tree on fire. Rex likes the chaos he controls because he thinks that his family is better than conforming to normal Christmas traditions. All throughout this section he demonstrates his anti-institution beliefs and controls over his family.

From what we learn about Rex in Welch I think is the most important to understanding his character. His Mother Erma is racist and very strict. She doesn’t even allow the children to laugh or run around. When Rex and Rose Mary drive to Phoenix to get the stuff they left behind, Erma sexually assaults Brian. Lori and Erma get in a fight and when Rex comes home he doesn’t want to hear about it. “I thought Dad would come around to our side once he’d heard what had happened, and I tried to explain. ‘I don’t care what happened!’ he yelled. ‘But we were just protecting ourselves,’ I said. ‘Brian’s a man he can take it,’ he said.” (Walls,148) Jeanette wonders whether Erma ever abused Rex. It suddenly makes sense why Rex never talks about his upbringing and doesn’t want to hear about Brian.”It was gross and creepy to think about, but it would explain a lot. Why Dad left home as soon as he could. Why he drank so much and why he got so angry? Why he at first refused to come to West Virginia with us and only at the last possible moment overcame his reluctance and jumped into the car? Why he was shaking his head so hard, almost like he wanted to put his hands over his ears when I tried to explain what Erma had been doing to Brian” (Walls, 148). Rex was abused but because he wants to remain loyal to his mother he doesn’t want to acknowledge that she did anything wrong. I think that another reason is that he has a hard time as a parent even thinking that his son went through abuse like he did by his own mother. He is still loyal to his mother after she is dead. At Erma’s funeral, Lori says “Ding dong the witch is dead”, and Rex yells at her saying that she is still his mother and they should respect her. Again while the family is in poverty Rex feels like he should be the distributor of the money. When Rose Mary goes to Charleston to renew her teaching license she leaves Jeanette with money to buy groceries. And Rex takes some of the money from her to go to the bar.

Lori has had enough of her family and Welch. She hears about New York City in school and Lori knows that’s where she wants to go. Three years after All the kids have moved to New York Rosemary tells them that she and Rex have moved there too. Their car broke down on the highway and caused many people to be late for work. Even if it wasn’t intentional it seems like a very fitting entrance for her parents into New York City. In New York Rex gets tuberculosis and gets hospitalized. When he is in the hospital he reads a science paper that says that turbulence was really ordered and that might imply the existence of god. “If every action in the universe that we thought was random actually conformed to a rational pattern, Dad said, that implied the existence of a divine creator, and he was rethinking his atheistic creed”(Walls, 261). I don’t really know what to think about this part of the book. Maybe Rex coming so close to death has made Rex more spiritual or maybe Rex is trying to find a way to explain all the chaos in his life or the chaos he created.

I think why Rex does all the things he does, creating chaos and controlling people is to make himself feel in control or better about himself. I think from what we learn about Welch a town where people get trapped and stuck he would want to break out. I think that if he was abused as a child he would have felt like he wasn’t in control of himself and his body and that’s why he uses so many tactics to control people, to feel in control. It doesn’t excuse his behavior but you can see why he is the way he is. The book ends with the family getting together for Thanksgiving dinner. The last line is about the turbulence that Rex talked about.” A wind picked up rattling the windows, and the candle flames suddenly shifted, dancing along the border between turbulence and order”(Walls, 288). I think this is just like Jeanette’s life and the character of Rex. Always between chaos and can change very suddenly like a candle in the wind.