the glass castle book essay

The Glass Castle

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Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-15

Chapters 16-22

Chapters 23-28

Chapters 29-41

Chapters 42-54

Chapters 55-68

Key Figures

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

What does the Glass Castle symbolize for both Dad and Jeannette? How does it play into the slow erosion of Jeannette’s illusions concerning her father?

To what extent are the family’s struggles the result of Dad’s alcoholism? Clearly it has grievous effects on the family, but do you the think the Wallses would thrive if Dad simply stopped drinking? Why or why not?

In what ways does Mom and Dad’s marriage represent a codependent relationship? How does Mom enable Dad’s alcoholism, both implicitly and explicitly?

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The Glass Castle Essays

Through her autobiographical book entitled “The Glass Castle,” Jeannette Walls unveils her life story. Memories from her childhood until she grew up were lyrically written in her book which was published in 2005. The book is adapted from the life of the author herself as she reveals her life...

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“The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls is an extremely intriguing novel that really kept my attention throughout the whole story. The Walls family is definitely one that is unlike any I’ve ever come across, and the lessons that the children learned were ones that helped shaped their lives and made...

This amazing story of survival and dysfunction, of imagination and rationalization, and of shear ingenuity is a testimony to the flexibility and beauty of children. Jeannette Walls’ true story flashes back through a childhood with crazy addicted parents (the father to alcohol; the mother to art...

1. Discuss the metaphor of a glass castle and what it signifies to Jeannette and her father. Why is it so important that, just before moving to New York, Jeannette tells her father that she doesn’t believe he’ll ever build it? ? I can’t be sure about what the glass castle means exactly to Jeannette...

Essay 1 Jeannette was cooking her own hotdogs at the age of three. While cooking hotdogs for herself, her pink dress catches on fire and is hospitalized for six weeks. Jeannette only being three years old at the time of the accident does not let it rule her life. After being smuggled out of the...

In most families children look for guidance parents, in the memoir The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls, the opposite seems to hold true. Jeannette and her siblings were given virtually no rules to follow, or standards to be held to. They were often dirty, hungry, and left to fend for...

The Glass Castle: A Case Study The book, The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls gives an intimate look at her family. The Walls family does not fit society’s expectations of normal, functional or healthy behavior. Nurses are particularly interested in assisting families in similar situations. This...

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The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls is an extremely shocking novel in that even it weren’t true the events in the story would still be shocking, but the fact that it is true makes it that much more disturbing. In the book Jeannette is on more than one occasion, a victim of sexual abuse. Although...

In the book The Glass Castle, there is a huge power of the idea of the “American Dream”: to become educated, wealthy, and ultimately happy. Almost throughout the entire book there are references or ideas that pertain to the goal of wealth or happiness coming eventually. It appears as soon as Rex...

The Power to Overcome Sid Udayan January 10, 2012 ENG4U1 Ms. Skakic It still holds true that man is most uniquely human when he turns obstacles into opportunities. This is evident in Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, which reiterates the story of Jeannette who is raised within a family...

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The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls Jeannette Walls is an aspiring journalist who is ashamed of her past. She grew up with three siblings who were going through the same difficulties as she was, and two parents whose idea of life was different from society. Growing up practically homeless her...

IJ. Calub Possessing the Power to Prosper from Poverty The power of a penny’s worth is much more than what people presume it to be valued at. Jeannette Walls, author of – The Glass Castle – narrates a story of her life experiences in which she shares most of those moments with her family...

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The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls is a remarkable true story of a family and the problems they face because of poverty. This two hundred and eighty eight page book is a truly inspiring and astonishing memoir. This book was published in 2005 and has spent more than three years on the New...

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To: Ms. Rodriguez From: Charissa Roemmich Date: October 15, 2012 Re: Glass Castle Incident Report Fire Incident of Jeannette Walls Summary On May 17th, 1963, Jeannette Walls’ dress catches fire in her trailer kitchen while cooking hot dogs. Mrs. Walls puts the fire out with an army surplus blanket...

Maureen is often forgotten throughout the entire story of The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls. We are very tragically reminded of Maureen’s presence when she stabs her own mother while living in New York. Reflecting back to the beginning of the story, we can see why Maureen has a mental...

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I recently read the book, “The Glass Castle,” by Jeannette Walls, which is a short novel in the form of a memoir. She is famous for both “The Glass Castle,” but also wrote another best seller, “Half Broke Horses. ” I would give this book a positive rating, and also deem it one of the best books I...

