A Walk Among Broken Glass
An Independent Study into The Glass Castle by Jeannette
Walls
Part A
Courtney Cutts
Mr. Pierce
EWC 4U1
Bio
Jeannette Walls, the author of The Glass
Castle was born on April 21st 1960 in Phoenix, Arizona. As the second living
child of Rex and Rose Mary Walls her first memory is of being burned while
making hot dogs as a child. Her family life consisted of constant movement,
unconventional parents and the violence found in desperation. This novel
outlines the basis of her experiences growing up, from a toddler to a teenager
to a thriving adult. Walls currently lives in Virginia with her second husband
and fellow writer John Taylor. I would give you a much lengthier idea on the
life that Walls has had, however this novel outlines the basis of her
experiences growing up, from a toddler to a teenager to a thriving adult, and I
will not sully that experience any further.
Sources:
http://www.gradesaver.com/author/jeannette-walls
Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle.
Simon and Schuster, 2006. 288. Print.
Setting
The beginning of this novel takes place in
a little desert town in Southern Arizona in 1963, three years after Jeannette
was born. The landscape of this novel is forever changing from small town to
small town until Jeanette follows her sister to New York City after graduating
from high school. The entire family follows Lori to New York one by one and that
is where they live for a time until Maureen moves to California, Rex dies and
Jeannette settles down with her second husband in a little country cottage. The
majority of people that the Walls family meet whilst on their travels are not
that different from them; most are poor and just looking to survive, at least
until Jeannette gets older. However wherever they go their issues followed; no
matter how many “henchmen, bloodsuckers and the gestapo” (Page 19). were after
them, Rex always drank away any type of security they attained as a family. The
paranoia was so deep set that Rex would go to such extremes as to smoke his
cigarettes backwards to burn the brand name; always running from something only
found in his own mind. As the pages turn you travel with Jeannette over the
years and many miles, you watch as her perception of what actually is the issue
in her life changes with her.
Characters
Jeannette:
The main character in this story and the
second child, Jeannette grew up tall, pale and with the characteristic shock of
red hair of the Walls family. Jeannette grows up strong but thin and more like
a boy than the majority of children she grew up with. Forever adventuring with
her little brother Brian and trying the very hardest to help her family survive
her main virtue is the endurance she shows; pushing herself past her limits for
her family. The term daddy's little girl could never have been more true than
with Jeannette and Rex, “In my mind, Dad was perfect” (page 23). She supported
him even when he wronged her grotesquely. As you read this novel you get to see
Jeannette grow into a strong young woman, learning the ins and outs of keeping
house when she wasn't even a teenager yet; her morals and loyalty to her family
stayed solid, even when she learned enough was enough and to start protecting
herself. As she ages, she begins to see that although she may love her father
with her entirety, he is not always right and should not always be followed.
Lori:
The eldest Walls child, she immediately
took to her mother’s writing and paintings. The meek and shy one out of the
lot, Lori was never one for adventuring for reasons unbeknownst to her family
until later in life; her eyesight was terrible. Due to this, she saw the world
differently afterword when “seeing for the first time all these things that
most everyone else had stopped noticing” (Page 96). As the novel progresses you
are able to watch as Lori truly finds herself with her new perspective as an
artist and finally steps out from the shadow of her mother. Terrified of her
father’s wrath Lori grows to find the inner strength she needs to speak up for
herself without the blind love that Jeannette had in her childhood. Lori may
have been blind in sight but she had always been witness the darkness in her
father and how they lived; she loved him, but she didn't believe him.
