The Glass Castle: the published classic

One of the classics published as a memoir is The Glass Castle. The reason for its uniqueness may be summed up by noting that Jeannette Walls was able to recall and write about all of her recollections while living in the most deplorable conditions. Despite having nasty and uncaring parents, she was able to captivate readers by portraying his love for his parents. Jeannette Walls has written a magnificent memoir in which she explains every element of her life. She has also highlighted her family’s hardship in a really nice way. Elizabeth Tucker has emphasized on the poverty of wall, “Walls and her and her sisters and brother foraged in garbage cans for leftover food from other children’s lunch” (Tucker 128). This thing clearly states that Walls were not having one of the perfect lives by any means. Neither was she ideal parents, nor was she wealthy. It is very opposite to my family as my parents have never let me feel that they do not love me or they cannot afford to give me the comfort of life. Even if I had to imagine myself as poor, my parents would never leave me unattended or wandered. It is clearly depicted in the memoir that the parenting style of Jeanette Wall’s parents was not only weird, but also full of carelessness as they were not only having economic issues but also the issues of wrong parenting and cruelty of her father. From the very start of the memoir, I have found Jeanette Wall’s life miserable as she had to bear the unusual type of brought up given by her father along with the poverty and social issues.

Just like all other families in the world, my parents always encourage me to do right things by giving examples. In the memoir, I witnessed the same kind of thing as Jeanette Walls discusses her mother’s inspirational reply, “’Oh Yeah? - I said. - How about Hitler? What was his redeeming quality? Hitler loved dogs, - Mom said without hesitation” (144). I found it very inspirational as Jeanette wall learned a lesson by the abrupt reply of her mother. It clearly made her understand that even the evil people of the society have something good in them. No one can think about Hitler as a nice person as he killed thousands of innocent people. Yet Jeanette Wall’s mother replied with an unanswerable argument, which ultimately depicted the presence of live and care in each and every single person’s heart. Moreover, her mother tried to make her understand to find positive aspects in a person’s life rather than pointing out the negative ones. Her mother clearly made her understand that every person have some bad and some good characteristics. It is our duty to find and appreciate the good ones rather than hating these people because of their bad traits. My mother also taught me good things by giving inspirational examples; she always encourage the act of being calm and polite while addressing other people. This sort of positive arguments makes me feel determined to do right things and follow the righteous path.

Unlike Jeanette Wall’s father, my father is a lot more caring; even the way of his teaching is entirely different than that of Jeanette Walls father, “If you don’t want to sink, you better figure out how to swim” (Wall 66). The sentence is taken from the memoir where Jeanette Wall is describing the incident of her father drowning her into a sulfur spring. Jeanette Wall describes this incident as a try of her father to train her not to sink. Wall has narrated this incident to elaborate the style of her father’s parenting, “In short, The Glass Castle is a portrait of bohemian, artsy, kooky, and sometimes feckless parents” (Bartkevicius 150). It can be claimed that her father was trying to learn her swim quickly, but this fact can also not be neglected that she could have died during this incident. My parents have always tried to teach my things by following a positive approach. It is the duty of the parents to keep their children away from any sort of danger. Yet Jeanette Wall’s father forced her to sink in water just to rescue her at the very last moments of losing her control and breath.

“Mom pointed her chopsticks at me. - You see? - she said. - Right there. That’s exactly what I’m saying. You’re way too easily embarrassed. Your father and I are who we are. Accept it” (Wall 5). This quote is taken from the very start of the memoir. After completing the description of her childhood, Jeanette Wall has shared this conversation with her mother. Jeanette Wall has used this conversation to give readers a reason that made her courageous for sharing her life with the entire world. Furthermore, it also portrays the image of accepting the reality as my father says that a person should keep his reality remembered, and he should not be ashamed of it. Jeanette’s mother has tried to say the very same thing by asking Jeanette Wall to accept the reality that her parents are like this. As Jeanette Wall’s mother abruptly replies upon her asking, “and what am I supposed to tell people about my parents? Just tell the truth, - Mom said. - That’s simple enough” (Wall 5). Jeanette Wall is found feared of facing consequences because of having indifferent sort of parents; this conversation also proved the lack of responsibility of her mother as she asked Jeanette Wall to accept the reality. She could have realized that she is different from other mother, but she told Jeanette Wall to accept the reality of her parents.

In the memoir, Jeanette Wall and her sibling are always found hating their father, “’Have I ever let you down? - He asked Brian and me and then turned and walked away. In a voice so low that Dad didn’t hear him, Brian said, - Yes’” (Walls 78). It is astonishing for me to think about my father like this. However, putting myself in Jeanette Wall’s shoes changes the entire scenario as any person would hate his father if he would provide this sort of brought up to his children. Walls describes the reason of hating her father on numerous occasions. On one place Walls describes her father, “When Dad went crazy, we all had our own ways of shutting down and closing off, and that was what we did that night” (Walls 115). It completely makes understandable that why he was disliked by every child of his. Unlike Jeanette Wall’s family, we are living a very lovely and peaceful life; my parent are not only treats me lovingly but with each other as well as I have never witnessed them arguing with each other. On the contrary side, Jeanette Wall’s mother has been found bashing her husband in front of her children, which is a very unusual thing for me. ”Don’t worry, God understands, - Mom said. - He knows that your father is a cross we must bear” (Walls 105). This phrase makes it clear that Jeanette Wall’s mother was criticizing his husband in front of her children. On the contrary side, she is also found having a disturbed life because of her husband.

Conclusively, it can be said that the Jeanette Wall’s family is very different from my family. There might be some resemblances in their relation with each other and mine relation with my family, but the whole living style of the family is completely different than mine. I have witnessed the resemblance of motivational discussions between Jeanette Wall and her mother with my life. Other than that, all of the things are having discrepancies in social, personals and family relation and lifestyle.

Works Cited

Bartkevicius, Jocelyn. Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction. The Glass Castle (review) (2006): 150-152. Print.

Tucker, Elizabeth. Children’s Folklore: A Handbook. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008. Print.

Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle: A Memoir. Simon and Schuster, 2009. Print.