Social Influence In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Reading has not always been my favorite hobby but this book really intrigued me and gave me further knowledge of the developmental of psychology. In the “Glass Castle” by Jeannette Walls we experience examples of social class differences, social influence, cultural influence, and individual influence. Jeanette uses her own life experiences for our understanding and it explains each family member and their lifestyle. In the book, Jeannette starts with a scene of her on her way to an event, worried about being over-dressed and sees her mother going through a dumpster. She feels guilty but shamed and gloom as well and realized she was socially privileged and skipped the party to embrace her comfortable home that showed individual influence. Due to this incident, she suddenly starts reminiscing her childhood and how her parents choices affected her. After seeing her mother, Jeannette called her mother’s friend due to being homeless to leave a message that led to a lunch meeting later that week. Early in conversation, social class is differentiated as soon as Jeanette expresses she is ashamed of her parents and their homeless lifestyle. Because Jeanette is fortunate, she asks her mother if there is anything she can do to help her. I believe this shows social influence because in Jeanette’s perspective she was
Maureen turned out to be unstable and ended up stabbing her mother. In comparison to Jeanette, I believe Maureen took anger out on her mother for poor parenting and blamed her for instability whereas Jeanette was stable and sane. The family that never acted much as a family soon drifted after Maureen ended up in a mental institution. The father slowly starts to dye due to his life-long chain-smoking and alcoholism. When Jeanette’s father died, it was a forced eye opener for her to see the freedom they allowed her to