Throughout The Glass Castle, one can see the generational curses of sins of the father. Jeannette’s parents were part of a cycle of alcoholism, anger and depression. Throughout the book one can see all the parts of the generational curses thorough Rex Walls, Rose Mary, Jeannette and her siblings...

Final Draft Stereotypes/ The Glass Castle Stereotype plays a big part in today’s society. In the Memoir “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls, others would easily misjudge Jeannette’s family just by their image and the way they lived their life. Although they lived the way they did the walls...

Anne Wang Ms. Perez 5th period January, 10, 2013 The Glass Castle Passage Analysis It was a very touching story: the Glass Castle, in which author Jeannette Walls tells the world about her greatly influential past. This passage I chose reveals one of the most significant characters in her life...

The Glass Castle The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, is an autobiographical novel that shows how hard life can be when you have little to no money and highly deteriorated parents. During the whole memoir it shows how hard it is to live in poverty while at the same time trying to raise a...

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“The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls Overview Essay

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Introduction

The main characters, the themes of the book, personal opinion, works cited.

A family plays a substantial role in shaping a personality. This fact is a problem for children whose parents fail to pay proper attention to their upbringing due to various addictions. Jeannette Walls was such an unlucky child, and she described her growing up in a dysfunctional family in her memoir The Glass Castle . This essay will give a summary of the book, discuss the main characters and problems, and provide a personal opinion of the story.

Jeanette Walls is one of the four children of Rex and Rose Mary Walls. Her father was a drunkard, and her mother was a teacher who saw her calling in painting. At the age of six, Jeannette and her family moved to Battle Mountain, Nevada. They lived there in a railway station adjusted for residence. For a while, stability came to their life since Rex Walls started working for a mining company. However, he soon lost his job and spent all the money earned by Rose Mary. They also happened to attract the attention of the police due to an incident in their house. To avoid taking their children away from them, the Walls decided to move to the home of Grandma Smith, who was Rose Mary’s mother. The old woman died right before their arrival, but left them a substantial sum of money. However, the money soon was spent, and the family moved to Welch, West Virginia, where Rex’s parents lived.

Then, the Walls left the dwelling of Jeannette’s parental grandmother to settle down in a dilapidated house. Rex said that one day he would build a glass castle in that place, but his children did not believe him. Jeannette asked her mother to get a divorce, but Rose Mary refused. Therefore, Jeannette and her elder sister, Lori, began to save money to flee to New York. Their efforts were successful, and soon, all the four siblings moved to the Big Apple. Their parents also came to New York to live off their children, but as they disapproved of it, Rex and Rose Mary became homeless. Later, Jeannette was driving to a party and saw her mother scavenging the garbage cans. The woman offered her help to Rose Mary, but she refused. The story ends with a family dinner at Jeannette’s house where the Walls remembered Rex, who had died a few years ago.

The first character of the book is Jeannette Walls, the narrator. She had a complicated childhood because of her parents’ irresponsibility, but it helped her to become a strong and determined woman. Being a child, she tried to exonerate her father’s behavior because she believed in him: “I told him that I would never lose faith in him. And I promised myself I never would” (Walls 79). However, as she grew up, she realized that her trust was in vain because Rex was never going to accomplish his plans. As for her mother, Jeannette seems to lack an understanding of her life principles. When she sees Rose Mary in New York scavenging garbage cans, she thinks that her mother needs help. However, when Jeannette hears that Rose Mary is satisfied with her living conditions, she is perplexed. Generally, Jeannette inspires respect because she did not follow her parents’ steps, but became better than they were and reached success in her life.

Another character is Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, who spent all the money in the family on alcohol. He could have been a conscientious worker since he was smart and had engineering and mathematical expertise. However, he chose the path of an alcoholic and did not bother to stay on any job for long. Some episodes, like the one when he proposed his children to choose their favorite stars as Christmas gifts since he could not give them real presents, prove that Rex had a kind heart and could have made a caring father. However, he was a weak personality who could not conquer his lust for drinks and reluctance to work, and this made his children, including Jeannette, lose faith in him.

The last character worth discussing is Rose Mary, Jeannette’s mother. Although she was qualified as a teacher, she was confident that she was born to be an artist. For this reason, she worked only when Rex had no job to prevent her children from starving. Rose Mary had exceptional values since she did not want to live in comfort, find a high-paid job, or have a happy family with a sober husband. Even when her daughter offered her to help with accommodation because she considered her mother’s lifestyle inappropriate, she refused by saying that “being homeless is an adventure” (Walls 255). Thus, Rose Mary does not evoke sympathy because she has chosen her way of living for herself and appears to be satisfied with it.

