Summary Of The Novel 'The Glass Castle' By Jeanette Walls

“The Glass Castle” by Jeanette Walls, is a novel about the hardships throughout her life and the several lives of her family and how they overcome those hardships. Within the novel, Jeanette goes into detail about some of the incidents that her parents made and how they each chose a different parenting style. Her father, Rex Walls, was very hands on with his parenting, while contrasting her mother Rose Mary was very relaxed in her parenting technique. In each of the tiny stories Jeanette told during the novel, they each revealed more about how her parents chose to raise her and her siblings. In order to be a successful parent it takes hard work and a lot of effort, but you have to achieve a balance between both hands- on and relaxed parenting.
This balance was never truly achieved between the Walls’ parents, Rex and Rose Mary. While Rex was picking up Jeanette from the hospital once she burned herself (Walls), her mother would be at home painting or involving herself in some other art form to further herself as to becoming a bohemian artist. Rose Mary continued to place all attention on herself and continue to fulfill her dreams, which is something that should not be done once one becomes a mother. As a mother, someone need to be able to be compassionate and loving towards their children and accept them for you they are or might be and sacrifice for them so that they could have one of the most successful lives that they can. In the case of Rose Mary, she fails to do that even though her children may be starving, she still manages to eat a whole chocolate bar by herself.