The Glass Castle… A Tale of Family Dysfunctionality

	As I was striding through Barnes and Noble in search of a good read, I came across the noteworthy memoir, The Glass Castle, by the New York Times best-selling author, Jeannette Walls. While I was reading the synopsis of the memoir, I immediately found myself becoming more and more interested in what life is like from the perspective of an adolescent who was born into a dysfunctional family. Throughout the span of two weeks, as I was relishing my leisure time reading this exceptional book, I realized that I had a lot to say about it. 

		I began reading the first few pages, and I was somewhat perplexed. In the opening scenes of her memoir, Jeannette is an adult living in the Big Apple. Jeannette was driving in a taxi cab to a party, and when taking a glimpse out her window, she noticed her own mother dumpster diving in search of food. This took me off guard because I was confused about why she began her memoir in this particular way. Why is her mother dumpster diving for food? All I told myself was that it was too early in the book to ask questions. Jeannette expresses a sense of guilt and self-loathing and realizes how comfortable and well-off she was living her life while witnessing her own mother picking out food from a dumpster. When reading and analyzing this first scene of the book, I was thinking about how I would feel witnessing my own mother scavenging around in a pile of trash. Imagine witnessing your parents, who raised you into the individual you are, just to see them living life in the gutters? Approaching the next scene, Jeannette decided to contact her mother to meet for lunch. During their lunchtime, Jeannette insisted on supporting her parents and tending to their every need as they were living on the streets of New York with no food or shelter. Jeannette’s mother declined this offer as she thought that Jeannette was embarrassed to see her mother’s pride in her lifestyle on the streets. In many scenarios, it makes sense to see parents declining their children’s aid when life does not go their way. They do this because they do not want their children to worry about them, nor do they want to see their issues and dilemmas affecting their children’s prosperous lifestyle. Unfortunately, this is not the case with Jeannette’s mother. When Jeannette was attempting to assist her parents just because of her unconditional love for them, her mother made it seem like it was an insult. This scene truly reveals a glimpse into Jeannette’s family dynamic as one can infer that she came from an impoverished family, with neglectful parents. I realized that the only reason she became prosperous in her late adulthood was by achieving success independently without her parent's help. 

	Once Jeannette ends these two scenes of her late adulthood, she reverts to her adolescent years. She begins her flashback by mentioning a particular event in which she burned almost half of her body in a stove-related accident. She was rushed to the hospital and was supposed to stay there for six weeks. After six weeks had passed, she was sent back home. In preparation for her departure from the hospital, Jeannette’s father, Rex, rushed Jeannette out of the hospital without paying the hospital bill. He called this scheme “checking out Rex Walls-style”. A month later after this event, her father, late at midnight, disrupted everyone from their sleep, letting them know that they must leave town immediately. This would happen so often in Jeannette’s early life, when her family constantly moved from place to place. Her father would name this procedure, “Doing the skedaddle.” The reason for their nomadic lifestyle was due to her father trying to avoid bill collectors. If one thinks about these scenes in a deeper sense, they would know that when a child is developing and maturing, their role model is generally a close family member, typically their father or mother. This claim corresponds with Jeannette in her early years of childhood development being the shadow of her father. Jeannette’s father was her heroic figure. Being a child who does not have their mind fully developed enough to understand right from wrong, Jeannette was too gullible to understand that her father’s grotesque behavior, was not alright and that the crimes he committed could have sentenced him to many years behind bars. I remember myself as a young adolescent always looking up to my father, and imitating his every move. The only difference between me and Jeannette was that my father was not a crook. As the Walls’ moved from place to place, like nomads, young Jeannette believed that her family's nomadic lifestyle was like the beginning of a new adventure. One can tell that Jeannette truly was thrilled with this lifestyle due to her father’s influence. Since she wrote this memoir as an adult reflecting on her childhood, it can be assumed that it was only when Jeannette was mature enough, that she was able to understand that her father was not her knight and shining armor, but was rather a crook. Of course, she loved her father unconditionally. However, when finding out that a loved one has stabbed you in the back, by lying to you at such a gullible age, you would probably view the world in a more twisted manner. How can one encounter life knowing that their loved one betrayed them, especially when it is one’s father, who gave birth to them? A parent is someone that a child can trust no matter the circumstance. If I were in that position, I would not know how I would approach life in the future, knowing deep down that I cannot trust the people I love. 