The book raises the theme of feeling abnormal and ashamed. According to Bath, young people growing up in nonstandard conditions, like Jeannette Walls, often feel shame because they do not consider themselves normal (132). It is true for Jeannette since she realized that her family was far from being ordinary, and for a long time, she was ashamed to tell anyone about her parents. Eventually, she understood that every person had a past, so there was no need for her to hide her background. It was the reason why she ventured to write her memoir.

Another theme of the novel is individualism and independence from others. Yang and Congzhou argue that it is typical of Americans to rely on themselves and keep apart from their parents after coming of age (53). However, in the Walls family, individualism seems slightly exaggerated and may be interpreted as the parents’ indifference to their offspring. Although Rex and Rose Mary wanted their children to be self-sufficient, they treated them as if they did not care about them. Surprisingly, they achieved this goal since Jeannette with her siblings indeed became independent, but, on the other side, they lost any desire to keep in touch with their parents.

Since the book describes the life of a dysfunctional family, it makes readers think of other people who live in similar conditions. However, this story allows viewing the situation from another angle. Usually, the homeless and the poor evoke sympathy because they are assumed to have had bad luck that has led them to their current state. The book shows that there may be no external circumstances, which ruin people’s life. The author reveals to readers that being a pauper with no home can be someone’s voluntary choice (Cardell and Douglas 23). The main point is that there is no way to help them because it is impossible to assist people who see nothing wrong with their behavior.

To sum up, the book is worth reading because it makes readers face reality, which is full of unpleasant things such as alcohol abuse, poverty, and vagrancy. On the other hand, it shows that a person can overcome all of this, like Jeannette Walls and her siblings did. It reveals that people themselves are responsible for their current situation, and sometimes, only their beliefs prevent them from improving their lives.

Bath, Howard. “Pain and the Unspoken Emotion: Shame.” International Journal of Child, Youth and Family Studies , vol. 10, no. 2-3, 2019, pp. 126-141.

Cardell, Kylie, and Kate Douglas, editors. Telling Tales: Autobiographies of Childhood and Youth . Routledge, 2017.

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle: A Memoir . Simon and Schuster, 2017.

Yang, Liu, and Yang Congzhou. “Analysis of Sino-American Family Education Differences: Collectivistic or Individualistic? – Taking The Glass Castle as an Example.” International Education Studies , vol. 11, no. 8, 2018, pp. 51-57.

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The Glass Castle Jeannette Walls

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The Glass Castle Essays

Adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time lea elizabeth jaffe 12th grade, the glass castle.

William Yeats said, “I am of a healthy and long lived race, and our minds improve with age.” It’s true that as individuals face the world, they can only gain wisdom from exposure. For a young Jeannette Walls, it’s none other than her troubling...

The Glass Prison Jonathan Day 11th Grade

In the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, a father, Rex Walls, keeps his family from amassing substantial wealth. Rex buys hard drinks whenever the family begins to earn money. When he comes home he unleashes his anger onto his family by...

The Effect of Parenting Style on Childhood Development: A Reading of The Glass Castle Anonymous 11th Grade

Many people have varying opinions on parenting, usually motivated by deeply personal beliefs. These differing outlooks on raising children develops children themselves into different people with very specific values instilled in them by their...

Throwing Stones-Resilience and Forgiveness in The Glass Castle Annmicha Blugh College

Despite being faced with adverse conditions while growing up, humankind possesses resilience and the capacity to accept and forgive those responsible. In The Glass Castle (2005) by Jeannette Walls, Walls demonstrates a child’s ability to develop...

Alcoholism in the Walls Family Anonymous 10th Grade

Alcoholism is one of the most commonly seen problems in familial environments. It not only affects the health of the person consuming the alcohol, but also has an impact on the wellbeing of those surrounding him or her. Jeannette Walls’s memoir ...

Mother-Son Relationship in The Glass Castle Anonymous 11th Grade

The Glass Castle is a memoir written by Jeannette Walls that elaborates her upbringing particularly her experience with her sisters, brother, and parents. In a sincere but loving manner, Walls reveals the irresponsibility and selfishness of her...

The Glass Castle Symbol: Fire Anonymous 8th Grade

“I wondered if the fire had been out to get me. I wondered if all fire was related… 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” (34).

Throughout the story,...

Difficult Circumstances and Strength of Character in The Glass Castle and Under an Afghan Sky Anonymous 12th Grade

In life, humans are faced with many challenges and though finding a solution is significant, it is how we deal with the aftermath of these situations that are of utmost importance. Afflictions are bound to happen as they are inevitable in life....

