Theme Of Forgiveness By Jeannette Walls

The unique bond Jeannette shares with Rex is demonstrated throughout the entire book. Though they've definitely had their ups and downs with not locking the doors at night, the car breaking down,

Erma also turned to alcohol and drugs to forget her past, and abused Rex Walls both mentally, physically, and sexually, eventually leading Rex Walls down the same path with alcohol and drugs which made him lose all hope. Jeannette knows that both of her parents have no ambition to leave Welch for a better life, so she has to act independently to get out of Welch. Children have to not only work to not become like their parents, but also to be independent from them and learn to help themselves to leave McDowell

Marrying a person like Rex Walls and her decision to not divorce him is a sign of rebellion against her mom since Rex Walls wasted all his money in alcohol and talked informally. Jeannette told her mom would wear “torn or painted-splattered clothes” and believed that “children should be responsible for their own grooming”. Her actions and believes reflect defiance towards her mom’s values and lifestyle and it helps the reader understand why the mother acted the way she was. Even still, Jeannette “liked all of [grandma Smith’s] rules” telling the reader indirectly that she wanted and enjoyed her lifestyle. At that time Jeannette didn’t understand why her mother acted unstable or messy but in her innocence or inexperience, she couldn’t see the bigger picture.

Characters serve as the metaphorical foundation upon which a story is written. In fact, the personalities of characters often reveal the outcome of a story’s plot before the author explicitly states it. In Flannery O’Connor’s short story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” the self-indulgent grandmother portrays the outcome of her attempted evangelism through her sanctimonious nature. Through her illegitimate Christian appearance based on deceit and self-elevation, her failed attempt to persuade the Misfit can be attributed to her hypocritical personality.

She figures out how her father's family has an endless list of problems and issues with them after Jeannette’s grandma molests Jeannette’s brother. After this emerged, the Walls family was no longer allowed to live with Rex’s family. Soon after, Jeannette’s dad disappeared for days at time, and lied about what he was doing when he was gone. That year two men showed up from New York City after seeings Jeannette’s sister, Lori, artwork at a summer camp and unknowingly convinced Lori and Jeannette to

In the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls, the author, was most influenced by her time in Phoenix, as indicated by how she describes the living situation in her grandma's old house with the money, and the time they had to tie her dad down because he was going delusional. It is evident throughout the story that living in Phoenix had a great impact on Jeannette Walls, She had spent more time there than any other place and she even came back after leaving. The first time was just to visit Grandma Smith, but the second time they came back to stay for awhile in Grandma Smith’s old house. The family’s time in Phoenix is described mainly about the house there and what happened in or around that house.

She was oblivious to her daughter’s agony until the little girl let out a panicked scream, which she immediately responded to by getting the child to a hospital. The hospital stay triggers an investigation of the family. Her father Rex, who is adamantly anti-medicine, steals the child out of her bed and the family makes a run for home. Rex and the doctor had gotten into an altercation prior to the reclaiming of Jeannette over whether or not she needed to wear bandages over her wounds. The doctor

And without the capability to assess future risks and repercussions of a decision, Rex almost kills his wife in the process. Struggling to cope with their father’s rages and without a means to restrain him, Jeanette’s family is forced to face Rex’s violent

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.

Max Lerner an American Journalist stated “the turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt.” Throughout The Glass Castle a memoir by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette and her siblings, Lori, Brian and Maureen are faced with an unpleasant upbringing that they are put through by their parents Rex and Rose Mary Walls. Due to the terrible living conditions and bad parenting they had to endure for many years, they had to teach themselves and each other to be strong and survive on the very little food and necessities that they were given. Throughout the memoir, it is seen that Jeannette has a special connection with her father unlike any of the other siblings, but despite Jeannette believing in him Rex struggles to raise her and the kids in the normal life that they deserve due to his battle with mental illness. Bipolar disorder “is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks” (National).

Jeannette described that this experience made her feel used by her father and gave her a sense of self-worthlessness. Rex knew that Jeannette had a soft spot for him and he took advantage of this. Jeannette has a psychological scar from this for the rest of her life, and it produced long-term effects of distrust and diminished self-worth. As a child she had been through more than most adults, and in one case she even wakes up in the middle of the night with a child molester in her bed. “One night when I was almost ten, I was awakened by someone running his hands over my private parts” (Walls 103).

Rex, Jeannette’s father, is a

The Walls family lived a very out of the ordinary life compared to most families. They lived all over the West side of America from Phoenix to San Francisco. Yet, one of the most important areas they lived in was Battle Mountain. Jeannette spent a huge chunck of her childhood here. Battle Mountain was where she started to grow up, experiencing learning to swim to kissing a boy.

When Rex Walls would announce that they had to leave, the children would not become irritable because, to them, this meant a new adventure was ahead. As she grew up, Jeannette brought

Rex’s method is not that of many fathers, his being “sink or swim”, providing not only the ability to swim but also a strong metaphor for the reader and Jeannette. This is a representation of not only the Walls’ teaching strategy, also for the struggle to succeed in a life the Jeannette has literally been thrown into. Jeannette takes this idea to heart even though she may not realize it, for her not to succumb to the environment in which encapsulates her, such as Welch and life on the road, she must be able to handle these hard situations and be able to stay