Grandma Smith:
Grandma Smith was Mary's mother, she may
not be one of the most focused on characters in the novel but I believe her
importance in Jeannette's childhood makes her a superior selection to most. She
lived in Phoenix and had helped her husband rear a ranch until he passed
away. Grandma Smith never turned Mary and her family away, even though she
despised Rex and would constantly get into shouting matches, being called a
"castrating banshee bitch" by a "flea-bitten drunk" (Page
20). She would never turn down her daughter and was always lending the family
money but always pushed Mary to come and stay with her, to not let that drunk
bastard take her grandchildren from her. She was a teacher after she had
children, she didn't trust their educations to anyone else and pushed her
daughter to get a degree to fall back on if her artistic capability didn't pan
out. Mary grew to dislike her mother, but Jeannette loved her rules and order,
her sense of purpose and stability. I believe that Grandma Smith was the
strongest character in young Jeannette's life and her biggest inspiration to
want more than the disorder, the disgusting conditions and the hunger.
Mary Rose:
The young mother of the family of four, or
at least the one that officially carried that title. Mary was forever a free
spirit, never to be tethered to the responsibilities of having children; she
believed that the best thing for them is to raise themselves. The very
beginning of the novel is evidence enough of this; Jeannette at the age of
three cooking herself hot dogs until she caught on fire. Her baby was lucky to
be alive, and the night after coming home from the hospital she was making hot
dogs herself once more, only to be told “You’ve got to get right back in the
saddle. You can’t live in fear of something as basic as fire” (Page 15). A
self-appointed "excitement addict" she never looked at the bad part
of things, even when that was the only part to see. A devote catholic with
extremely questionable morals, she allowed for perverts, drunks and the
homeless to come in and out of her mother’s house because it was so hot and
they couldn't afford air conditioning. An ill fit mother with a mountain of
mental issues, she never surrendered to fear apart from her husband and
throughout her ages never faltered from her beliefs.
Rex Walls:
The man of the house who never really
earned the title of a father, brilliant and charismatic when sober he always
inspired his children with his far-fetched tales of the night. He did his best
to educate his children when they were on his good side and always had the
dream of creating a castle made completely of glass and self-sufficient. To
scratch the surface, “Everybody said Dad was a genius. He could build or fix
anything” (Page 23). He cares deeply about his family, but more about the
inability to think as the years pass. He always seems to get the family out of
the stickiest situations and uses his intelligence to outsmart the "man".
He prided himself on the ability to care for his children but was blind when he
hurt them and broke promise after promise. He tried to be the savior of his
family, but often became very violent and dishonest with alcohol, he would
allow for his daughter to be raped in order to make a bit of cash. No matter
how dire things got however, he would never leave his family and even when they
were afraid of him.
6. Is the central problem resolved or
unresolved?
The central problem in this novel in not
resolved, in my mind the central problem in this story is people who think they
should be parents and why they probably shouldn't be. Mary and Rex Walls were
young and in love, but the most unstable pair up I've come across in a while. I
feel like neither of them even wanted children, and Lori, Jeannette, Brian and
Maureen felt that more times I'm sure than she wrote. Mary was a free spirit
that yearned more to paint and write than look after her children, Rex cared
more about drowning in booze than putting food on the table. As the story
progresses and their children grow older, none of that changes to the very day
they die. They wouldn't accept help and preferred to be homeless than feel
obligated to their children, that they owed them anything. Even as Rex is dying,
he asks Jeannette, "Have I ever let you down?' (Page 279) and the only
response she has is to smile.
7. Can you imagine yourself reading the
book again in 10 years? Would you suggest that a friend read it? Explain.
I find that I can definitely
picture myself reading this novel again in a number of years, I found that it
really refreshed some of my morals about the value of life and family. I would
suggest this to a friend, it really makes you look at your life subjectively,
it shows just how unique certain relationship can be. The main character in
this novel walks a very thin line with her family, she's definitely Daddy's
little girl but that's not always in her best interest; Daddy gets quite
interesting when he's been drinking. However to me it really illustrates the
strength and willpower that is needed to separate yourself from all the
harshness from one owns past. It truly shows that you can love someone with all
of your heart, however you still need to look out for yourself; you can love something
that's not in your best interest but you need to be able to draw a line to
protect yourself. But at the end of the day, in Jeannette’s situation, would
you be able to agree that at least “life with your father was never boring?”
(Page 288). Do you have the character within yourself to have lived with and
loved fiercely someone who wronged you and to learn from it?
