Personal Review

From the moment Jeannette Walls began to tell her story in the memoir, The Glass Castle, I was intrigued by her openness concerning her hectic childhood and rambunctious family adventures. The frequent relocation of the Walls family provided for various tales of their life in an array of cities and states while interacting with new and old friends. The writer connects with her readers through descriptive imagery and endless anecdote and creates a sense of hope and determination that rallies the reader’s support. Jeannette’s family is rare in its way of dealing with daily tribulations, which shocked yet fascinated me.

The plot ignites curiosity in its readers because of how careless and selfish Rex and Rose Mary Walls could be at times. While their parents were submerged in self-pity throughout the latter half of the novel, the Walls children gained more determination and began to succeed as their parents began to fail. During their years in Welch, each sibling seemed to find their own forte, using it to assist each other in obtaining a better life elsewhere, which struck me as nearly incredible that they could accomplish this without the guidance of role models. Upon the family’s arrival in Welch, Rose Mary refuses to work and earn an income while Rex is known as the “town drunk”, however, this does not affect Lori, Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen’s ambition to support and care for each other despite the hardships, which is made evident by the writer’s persistent hope for the future. The most significant aspect of this piece was its blunt and unbiased recollection of events that made me have faith in the Walls children, even without the writer’s convincing.

Symbol

In The Glass Castle, Jeannette’s dysfunctional life is captured through tales of mayhem. A specific symbol in the novel that seized my attention due to its continual development from beginning to end, was when Rex Walls describes the zone “known in physics as the boundary between turbulence and order. “’It's a place where no rules apply, or at least they haven't figured 'em out yet,’"(Walls 61). “’The boundary between turbulence and order’” is something that directly represents the Walls family because while they are not completely chaotic to the point of catastrophe, they are by no means orderly in the way that they live their lives. It symbolizes how Rose Mary and Rex Walls view their parenting style as well, holding their children to no rules but to respect one another and to work as a family. The last line of the memoir brings the symbol full circle, “A wind picked up, rattling the windows, and the candle flames suddenly shifted, dancing along the border between turbulence and order,” (Walls 288).

Theme/Motif

Throughout The Glass Castle, the most evident themes are resilience and forgiveness. From Jeannette’s first memory of being burned to her recent life in New York City, the Wall’s children were constant subjects of hurt and disappointment in situations involving their parents, although they continued to forgive them accepting that it was the only option they had. The writer documents many instances where her father made commitments to the family, yet did not keep them for long, getting distracted by his drinking habits. Because of the instability and affliction Jeannette and her siblings endured, the memoir is a true reflection of the Walls children’s resilience during their childhood and early adulthood.

For example, when Jeannette, Brian, and Lori save their hard earned money for months in hopes of sending Lori to New York City to begin a new life, they arrive home to discover that their piggy bank had been crushed and the hundreds of dollars had been stolen. The children rallied together to confront their father, and he replied with a grin, ‘”Well, don’t that beat all,’” (Walls 229). This incident created a sense of determination in the Walls brood to work even harder than they had before to prove that they could make it, without their parents, outside of Welch, West Virginia. By forgiving their father for his wrongdoing, they had displayed the qualities that many lack; the ability to fall, and return even stronger than before. From the beginning, Rex and Rose Mary Walls are forgiven for uprooting, malnourishing, and mistreating their children, because they know, above all else, that by forgiving their parents they could move forward and learn from past mistakes.

Character

Shortly after the memoir begins, Jeannette tells the tale of her dysfunctional childhood and slowly introduces her family as the main characters of her early life. Walls mother, Rose Mary, enters the novel as artistic, energetic, carefree, raising her children based upon common sense and tough love. As the storyline advances, and the Walls family is uprooted from home to home, Rose Mary looses hope with each “adventure”, so she calls it. On the exterior, she seems to be as determined as ever, carrying optimism with her wherever the family relocates, while on the inside, she is quickly deteriorating, loosing the affection and selflessness she once showed toward her children. By the time the Walls arrive in Welch, West Virginia, Rose Mary, is vehemently focusing on her art career.

A shift in tone is established when the family settles in Welch because Mrs. Walls alters her once nurturing aura to that of annoyance and self pity most notably when some mornings she “would refuse to get out of bed” (Walls 207). After a hectic summer in Welch, Rose Mary returns from a teacher’s training camp and announces that, “’It’s time [she] started living [her] life for [her]’” (Walls 218). This cements her emotional detachment from her husband and children, to the point of no return. Rose Mary’s tone in the novel from that moment on is harsh and dismal which ignites a fire in the Walls children to become something better than what their mom has modeled for them. As for Mrs. Wall’s diction, one can easily decipher her rapid approach to depression through her terse, whiney, and demanding language. For the reader, the image of Rose Mary Walls begins as a woman with compassion and determination, although ends with selfishness and instability.

Rhetorical Strategies

Anecdote: “I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster,” (Walls 3).

Imagery: “Then he pointed to the top of the fire, where the snapping yellow flames dissolved into an invisible shimmery heat that made the desert beyond look to waver, like a mirage,” (Walls 61).

Sarcastic Dialogue: “’…what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.’ ‘If that was true, I’d be Hercules by now,’ Lori said.” (Walls 179).

Jeannette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, is built upon anecdotes, which form the tale’s personal tone. The writer’s excessive use of this rhetorical strategy serves the purpose of creating a connection with her readers that carries itself throughout the novel. Walls also employs imagery on many occasions to emphasize her remarkable memory of the childhood stories she shares. While many authors of memoirs use these strategies, Jeannette Walls intertwines other devices to offset the memories, such as humor, verbal irony, and sarcastic dialogue. These show the writer’s purpose in attempting and succeeding to connect with her readers on a personal level.