The Glass Castle Analysis

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In life, the way one is raised has an overarching impact on how they turn out later in life regarding personality, success, relationships, and so on. Each protagonist in the three books read this semester demonstrate different parental obstacles that shaped them for better or for worse. Jeannette Walls grew up among parents who were uncaring and reckless, letting their children raise themselves. On the other hand, Clara Lemlich’s parents fight to control every aspect of her life and attempt to stifle her need for education and equality. Finally, Marjane Satrapi grew up around parents who were utterly devoted to their cause, often times causing them to be distant and materialistic. While all of these parenting styles are different, they all…show more content…
Neither of the Walls parents possess traits that would add up to being a good parent. Thus, their parenting skills are not at a normal or functioning level. Rex and Rosemary Walls are never completely involved in their children's lives. While Rex does have the occasional moment of paternal care, the majority of his time is spent gambling, drinking, or out in town for days at a time. Jeannette even asks him at a young age to stop drinking, explaining that “mom would be a lot happier. Plus, we’d have the extra money (pg 117).” Along with this, Rex seems to sabotage his children as they strive towards success. When saving up money to leave town, he steals Jeanette and Lori’s money to get to New York. Rosemary Walls is no better as she tends to revert to behavior that would better suit a child, focusing her attention on her self-proclaimed art career rather than the three children in her care. Both parents were negligent which, as a result, forced Jeannette and her siblings to become self-sufficient and independent. The independence gained from her experiences with the parenting she received helped drive Jeannette into becoming who she is today. As a result, Walls knew how to survive and was adamant about not becoming like her parents, leading her down the path to a higher level education, a successful career, and, eventually, her fame…show more content…
From the beginning, the author makes it obvious that Clara Lemlich lives a restricted life. This is a combination of culture and parental strategies as geographic location plays a large role in a child's life as well. Combined with the controlling nature of her parents and the cultural expectations put in place for a young woman, Lemlich develops the want for more out of her life. She turns to books and education, wanting to be a doctor despite her parents own agendas. There were many occasions in which they burned the young girls books, such as when Crowder writes “the kitchen stove squeals as he pries open the door, hurls my books on by one into the fire (pg 35),” though this does not extinguish her passion for knowledge. Nothing seems to change from a parenting perspective when the family moves to New York City as they continue to be a domineering factor in Clara’s life. However, these moments only seem to strengthen Lemlich’s resolve to fight for a better future and almost appear to drive her towards forming a union. The controlling nature of her parents, especially when paired up with their new home in America where they have a glimpse at what life can be like, molds the protagonist into such an influential figure in worker equality. She is able to show that despite how she was raised and despite what expectations she had growing up, she was still able
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