The Glass Castle Symbolism
Big, smooth, shiny, luxurious, polished. Comfortable, serene, extravagant - the glass castle. In the memoir, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, the image of the glass Castle was Jeannette’s symbol of trust in her dad that he would stop drinking and strike it rich to get them out of poverty, so that the family could live a better life. Jeannette’s father was an alcoholic and her mom was unmotivated. The family moved around frequently while living on their dad’s low paying series of odd jobs. While still believing in the glass castle and her father, Jeannette grapples with the struggles of a lower social class, such as hunger and bullying from other kids and her parents, which implements the mentality of shooting for bigger dreams despite
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Jeannette and her siblings were constantly getting bullied from other kids, in school and the neighborhood, for being too poor. The Walls’ children also underwent a lot of bullying from their parents. During Jeannette’s first days at her school in Welch, she got an abundance of bullying from a group of girls. Jeannette describes one of their encounters, “‘This girl ain’t got no buttons on her coat!’ she shouted. That seemed to give her the license she needed. She pushed me in the chest, and I fell backward. I tried to get up, but all three girls started kicking me” (139). Jeannette knew that she looked poor and recognized that the girls were badgering her for being poor, and that they got their power because they thought they were better than Jeannette. Jeannette’s tone of struggling and defeat displays how she’s tired of getting pushed around and bullied for the social class that she lived in, which drove her to become better and make big goals for herself. While recalling one of these many fights, Jeannette admits her acceptance of her living condition when she says, “As we fought, they called me poor and ugly and dirty, and it was hard to argue with” (140). Other kids were always teasing the Walls’ about their living conditions and seemed to find joy in hurting the children physically and verbally for living in the poverty that they were in. Jeannette’s use of the words “it’s hard to argue with” shows her
Jeannette and her siblings were constantly getting bullied from other kids, in school and the neighborhood, for being too poor. The Walls’ children also underwent a lot of bullying from their parents. During Jeannette’s first days at her school in Welch, she got an abundance of bullying from a group of girls. Jeannette describes one of their encounters, “‘This girl ain’t got no buttons on her coat!’ she shouted. That seemed to give her the license she needed. She pushed me in the chest, and I fell backward. I tried to get up, but all three girls started kicking me” (139). Jeannette knew that she looked poor and recognized that the girls were badgering her for being poor, and that they got their power because they thought they were better than Jeannette. Jeannette’s tone of struggling and defeat displays how she’s tired of getting pushed around and bullied for the social class that she lived in, which drove her to become better and make big goals for herself. While recalling one of these many fights, Jeannette admits her acceptance of her living condition when she says, “As we fought, they called me poor and ugly and dirty, and it was hard to argue with” (140). Other kids were always teasing the Walls’ about their living conditions and seemed to find joy in hurting the children physically and verbally for living in the poverty that they were in. Jeannette’s use of the words “it’s hard to argue with” shows her