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Essays on The Glass Castle

Table of Contents

and study guide. The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeannette Walls. The book recounts the unconventional, poverty-stricken upbringing Jeannette and her siblings had at the hands of their deeply dysfunctional parents. The story follows Jeannette and her family as they move around the country, living in squats and abandoned buildings. Despite the difficult circumstances, Jeannette and her siblings find moments of beauty and hope in their chaotic lives. The book was published in 2005 and became a bestseller. It has been adapted into a film, starring Brie Larson and Woody Harrelson, which was released in 2017.

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Book Summary The Glass Castle , by Jeannette Walls

The Glass Castle is the harrowing tale of Jeannette Wall’s life growing up in poverty with wayward parents. Jeannette and her siblings were often left to fend for themselves as their parents engaged in alcoholic binges or flights of fancy. The siblings ultimately resented their parents’ neglect and became independent, moving far away.

Following the Walls family through the desert to the coal-mining region of West Virginia to the fast-paced life of New York City, this memoir explores the nature of family, loyalty, and tragedy and what it takes to survive together and apart.

The Glass Castle

Jeannette Walls

1-Page Summary 1-Page Book Summary of The Glass Castle

The Glass Castle is the harrowing tale of Jeannette Wall’s life growing up in poverty with wayward parents. Following the Walls family through the desert to the coal-mining region of West Virginia to the fast-paced life of New York City, this memoir explores the nature of family, loyalty, and tragedy and what it takes to survive together and apart .

Father Knows Best

Rex Walls was a smart but unruly patriarch. He was a former Air Force pilot and had vast knowledge of science, physics, and engineering. He was known as a man who could fix everything and talk his way out of anything. These traits should have added up to success for Rex and his family, but his inability to settle down and follow the rules added up to the opposite.

During Jeannette’s early childhood, Rex moved the family around the desert like a traveling circus. They’d stop in one small cowpoke town after another, set up a life for a few weeks to months, then pack up and start again somewhere else. Rex said they had to keep moving to stay ahead of the law, which was always on his tail, or wealthy businessmen who wanted to steal his ideas. Rex fancied himself an inventor and always had some scheme or another that was sure to help him strike it rich. In reality, Rex was simply dodging bill collectors.

Striking it rich was Rex’s goal, as was being able to build the Glass Castle for his family, a sprawling home made completely of glass and powered by solar energy. He carried the blueprints everywhere the family went, and Jeannette and her siblings would help him design it.

Jeannette believed in her father and his plans for the future, but until those plans came to fruition, she and her family suffered.

Fend for Yourself

Jeannette’s siblings—an older sister, Lori, a younger brother, Brian, and later, a baby sister, Maureen—were often left to their own devices for sustenance. Their mother, Rose Mary, had a lifelong dream of being an artist and spent most of her time painting and what little money she had on art supplies. Rose Mary’s art was her priority, even over feeding her children.

This priority is what led three-year-old Jeannette to cook hot dogs by herself if she was hungry. She’d stand on a stool and stir the hot dogs in boiling water on the gas stove. One day, while Rose Mary painted in the next room, Jeannette’s dress caught on fire. The flames consumed half of her little body, and she received skin grafts at the hospital. Her parents didn’t believe in western medicine, and after six weeks, Rex showed up and kidnapped her from the burn unit. He said they were checking out Rex Walls style.

Rex could never hold down a job for very long. He either quit or was fired for fighting with his superiors. He was an alcoholic and drank much of the family’s money away. With Rex drunk and unemployed most of the time and Rose Mary focused on her art, there was never much money or guidance in the Walls household.

All throughout her childhood, Jeannette and her siblings staved off starvation. She would rifle through garbage cans at school for discarded lunch items or forage for whatever she could find on the streets. On the rare occasions that there was food in the house, the family would gorge until it was gone. There was no sense of management or rationing when it came to food in her home, and by the end of every month, she’d be back to rummaging for garbage.

Survival of the Fittest

Jeannette and her siblings surmounted great adversity in their lives to become stable professionals. Not only were they always hungry, but they were also always too poor to afford clothes, shoes, and other necessities, like toothpaste, heat, and running water. The children were also victim to many close calls with their safety along the way.

For instance, when Rex and Rose Mary moved the family from Blythe, California to Battle Mountain, Nevada, the kids were forced to ride in the back of the U-Haul truck their parents had rented. On the trip, the doors...

