The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls Analysis

Lindsay Parsons
American Literature Honors
Mrs. Comp
12 November 2014

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls Imagine a childhood where there is persistent moving from place to place, an alcoholic father, a hoarder mother who’s possibly bipolar as well, and when it is decided that the family has settled down, the house in question has no plumbing or heat and is infested with snakes and rats. There is also the likelihood that food will be too expensive and everyone will just have to deal with it. This was life for author Jeannette Walls until the age of 17 when she escaped to
New York to make a new life for herself, without her quirky parents, Rex and Rose Mary. While any of the aforementioned events above have the weight to significantly make an impact on
He aims to follow up on his promise, and while certainly the physical pain from withdrawal led him to go back to drinking, the memories also were too much to handle: “Dad’s delirium continued for days...One night when we were eating dinner, Dad let out a particularly hideous cry” (Walls 117). Walls disseminates the dependency her father has for alcohol since his use has been an outlet for him to dull the pain he has suffered through. Rex’s remembrances of all the terrible things he undergoes weighs on his shoulders throughout his attempts to quit. He could not handle not having a source of solace that allowed him to quickly and easily numb the traumatic incidents in his life. His drinking became a catastrophic habit that felt too ‘good’ to desert. Walls also uses her diction to emphasize the pain Rex refuses to address. The word ‘hideous’ reflects the built­up pain he has buried deep within himself that he now has to acknowledge because of the sudden lack of solace in alcohol.
Another case in which Walls uses the motif of alcoholism is in the abuse of it, which leads to the emotional and financial turmoil the Walls family undergoes. When the family
It is also upsetting to the family’s financial circumstances, as their mother, Rose Mary, is unwilling to work, so Rex is depended on being the primary breadwinner. However, this isn’t

exactly possible because of Rex disappearing. Instead, Rex is ‘focused on striking it rich’, which isn’t a realistic dream, and won’t put in the effort in a real job. The alcohol he consumes is responsible for his disappearances and vagueness, and the family’s financial and emotional circumstances are on a tightrope, leading to a deep separation between him and his children.
This novel is full of elements that point to Rex Walls’ alcoholism and the consequences it brings upon his family. It is revealed through Jeannette Walls’ remembrances that alcohol is a manipulatin outlet that only destroys and separates families. In The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls perfectly uses the motif of alcoholism to depict the theme of when an individual turns to destructive outlets to minimize their pain, it causes great separation within the family dynamic.

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