What are some themes of the Glass Castle?
- Family. The Walls family in The Glass Castle is more like a traveling circus than the Family Circus.
- Home. The Walls family lives a nomadic lifestyle.
- Perseverance.
- Wealth.
- Society and Class.
- Coming of Age.
- Identity.
- Freedom and Confinement.
What is the main tone of the Glass Castle?
Tone for “The glass castle”. The beginning tone of “The glass castle” is a free and innocent view of life and how things work. The main character Jeannette enjoyed her nomadic lifestyle driving around with her family. The tone of “The glass castle” is also sad and angry because of her lifestyle. As Jeannette grew older she realized ...
What is the main idea for the Glass Castle?
- Summary. Read our full plot summary and analysis of The Glass Castle, scene by scene break-downs, and more.
- Characters. See a complete list of the characters in The Glass Castle and in-depth analyses of Jeannette Walls, Dad (Rex Walls), and Mom (Rose Mary Walls).
- Literary Devices. ...
- Quotes. ...
- Quizzes. ...
- Essays. ...
- Further Study. ...
What is the summary of the Glass Castle?
“The Glass Castle” follows the life of Walls and her three siblings, Lori, Brian and Maureen, as they attempt to navigate poverty-stricken life and the delusions of their parents.
What is the message behind glass castle?
The Glass Castle Themes. Theme is a pervasive idea presented in a literary piece. Jeannette Walls' The Glass Castle presents the dilemma of familial relations and also demonstrates different facets of human personality such as self-sufficiency, love with the world of fantasy, and parental irresponsibility.
How is family a theme in The Glass Castle?
Family bonds are another of the biggest The Glass Castle themes. Jeannette felt trapped between wanting a life free from her parents and the guilt of allowing them to languish on the streets. She hid her past from everyone in her life.
What is the importance of The Glass Castle?
For much of Jeannette's childhood, Dad's promise to build the Glass Castle represents both the family's hope and Jeannette's hero worship of Dad, but, as Jeannette grows older, the castle comes to symbolize his broken promises.
How is forgiveness a theme in The Glass Castle?
One of the most important themes in The Glass Castle is forgiveness. People may some mistakes in many situations in their lives, by forgiving them you make yourself free of your anger, judgements and your bitterness. Jeannette and her brother and sisters are almost always forgiving their irresponsible parents.
What's the meaning of theme in literature?
A literary theme is the main idea or underlying meaning a writer explores in a novel, short story, or other literary work. The theme of a story can be conveyed using characters, setting, dialogue, plot, or a combination of all of these elements.
How does The Glass Castle symbolize hope?
To Jeanette and her siblings the Glass Castle is a symbol of hope, to the mother, it is a symbol of relaxation and what life would be like without responsibilities, and to dad, it symbolizes every broken promise he has made to his children, but in the Glass Castle, he has not broken a single one.… show more content…
What does Tinkerbell symbolize in The Glass Castle?
Tinkerbell symbolizes Jeannette herself. Jeannette develops a fascination with fire, but deep down she still possess a fear of it that is shown through Tinkerbell's fearful eyes. Tinkerbell is deformed now, unable to be patched together, just as Jeannette will always have scars from her burns on the inside and out.
What is the summary of The Glass Castle?
The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly.
Why is the event when Brian and Jeannette burned the shed down important, and why is what the dad said significant?
One afternoon, while exploring the nearby dump, Brian and Jeannette mix together various hazardous waste liquids in an old shed and set it on fire....
How does Jeannette define living somewhere?
Chapter please?
Why do you think Walls opens the book with this story? What do you now want to find out?
The memoir's beginning lays bare all of Jeannette's hitherto pent up insecurities about her troubled past. Though she has escaped the substandard c...
What is the Glass Castle about?
Growing Up, Illusion, and Disillusion. The Glass Castle is the story of Jeannette Walls’s development from childhood into adulthood. It’s a story, therefore, of her growing up—a bildungsroman.
What does the glass castle represent?
In The Glass Castle, physical objects often become symbolically significant, standing in for a character’s personality or dreams, from Jeannette’s rock collection that signify her desire for order to Brian’s army soldiers that foreshadow his eventual choice of career.
What is the theme of the Glass Castle?
Abuse. Another one of The Glass Castle themes is abuse. Jeannette describes several instances in which she or her siblings are abused. Shortly after Erma’s death, Uncle Stanley burned their house down after falling asleep with a cigarette. He and his father moved to a small apartment in town.
What did the family eat in The Glass Castle?
These themes from The Glass Castle are shown through stories like this one. The family ate pinto beans day after day until they ran out. Sometimes they’d have popcorn for dinner if that was all the food left. When the checks were big enough, Rose Mary would buy a large canned ham, and they’d feast on thick slices.
What was Jeannette's life like on Park Avenue?
Life on Park Avenue was more than Jeannette ever dreamed possible for her life, and she was thriving at the magazine. She made good money and wrote a weekly column, which was basically a gossip column about prominent figures in the New York social scene.
Why did Rose Mary want Jeannette to write?
Rose Mary thought Jeannette had sold out. She wanted Jeannette to write important stories about social inequality and housing issues.
What does the hunger of Jeannette and her siblings show?
She told Jeannette she shouldn’t be so picky and to just cut around the maggots. The hunger Jeannette and her siblings experience shows The Glass Castle themes of abuse and neglect.
What is the theme of the book The Glass Castle?