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The Glass Castle Summary Introduction: A Familiar Face

Jeannette Walls saw the unmistakable image of her mother digging through trash one March night. Wind whipped down the streets of New York City. It had been months since Jeannette had seen her mother. She was in a taxi dressed up for a fancy party, and her mother, Rose Mary, stood fifteen feet away.

Rose Mary’s hair was worn, mussed, and gray, and she was thin with sunken features. For a second, Jeannette remembered other images of her mother—swan diving off cliffs, painting landscapes, reading Shakespeare to Jeannette and her siblings.

When Rose Mary glanced up,...

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The Glass Castle Summary Part I: The Wild West ︱Chapter 1: The Arizona Desert

Jeannette’s earliest memory is the day she caught on fire when she was three years old. Her family, which included Rose Mary; her father, Rex; older sister, Lori, and younger brother, Brian, lived in a trailer in southern Arizona. Jeannette was wearing a pink party dress and stirring hot dogs in boiling water. She had to stand on a chair to reach the pot.

Jeannette knew how to cook hot dogs. She did it often as the only means of having something to eat. Her mother was usually consumed with painting, as she was now in the next room. The only other person home was her little brother. The bottom edge of Jeannette’s dress brushed up against the flames and consumed one side of her body. Rose Mary put the flames out with a blanket and calmly asked their neighbor to drive them to the hospital. Rex was out with the car.

A Luxury Vacation

Life was so good at the hospital compared to home, Jeannette never wanted to leave. She loved having her own room and the cleanliness and quiet. She’d also never watched TV before and spent most of her time watching old sitcoms, like The Lucille Ball Show . Sometimes, she’d pass the time reading to the nurses. They were impressed with...

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The Glass Castle Summary Chapter 2: In Search of a Home

Rex had decided the fastest way to accumulate the money needed for the Prospector was to go to Las Vegas and win big. Jeannette was four years old.

On the way, they’d driven past a bar along a Nevada roadside. Rex and Rose Mary left the kids in the afternoon heat and went inside. The children tried to count the number of times they’d moved to a new home, differentiating between the places where’d they’d only stayed a week or shorter. They counted eleven before they lost count.

After a few hours, they were all on the road again. Rex was drinking a beer and smoking while driving, and he took a turn too sharply and hit some railroad tracks. The back door flew open, and Jeannette tumbled out of the car. The only one who noticed was Brian.

Jeannette rolled down an embankment and came to a stop bruised and bloody. She watched as the car vanished down the road. It was a hot and dusty day in the desert. When the car didn’t return, Jeannette started to wonder if she was somehow expendable. She cried and tried to decide what to do.

After a long time, the car finally came back into view. Rex got out to comfort Jeannette, but she pulled away. He explained that they didn’t...

The Glass Castle Summary Chapter 3: A Small Reprieve in Battle Mountain

Jeannette was around six years old when they arrived in Battle Mountain. The town didn’t seem like a mecca for gold. The community was pocket-sized, one street with a handful of buildings dwarfed by the expansive desert sky.

The Walls family moved into an old train depot in a part of town near the outskirts known as the Tracks. There was an old office upstairs that served as the parents’ room, and the kids slept in the old waiting area downstairs, benches still attached to the walls. Discarded items found in the desert were used as furniture. Old wooden cable spools became tables, crates became chairs, and cardboard boxes became beds. Rex and Rose Mary discussed trying to find beds for the kids, but they protested. Sleeping in the box was an adventure, the children said.

Making a Go of It

Rex found a job as a mine electrician, which regulated his time in a more positive way. He was up early, and when he came home in the afternoon, he played with the children. When he wasn’t around, Jeannette and Brian would go exploring in the desert. Jeannette became a collector of treasured rocks, such as turquoise and geodes.

With Rex working, they could afford to go out to eat...

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The Glass Castle Summary Chapter 4: A New Beginning in Phoenix

Jeannette was excited to go to Phoenix and see her maternal grandmother. But her excitement turned to disappointment when Rose Mary casually told her that her grandma had died. Rose Mary said she hadn’t told the children because she simply hadn’t seen the point.

Part of Rose Mary’s inheritance was an option between two houses in Phoenix: a big white house in the Phoenix suburbs or a smaller adobe near the business district downtown. Rose Mary chose the adobe so she could start an art studio. Her art career could really flourish in a place like Phoenix. She quit teaching and used the inheritance money to buy all the art supplies she wanted.

Moving Up in the World

The adobe home was massive, with fourteen rooms total, all full of antiques and family heirlooms. There was a front yard and backyard, where trees stood tall, including orange trees. Although once an upscale neighborhood, most of the houses on their street had been converted to apartments.

