Dysfunctional Differences In The Wall Family

In the excerpt from the opening of The Beet Queen , Louise Endrich, portays Karl and Mary as an addition and subtraction to the town of Argus. Louise Endrich shows the role the environment plays which has an impact on how the two children are viewed through literary devices such as, imagery, her point of view, and selection of detail. Every day people are affected by the environment in which they are in. Everyone is affected differently by their surroundings just how Karl and Mary were affected differently by arriving at Argus. How people react to the situations they are put in exhibits their qualities and ability to handle tough situations.

Glass Castle: The “glass castle” symbolizes Rex’s; Jeanette’s father’s hope and dreams. Before Lori was born; Rex and Rose had a baby girl whom unfortunately died at nine months. This caused a spiral downfall in Rex’s life making him become bitterer, gloomy, dark, and an increasing consumption of alcohol. But even though that situation occurred he still held on to that dream of building the glass castle. One of the biggest current problem he faces in his life is alcoholism.

Parental Influence Parents are the biggest influence upon their children. From the time a child is born to the time they leave the household, the values that the parents hold are instilled into their children. Parents are required to make crucial decisions about how to raise their children in order to guide them through the inevitable obstacles and hardships of life. In The Glass Castle, many would argue the lack of care and responsibility the Walls had for their children. The author, Jeannette Walls, uses Rex and Mary Walls to demonstrate that their strong traits of non-conformity, self-sufficiency and perseverance are passed on to their children, allowing them to develop to their full potential.

In the memoir, Rex Walls’ internal conflict, Jeannette Walls’ conflict with Rose Mary, and Jeannette’s conflict with society push her to become the person she is today. Therefore, Jeannette Walls’ owes her success to the hardships she had as a child. To begin, Rex Walls’ internal conflict comes from his inability to provide for his family. Being a father, Rex Walls has an obligation to look after his family and to make sure everyone is looked after.

The joy of learning is what unified the Walls family and is the source of the children’s most endearing memories. They would read together and bond over learning. Jeannette recounts her happier moments “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 a growth mindset; sharing knowledge was in fact how Rex and Rose Mary best expressed their genuine love and affection towards their children.

Since the Walls family is so poor and homeless it seems that Rex and Rosemary are not always there to give their children the support and comfort that kids need at a young age. Instead of giving love and comfort, they decide to teach their kids how to be tough and how to learn to do things themselves. Unlike most parents, who focus on supporting, caring for their children first, and then teaching them how to live on their own once they get much older. This attentive parenting method is not visible in the Walls’ family. For example, when Jeannette has her accident with fire and explained it to the nurses she gets rather surprised and

According to Jeannette Walls, Rex was a very fun and loving father while she was growing up. Alcoholism affects the good people and the bad people, many in the same ways. However from an outside perspective, Rex Walls' behavior put his children at risk. In The Glass Castle, Rex has many moments where he puts his family's lives in risk, maiming Jeannette's. In one scene, Jeannette and the family go to a water hole to go swimming.

Her and her siblings are exposed to unideal living conditions and have to learn to take care of themselves, especially due to the fact that their father, Rex walls seems to suffer from an undiagnosed mental illness. Considering Rex Walls symptoms throughout the memoir are linked to having bipolar disorder, he was unpredictable. Jeannette and her sibling’s ability to be resilient despite their father’s bipolar disorder growing up are perfect examples of Max Lerner’s quote “the turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt” and has let them get far in life even with everything they had to

It seems that Jeannette grew up in cases of extreme abuse and neglect, and this causes her to rely on her siblings and gives her motivation to be successful. Jeannette’s parents, Rex and Rosemary Walls, most certainly had an interesting lifestyle causing short and long-term effects for all four of their children. Throughout the book, Rex’s substance abuse and Rosemary’s neglect

But once they move to Welch, we see a more neglectful and destructive parenting style. Both Rex and Rosemary start to ignore the kids, asking them to fend for themselves and each other. This leads to both Lori and Jeannette having to help and almost manage the other two children. But in the long run, this may not have been a bad idea because it strengthened both of their independence. More and more we see this, as the Walls parents put the children in bad situations, they struggle, but eventually fix the situation and learn valuable lessons.

The first of the Walls children that was interviewed was the youngest child, year-old Maureen Walls. Maureen Walls has experienced extreme neglect while growing up in the Walls family. Despite the fact that the other siblings, Brian Walls, Jeannette Walls, and Lori Walls, all appear to have a strong connection and sense of family with one and other, Maureen Walls does not appear to have that. While living in Welsh, Maureen began to spend more time living with a neighboring family. Soon after the Walls family had moved into Welch, Maureen Walls began to practically live with their neighbors, who belonged to the Pentecostal faith (Walls ).

With her father; Rex Walls being an alcoholic that couldn’t keep a job, her mother; Rosemary Walls who refused to get a job, her older

Jeannette’s father, Rex Walls was a strong willed and very educated individual. He often fought for his morals and that often resulted in Rex loosing every job he acquired quickly. This resulted in the constant fluctuation in the family’s economic

However, at the same time, Mr. Walls is the biggest problem in the family. Mr. Walls is a heavy alcoholic that drinks all of the family’s money away. When desperate, Mr. Walls would even steal money from the family. The drunk Dad would curse at Mom and

I believe they are inadequate parents. My opinion is based on everything, Jeannette had experienced in her early years as a child, and as a teen growing up in Welch. The first reason why I think Rex and Rose Mary Walls are inadequate parents, is the skedaddle. The skedaddle is something that Rex and Rose Mary Walls used as an excuse to escape the “FBI” and debt collectors (and they had a large sum of debt).