Book Report on Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 1

Book Report on Jeannette Wall’s Glass Castle

Book Report on Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 2 Jeannette Walls's story is one that gives the reader an idea of what it is like to grow up in a very complex and often self-destructive family system. Jeannette Walls's memoir Glass Castle begins with her riding in a taxi through contemporary New York City on her way to a party. As she looks out the taxi window, Jeannette sees her mother digging through a dumpster. Even though her mother had been homeless for years, Jeannette was all of a sudden filled with shame and gloom about her mother's life. Jeannette then begins to reflect on her childhood and how her Mom and Dad's choices affected her. The story then transitions to a three-year-old Jeannette and her story of catching her dress on fire while cooking her dinner. After a few days in the hospital, Jeannette's father shows up, lifts Jeannette out of bed, and leaves the hospital without paying the bill. The memoir continues with the family moving town to town in the American Southwest. Only staying in one place until Jeannette's father could no longer hold a job, or her mother demanding they spontaneously uproot and start again. Jeannette's father's paranoia about the state and organized society, coupled with his alcoholism, leads them to move more and more frequently. Finally, they settle down in a small mining town, Battle Mountain, Nevada, for a few months; where Jeannette enjoys adventuring in the desert to escape her current world. Jeannette's mother even takes a break from her art projects to hold down a job as a teacher to extend their stay. This stay only lasted till an altercation with the law forces the family to move yet again. Moving to Phoenix, Arizona to live in a house Jeannette's mother inherited. One Jeannette's tenth birthday she asked her father to give up drinking. His sobriety lasts a few weeks before falling back into his old ways. In an attempt to help her husband Jeannette's mother convinces the family to move to Welch, West Virginia. This small, poor mining town is where Jeannette's father was raised, and she soon meets her abusive grandmother. After some time living with her grandmother, Jeannette and her older sister find their grandmother taking sexual advantage of their little brother. The family then moves to a small rundown shack in the poorest section of town. From this point on Jeannette's father's drinking gets worse,

Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 3 and Jeannette begins to contemplate her parents decisions as she enters adolescence. When Jeannette's older sister Lori graduates high school they both plan to move to New York City. Despite a few setbacks, the two sisters were able to accomplish their dream. As Jeannette obtains her dream job as a reporter, her and Lori's lives begin to stabilize. They soon ask their younger brother and sister, Brian and Maureen to move in with them. Feeling abandoned Jeannette's parent follow them to New York and are quickly homeless. Three of the four sibling are quickly able to support themselves. Unfortunately, the youngest Maureen deals with insanity and at one-point stab her mother causing her to live the rest of her life in a mental institution. After her father's death Jeannette is forced to examine her life. Jeannette's Walls incredible story is full of many social and family dynamics that are not common to many families. From an early age, Jeannette and her siblings were caring for themselves.The fact that Jeannette was cooking her own dinner at age three shows how independent these children were forced to become. Throughout the novel, this ability to be independent was extremely important to their survival. Growing up in an unstable home like this had to have a lasting effect on all of the individuals involved. According to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs an individual must full fill each lower stage before they can move on to the next. In Jeannette's case, many members of her family failed to full fill the most basic of needs, the "Psychological and Biological" stage. Without this most basic stage, unfulfilled it makes individual development much more difficult. Although this may have been a disadvantage at first, it is another concept of Maslow's Hierarchy that gives hope to Jeannette and her siblings. "The deficiency, or basic needs are said to motivate people when they are unmet. Also, the need to fulfill such needs will become stronger the longer the duration they are denied"(Maslow). This denial of their basic needs forces Jeannette and her siblings to seek to full fill their needs and build as individuals. This fulfillment is made possible when they are removed from their psychologically constrictive family system.

Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 4 From a young age, Jeannette proved to be very intelligent like her father, but due to the difunctional family system she was apart of she wasn't able to reach her full potential until she moved to New York. In Jeannette's memoir, she says, "part of myself thrives on the reckless freedom my parents have instilled in me" (Walls). This instilled recklessness becomes apparently clear when Jeannette divorces her first husband just for a change of pace. I believe this is in part due to Jeannette frequently watched her parents fight throughout her childhood. This factor alone may have had an effect on how Jeannette and her siblings would perceive and respond to adult relationships. As for Jeannette's youngest sister Maureen she did not learn to adjust to the world outside of this family system. Once she moved to New York with her sisters is the first time Jeannette noticed she had some form of mental illness. It wasn't until she snapped and stabbed her own mother that she was sent away for treatment. I do believe that growing up in the middle of that dysfunctional family system caused a majority of Maureen's mental illness. Although other factors like her genetic makeup could have aided in her mental illness, I believe that the lack of stability growing up is a larger factor. One topic I believe could be applied to this novel is the difference in the characters perception. Jeannette and her mother obviously have different perceptions of the world. Jeannette' mother finds to completely acceptable to live homeless and free of responsibilities and find happiness in the adventure. Whereas Jeannette was able to notice the error of her parents ways and finds comfort in the life, she never had till she moved to New York. When it come to treating this family system, I feel that getting the father help to manage his alcohol addiction would be the first step. During the novel, the family experienced stability when Jeannette's father wasn't drinking. Due to his drinking Jeannette's father was unable to hold a job and ultimately died from his addiction. Questions about how Jeannette's father (Rex Walls's) mother treated him were also raised when they find that Brian was molested by his grandmother. Rex Wall's relationship with his mother may provide some insight into why he lives such an unstable life and his addition. Jeannette Walls memoir Glass Castle is an

Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls 5 insightful story into how an uncommon family system operates and what the effects of poverty, instability, and abuse can have on every individual in the family. Resources

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs | Simply Psychology. (n.d.). Retrieved from http:// www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

Walls, Jeannette. (2005) The glass castle: a memoir New York: Scribner,