Rose Mary turned two rooms downstairs into a studio and gallery and placed a sign in the front yard. She also purchased several typewriters and spent a lot of time working on her writing. Rex was hired as an electrician...

The Glass Castle Summary Part II: The Other Side of the World ︱Chapter 5: Welch, West Virginia

It took the Walls family a month to make it across the country when Jeannette was around eleven years old. The used car Rose Mary bought broke down frequently and wouldn’t go faster than twenty miles per hour. Finally, they rolled into the Appalachian Mountains.

The landscape was vastly different than anything Jeannette had ever seen. Instead of deserts and dry hills, they drove through rolling hills of thick forests. They pulled up to Rex’s childhood home and were greeted by their other grandma for the first time.

There’s No Place Like Home

Grandma Erma was an obese woman who smoked and drank almost as much as Rex. She greeted her son warmly, but she was rude to Rose Mary and short with the children. She told them to call her Erma, not grandma. In contrast, Grandpa Ted was old and wiry. He didn’t mind being called grandpa. Another man stepped forward and introduced himself as Uncle Stanley. He was missing teeth and was overly affectionate with Jeannette.

That night, everyone gathered around the coal stove for warmth and ate green beans and biscuits for dinner. The beans were mushy and so salty, Jeannette held her nose as she ate, as Rose Mary had taught her to do...

The Glass Castle Summary Chapter 6: Learning to Survive

A year later, Jeannette was alone in the house when a knock came at the door. She cracked it open and saw an official-looking man on the porch with a folder under one arm. He said he was from child welfare, and they’d received a complaint from someone about child neglect in the home. He said it was his department’s job to investigate.

Jeannette was furious at whoever had called child welfare. If they deemed their family unfit, she and her siblings would be separated into different foster homes. She pulled the door almost shut so he couldn’t see inside. She told him that Rex worked all the time and was an entrepreneur developing a system for burning low-grade coal. She said Rose Mary was an artist and teacher and that everything was fine. The man gave her a business card and left.

When Rose Mary came home, Jeannette turned her anger toward her. Because neither of her parents would get jobs or accept charity, the government was going to split up the family. Rose Mary sat at her easel and began to paint. When she was finished, she said she’d get a job. The picture she painted was of a woman drowning in a lake.

An A for Effort

**The child welfare man never came...

The Glass Castle Summary Chapter 7: A Light at the End of the Tunnel

One day, two filmmakers from New York City arrived in Welch as part of a cultural appreciation tour. Lori showed them some of her drawings, and they said she had real talent. If she wanted to be a serious artist, she should move to New York and go to art school.

The description of New York City as a land of misfits appealed to Lori and Jeannette, who had never truly belonged anywhere. The girls made a plan. Lori would leave for New York as soon as she graduated and get settled. Jeannette would join her as soon as she could. They merged whatever money they could save to help Lori get an apartment.

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Jeannette wasn’t working at the jewelry store anymore, but she was babysitting, tutoring kids, and doing their homework for a fee. Lori started commissioning personalized posters for students. She had a knack for artistic writing and design, and she sold them for $1.50 each. Word of mouth spread so fast, she had more orders than she could handle.

The girls told Brian about their plan, and even though he was younger and couldn’t be included, he donated his landscaping earnings to the plastic piggy bank they’d named Oz. They hid Oz in their...

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The Glass Castle Summary Part III: Independence︱Chapter 8: New York City

Jeannette woke up in the early morning hours her first night in New York and thought the city was on fire. She was staying with Lori at the women’s hostel. When she asked Lori about the fire the next morning, she learned it was just the city lights reflecting off the smog.

Jeannette found a job waitressing at a hamburger restaurant that paid her eighty dollars a week. She loved the crowds, the fast-paced activity of the staff, the discount on meals. Every day, she ate a cheeseburger with a milkshake.

The girls soon found an apartment in a less-expensive part of the Bronx. The whole of their Welch home could fit into the apartment, and for the first time, they had working appliances, like a refrigerator, gas stove, an indoor bathroom, and a bathtub. Although the apartment had nice furnishings, the neighborhood left a little to be desired. But rough neighborhoods were nothing new. Jeannette was mugged several times on her way home, but she always fought back.

Hitting the Ground Running

To finish her last year of high school, Jeannette enrolled in a public school where the students worked at internships instead of attending classes. **Jeannette took an internship at a...