During her youth, Jeannette looked up to her father as her hero, despite being too innocent to realize that everything her father did was corrupt and illegal. For instance, in one specific scene, when the Walls’ went on a family trip to a hot spring. Rex was trying to teach Jeannette how to swim. One would assume that they were relishing their father-daughter bonding time, like any typical parent-child scenario, correct? Well, in my opinion, I do not think that the term “father-daughter bonding” is when the father continuously tosses his daughter into a lake, knowing clearly that she does not have any experience with swimming and is actually about to drown. Her father’s behavior did not come from Jeannette as all fun and jokes at first. He asked for forgiveness and insisted that the reason he threw her into a pool of water was because he truly loved her. This caused Jeannette to obviously accept his apology. This exhibited Jeannette’s sense of innocence as a young adolescent, not comprehending that her parents were toxic and harmful human beings. Yes, Rex truly loved his children, though, in my opinion, he needed to take a good moment to think to himself and realize that he needed to prioritize the important matters in his life, which in this case are his own children. Rex needed to understand that the nomadic lifestyle he forced his family to be a part of, his alcohol abuse, and his crooked status were only hurting his children. I am not saying that they won’t be successful in the future. I am simply saying that because of Rex’s flaws, his children will remember their childhood as traumatizing. Because they lived in poverty, with neglectful parents, Jeannette, and her siblings were forced to steal food from friends, classmates, and neighbors. They even had to dumpster dive so they did not starve themselves to death. Since their parents have nothing to put on the table, due to the father being a chronic alcoholic and the mother being in her own world, Jeannette and her siblings had to go to their last resort of digging through a pile of trash if they ever wanted to eat again. Imagine having to live a life where your only source of acquiring a meal is from either being a thief or having to go through unsanitary trash? As I was reading this particular scene, my heart shattered into pieces. These children who did not even begin their lives, having to search for food to aid their survival, infuriate me with a passion. At this point, I do not feel upset or disappointed to see the Walls’ children dealing with this crisis- I feel irritated and angry. This part of the memoir, in my opinion, is extremely impactful as Jeannette demonstrates how vulnerable she and her siblings were as children. The purpose of her including this sentimental touch is to guide the reader in understanding how challenging and miserable her life was. All I know is that I would never in a million years have my children dig through a pile of garbage to find a meal.

	Later in her memoir, Jeannette transitions from her early life as a young innocent girl, to her early life during her teenage years. As Jeannette matured and aged into a teenage girl, she took a multitude of responsibilities into her own hands, such as controlling the family budget. One day, Rex asks Jeannette if she could lend him some money from the family budget. Of course, Jeannette allowed her father to do so, but he had to pay all that he took from the budget as they could not take the risk of losing money. Time passed, and Jeannette noticed that her father was in debt for the money he had taken. Rex avoided paying his debt, as he always did, and attempted to distract Jeanette by inviting her to meet up with his friends. During their plans, Rex decided to distract Jeannette from him owing her money, by having one of his friends, Robbie, spend alone time with her. When I say, “one of his friends”, I most certainly mean a middle-aged man alone with a minor. How could a father set up his daughter to be alone with a stranger, especially when that stranger was older than his daughter by a good few years? This might seem like the worst, but wait until you hear this. Not only did Robbie agree to spend time with a minor, but he attempted to rape Jeannette. If it was not for Jeannette realizing that Robbie was trying to lure his body onto hers, this occurrence could have taken a turn of events. Poor Jeannette! No girl in the world should ever go through this. If you thought that Jeannette almost becoming a rape victim was atrocious, wait until you find out that her father told her that what Robbie did was “no big deal.” Excuse me? How can a parent have the audacity to tell his daughter that this almost-to-be-raped crime was, nothing too important? This scene hit me hard. Tears began sliding down my cheeks. Jeannette Walls could have been a rape victim. This scene made me realize how terrible and vulnerable she was. Jeannette was conveying how she went through a myriad of traumatizing challenges in her youth, causing her to be haunted even as an adult. Could her early life get any worse? Unfortunately, it did. Jeannette and her siblings, Lori and Brian were trying to save up money as they planned to run away to New York away from their parents. They noticed that all this money they made with their hard work completely vanished. Their parents stole it. Despite their parent's foul and disgusting behavior, they did not give up and made sure to make the money they lost back so they could leave their hell hole of a family. Fortunately, they made their dream come true; they got away from their parents. They started new lives. Now they can change their whole perspective of the world without having to deal with their parents' filthy behavior. 

I was on a rollercoaster of emotions after completing this unhinged memoir. It amazes me how people can be so evil, especially those in whom you put all your trust into. I finally understand the purpose of this memoir. Jeannette Walls’s intent in writing this novel was to teach individuals that they have the power and the ability to change their lives around even when obstacles come their way, such as being raised in a dysfunctional family. Jeannette truly succeeded in making her purpose and intent clear as it made me realize that I possess the power to control my own life. I was able to make genuine and powerful connections by comparing my own life to hers. You see, I come from a middle-to-high-class family, with loving and protective parents, who send me to a private Jewish school. Jeannette was the opposite of that. Taking a glimpse at her life in a dysfunctional family has made me realize how thankful I am to have parents who love and care for me unconditionally. 

	For anyone who wants an exceptional read, please read this heartfelt memoir.