The title of the book and a major theme within it, the Glass Castle represents Rex's hope for a magical, fantastic life in which he can provide for his family and please his children. Rex lays out plans for the Glass Castle, including detailed dimensions for each of the children's rooms, but he never actually builds the castle.
What does fire represent in Jeannette?
The work contains a number of other fires that claim houses, sheds, and injure other characters. It can be said to represent a trend of chaos that is both natural and staged by man.
What does Rex and Rose Mary Walls insist on?
Rex and Rose Mary Walls also insist that their children are special and that they need not conform to the societal norm. Rex is even a little saddened when his son Brian joins the Air Force, what Rex considers "the gestapo." Nonconformity also impacts the elder Walls' relation to authority. Neither of them is capable of taking orders from authority very well. Rex gets into arguments and fights with bosses and law enforcement, and Rose Mary struggles to conform to the idea of a teaching job. She prefers the carefree and self-defined life as an artist, which does not force her to conform to another person's style or schedule beside her own.
What happens to the Walls children after Rex begins drinking?
In a way, the Walls children live in perpetual proximity to this boundary. After Rex begins drinking heavily and there is no food in the house, they begin scavenging for food and clothing through various means and enter into a place where rules and order no longer exist.
What does Rose Mary see in the desert?
The tree that Rose Mary spots in the desert is indicative of the effect the struggles of life have on each of the characters in the memoir. Constantly blown by wind, the Joshua tree grows sideways, not upwards and, as Rose Mary declares, becomes beautiful because of its struggle. The Walls children can be seen as individual Joshua trees, their lives shaped by the constantly blowing wind of their parents' frequent moves and questionable habits. Jeannette tries to resist this force at first when living in New York. She does not want anyone to know about her past or judge her for allowing her parents to remain homeless. However, her attempts to grow upwards despite the constantly blowing wind are averted and she eventually succumbs like the Joshua tree, and grows sideways, finally allowing her struggle to be heard.
What are the Walls children?
The Walls children can be seen as individual Joshua trees, their lives shaped by the constantly blowing wind of their parents ' frequent moves and questionable habits. Jeannette tries to resist this force at first when living in New York.
Does Rex build a glass castle?
Rex lays out plans for the Glass Castle, including detailed dimensions for each of the children's rooms, but he never actually builds the castle. For a long time Jeannette believes that he will but she gives up on the hope after the hole they dig for the foundation of the Glass Castle is filled with garbage.
What is the theme of the Glass Castle?
Forgiveness. One of the most important themes in The Glass Castle is forgiveness. People may some mistakes in many situations in their lives, by forgiving them you make yourself free of your anger, judgements and your bitterness.
Does Jeannette Walls forgive her parents?
Jeannette Walls always forgives her parents for whatever they are going through and show the readers if people refuse to forgive others, they relegate themselves to living in the past and never being in the present moment, where all the good things in life happen. Alcoholism has harmful effects on family life.
What is the Glass Castle about?
The Glass Castle is an interesting book following the story of the young author Jeanette Walls. This book follows her during the time she spends with her dysfunctional family growing up. This books tittle is symbolic of the overall book in its whole, and takes up a large amount of the authors life in the process. The many different characters represent and really show why The Glass Castle was chosen as for the title of the book. With the many events and characters in the book it can be easily seen
Why is the glass castle important?
The Glass Castle was a symbol of hope for all of the children, they counted on it for their future; when it was forgotten about by their dad, the hope of a better future faded away along with the hope they had in their father. This book was titled The Glass Castle for at least one main reason. This novel describes Jeannette’s childhood and one of the biggest things that she heard about during that time was from her dad when he said that he was going to build a glass castle for their family. “When
What is the theme of Childhood VS. Adulthood?
The theme of Childhood VS. Adulthood is a reoccurring theme that illustrates Holden’s struggle to forget about the past and dwell in the future. In the novel, there are three symbols that Holden associates with the past. First, the red hunting hat signifies the importance of Allie Caulfield’s life, Holden wearing the hat backwards, and Holden giving the hat to Phoebe. Second, the museums are an indication of Holden’s adoration of mummies’, the glass cases within the museums
What is the theme of the book "Forgiveness"?
Forgiveness is the major theme of this memoir. The author proves over and over again how she holds no bad feelings toward her parents and the horrendous childhood she endured through their neglect. No matter how many times her parents either betray, frustrate, belittle, or scare her half to death, Walls finds some way of turning their actions into deeds of love. She never points fingers at her parents, blaming them for their neglect. Even though she sometimes would like to tell them what she honestly thinks of them, she holds these thoughts to herself and continues to nod her head in their favor. Her mother and father both squander money on themselves, often leaving their children with no food or warm clothes. And still, Walls does not wallow in self pity. She sees who her parents are and moves on, finding solutions for her problems through pure determination to survive.
What is the theme of Unconditional Love?
Unconditional love is another theme, one that is closely related to forgiveness. Though she is anxious to get away from her parents and the life they have made her suffer through, Walls still loves her parents. She is disappointed when her parents follow her and her siblings to New York, and yet she loves them enough to want to help them better their living conditions. She never turns her back on them, though she certainly has enough reasons to do so. The only time that she pushes her father away is when she graduates from college and does not invite him to her commencement. She is afraid that he will show up drunk and begin to argue with the valedictorian. She carries some guilt inside of her because of this and later apologizes to Rex. But that is the only time she comes close to faltering in her love, especially for her father.