The Glass Castle Summary Chapter 9: All Grown Up

When Jeannette graduated from college, the only person in attendance was Brian. Her sisters had to work, and Rose Mary thought it sounded boring. Jeannette had asked Rex not to go. She said she couldn’t risk him showing up drunk and causing a scene. Rex complied, saying he didn’t need to see her get the diploma to be proud of her.

The magazine where she worked offered her a full-time position, and she finally moved out of the psychologist’s house and into an upscale apartment on Park Avenue belonging to her long-time boyfriend, Eric. Jeannette liked Eric for his obsessive organization and responsible nature. He was from a wealthy family, didn’t waste money, and was kind. Still, Jeannette remembered her parents’ joy at finding their place in the world within the squatter community. She wondered if she was where she was supposed to be.

The Big Time

Life on Park Avenue was more than Jeannette ever dreamed possible for her life, and she was thriving at the magazine. She made good money and wrote a weekly column, which was basically a gossip column about prominent figures in the New York social scene. She interviewed famous and influential people and was invited to fancy...

The Glass Castle Summary Epilogue: A New Reality

Five years after Rex’s death, the family gathered at Jeannette’s home for Thanksgiving. She was remarried and living in an old farmhouse Upstate. Her relationship with Rose Mary had dwindled over the years, and her mother had never met John, her new husband.

Jeannette and John picked Lori and Rose Mary up from the train station. Jeannette smiled at the ease with which John related to her family. He was also a writer and published a few books and magazine articles. He was warm and compassionate...

Shortform Exercise: The History We Carry

Jeannette Walls’ story of growing up poor and neglected is at times too fantastic to believe. At other times, her story hits at common family struggles that resonate beyond her own life.

How does Jeannette’s story relate to your life or remind you of something from your past?

Table of Contents

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Books — The Glass Castle

Essays on The Glass Castle

Prompt examples for "the glass castle" essays, jeannette walls' resilience and determination.

Analyze Jeannette Walls' resilience and determination in overcoming the challenges of her unconventional upbringing, and how these traits contribute to her success.

Parental Neglect and Unconventional Parenting

Discuss the themes of parental neglect and unconventional parenting as portrayed in the memoir, focusing on the behavior of Rex and Rose Mary Walls.

The Impact of Poverty and Instability

Examine the effects of poverty, instability, and constant relocation on Jeannette and her siblings, and how these experiences shape their lives.

Sibling Bonds and Support

Explore the importance of sibling bonds and support among Jeannette and her siblings, and how they rely on each other in challenging circumstances.

The Role of Education and Aspiration

Analyze the role of education and the aspiration for a better life in Jeannette's journey, and how they lead her to escape her tumultuous family life.

Symbolism of the Glass Castle

Discuss the symbolism of the "glass castle" as a recurring motif in the memoir, and its significance in the lives of the Walls family members.

Social Services and Government Intervention

Examine the portrayal of social services and government intervention in the memoir, and how they impact the Walls family's lifestyle and choices.

Author's Perspective on Family

Analyze the author's perspective on family, love, and forgiveness as conveyed through her narrative, and how it evolves over the course of the memoir.

Writing as a Form of Catharsis

Discuss the therapeutic and cathartic aspects of writing for Jeannette Walls and how she uses her memoir to come to terms with her past.

Comparison to Other Memoirs

Compare "The Glass Castle" to other memoirs that explore themes of poverty, resilience, and family dynamics, examining commonalities and differences in their narratives.

Three Years Old Jeannette Walls Family

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The Glass Castle: Roaring Tigers, Anxious Choppers

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The Relationship Between a Mother and a Son in "The Glass Castle"

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Jeannette's Overcoming Challenges in The Glass Castle

The complexity of family relationships in jeannette walls' "the glass castle", rose mary walls character analysis, symbolism in the glass castle, rex walls: a dance between dreams and reality, the glass castle theme, what freedom means to me, poverty in the glass castle, symbolism in the glass castle: fire, the glass castle fire analysis.

Jeannette Walls

Bildungsroman

Jeannette Walls, Dad, Mom, Lori Walls, Brian Walls, Maureen Walls, Grandma Smith, Erma Walls, Dinitia Hewitt, Uncle Stanley, Billy Deel, Grandpa Walls, Eric, John

Fire, animals, hypocrisy, The Glass Castle, stars, Joshua trees

Abuse, compassion vs. boundaries, strength from hardship

“You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You have to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.” “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. 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.” “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.” as reading.” “You didn't need a college degree to become one of the people who knew what was really going on. If you paid attention, you could pick things up on your own.”

