Ross 1

Maxwell Ross
English 101/102
Mrs. Gordon
9 September 2016
In the beginning of The Glass Castle, we are given a flashback of the outcome of the
book. We are told of Jeanettes sighting of her mother in New York City, digging through trash.
Jeanette quickly ducks down in the car to be sure that she was not seen, as she is embarrassed by
the thought of someone knowing the truth about her past and her family. Being born into a family
whose first thought at the sign of trouble was to run could permanently shape a person to be the
same way, but Jeanette was an exception to the conformation that usually went along with this
life. Rex and Rosemary, Jeanettes parents, disagreed with the way that the society of the world
did things, so they created their own society which causes the children problems when trying to
function in the outside world. Jeanettes siblings: her younger brother, Bryan, and her older
sister, Lori, were also exceptions to the mass number of kids who grow up to be just like their
parents. The conflicts and situations that she faced as a child influenced the way she fit into
society later in life because she never had a chance to settle and make friends, so her social skills
were weak. She also was taught to argue and speak her mind when she knows she is right which
can cause problems in the world of business. Even in the event of all these influences, she
managed to become a successful writer and function well in the society of the world.
The book is broken up into three sections: Desert, Welch, and New York. This simple
separation of parts heavily describes the constant moving that the family does throughout

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Jeanette Walls life. Whenever its time for the Walls Family to up and leave for the next town,
Rex gathers everyone up and tells them that its time to do the skedaddle. The first experience
with the skedaddle, that we are shown is in the section entitled, The Desert. Jeanette had
been cooking hotdogs on the stove at the age of three, her dress caught on fire and she was
rushed to the hospital with severe burns on her side. Mommy, help me! I shrieked. I was still
standing on the chair, swatting at the fire with the fork I had been using to stir the hot dogs.
(Walls, 5) After spending several days in the hospital and her father repeatedly telling her that
they shouldnt be keeping her in this prison, Rex rushes into the room at the hospital and scoops
her up. He sprints out of the hospital, carrying her to the car. You dont have to worry anymore,
baby, Dad said. Youre safe now. (Walls, 9) Jeanette is taught right then and there that the
outside world is a bad place, and they are doing nothing good for you.
Rex and Rosemary Walls live off the idea, or so it seems, of transcendentalism.
Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in
the eastern region of the United States. The movement was a reaction to, or protest against the
general state of intellectualism and spirituality. Now both the parents believed that an education
was extremely important, but not the education that you received in schools. Rex was a genius
in mathematics and physics, and the mother taught English and Art. The kids attended school a
few years, but most of the elementary education that they absorbed was from their parents. On
the subject of religion, the Walls Family was not necessarily a religious family. The mother was
as devout catholic but believed that the Ten Commandments was really just a list of Ten
Suggestions. Rex Walls, however, believed there was no God. Dad came into the kitchen and
listened. Its the sort of soul-curdling voodoo, he said, that turned me into an atheist.(Walls,

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83) The idea of transcendentalism set them apart from the rest of the world and caused them to
raise their kids the way that they believed that they should be raised, not the way that society
tells them that they should be.
At the age of seventeen, Jeanette packed up and moved to New York, after she had
already sent Lori up there. She finally got away from her parents, got a real job, and was able to
function in the real world, despite all the terrible experiences she had growing up. Seventeen is
hardly grown up, but she didnt have a choice whether to grow up or not. She spent several years
of her life salvaging for food, making do with what she had. She is a true example of the saying,
What doesnt kill you, makes you stronger. The struggles she had as a child shaped her into the
independent woman she is today. Most people would cave in and let those nasty influences shape
their personality and the outcome of their life. However, Jeanette saw a brighter future for herself
and her siblings. The idea that her dad put into her head at such a young age: the idea of the
Glass Castle, kept her head high and her future bright. She never had the option to go back. She
could only move forward.
I do believe that she couldve been just like her parents if she wasnt an individual. If she
conformed to the way her society, or her parents, wanted her to be, she would not have been
able to move out of that life and make a life for herself in New York City. Society shaped her into
what she is today, but it shaped her to be stronger and for the better, not for the preconceived
worse. She kept her eyes on her Glass Castle. I think that maybe sometimes people get the lives
they want (Walls, 162).

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Works Cited
Walls, Jeannette. The Glass Castle. New York: Scribner, 2005. Print.