This book has been used in the elementary school curriculum in North America, causing some controversy as The Glass Castle was ranked 9th on the Intellectual Freedom Office's list of 10 most problematic books in 2012. The Glass Castle was adapted as a feature film released in the summer of 2017. He also has been translated into 31 languages. The Glass Castle was ranked the 17th most banned book in the US in 2010 and 2019, according to the American Library Association.

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Ryan Walters claims 'Glass Castle,' 'Kite Runner' contain porn. What do experts say?

This week, Oklahoma state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters launched a feud between the state education department and a school district when he claimed two books in the school's libraries contained pornographic scenes and should be removed.

The Oklahoma State Department of Education threatened to lower Edmond Public Schools accreditation if it did not remove the two books, “The Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls and “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, from the libraries of the district’s three high schools. The district volleyed back with a lawsuit arguing that the locally elected school board should be the ones deciding library content.

But do the award-winning books really contain pornographic scenes? Here's what experts have to say.

Ryan Walters, Edmond Public Schools disagreement over library books

According to a letter received by Edmond Public Schools, the Education Department's Library Media Advisory Committee believe the books contain sexualized content and questioned whether either had any educational value.

On Tuesday, Edmond Public Schools filed a lawsuit against Walters, the state Board of Education, and the state Education Department. The lawsuit asks the Oklahoma Supreme Court to decide whether the Oklahoma State Board of Education or a local elected school board has the authority  to establish policies concerning books  in the district’s libraries.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the decision about whether a student reads a book or not is to be made between the student and the student's parent.

"The (Edmond) school district has concluded that the two books in question have value for student readers who want to read them," Caldwell-Stone said. "Reviews and evaluations by literary and educational professionals support that conclusion ... State officials seeking to suppress literature based on their personal values  should not be in the business of telling students and parents what they can read in the library."

What part of 'Kite Runner' is being challenged?

Issues the committee had with "The Kite Runner," a fiction novel about a young boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Afghanistan's capital city Kabul, include the "explicit, graphic sexual language in describing the violent same-sex rape of a 12-year-old boy by a group of boys" which could "deliver secondhand trauma to the reader."

"The Kite Runner" was the 11th most challenged book between 2010 and 2019 , according to a list compiled by the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Reasons included homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit also sexual violence and was thought to “lead to terrorism” and “promote Islam," ALA spokesperson Raymond Garcia said.

What part of 'The Glass Castle' is being challenged?

On "The Glass Castle," a memoir by Jeanette Walls, the committee said the "sexual content is explicit and prevalent throughout," including: "a child going into a whorehouse, an uncle masturbating while touching a child's leg, a grandmother molesting a young boy, a child showing another child his father's penis, and rape."

"The Glass Castle" was No. 9 on the American Library Association's Top 10 challenged books in 2012, for the reasons of "offensive language" and for being "sexually explicit," Garcia said.

What are Oklahoma's rules on sexualized content?

According to rules approved by the state Department of Education in 2023 , public school libraries cannot have available to minor students books with sexualized content or pornographic materials. A school found to be in willful noncompliance could have its accreditation status altered.

"Sexualized content," the rules state, is "material that is not strictly Pornographic but otherwise contains excessive sexual material in light of the educational value of the material and in light of the youngest age of students with access to said material."

While the letter said the books met the criteria for sexualized content, Walters has referred to them as pornographic in nature and criticized the district for choosing to "peddle porn."

According to the Department of Education's rules, books qualifying as pornographic include:

• depictions or descriptions of sexual conduct that are patently offensive as found by the average person applying contemporary community standards, considering the youngest age of students with access to the material
• materials that, taken as a whole, have as the dominant theme an appeal to prurient interest in sex as found by the average person applying contemporary community standards
• a reasonable person would find the material or performance taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific purposes or value, considering the youngest age of students with access to the material

What's next for Edmond's school library?

The school's accreditation will remain as-is for now. The day  after being sued  by the Edmond Public Schools district, the Oklahoma State Board of Education declined to put an action item about the district accreditation on its agenda for its regularly scheduled February meeting.

As for the lawsuit, the court agreed to weigh in on the case late Wednesday afternoon and set a hearing before a court referee on March 5.

Students should have the freedom to see themselves, their experiences, as well as the experiences of others reflected in the books of a school library, Caldwell-Stone said.

"Books have the power to change and save lives," Caldwell-Stone said. "They can foster difficult conversations on race, social justice, and sexual identity and prevent self-harm and suicide by demonstrating to students who are struggling with very adult challenges that they are not alone and that they too can overcome their struggles."