TOW #16: "The Glass Castle: by Jeannette Walls (Part 2)

     The second half of the memoir The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls consists of her life as a young adult and is filled with themes and ideas pertaining to growth and the loss of innocence. Once the Walls pack up their ruined life in Phoenix, they plan to move to Jeannette's father's hometown of Welch, West Virginia. There, Jeannette and her siblings, Lori, Brian, and Maureen, meet their paternal grandparents, Erma and Grandpa, and their Uncle Stanley. The Walls are forced to live in the basement of Erma's and Grandpa's house, where they can stay safe from Erma's cold personality. There, Jeannette learns many lessons about racial discrimination, family life, and why her father is the way he is. At the end of the book, Lori discovers what it is like to be a normal kid and decides to move to New York City. She is then followed by Jeannette, Brian, and Maureen. Walls wrote The Glass Castle for those who had normal childhoods so she could share the story of her eccentric childhood. In the last section of her novel, Jeannette Walls uses juxtaposition to achieve her purpose of conveying the themes of hypocrisy and selfishness in her mother's and father's parenting.
     Throughout the novel, Walls characterizes her father as an erratic and aggressive alcoholic and her mother as an aloof, irresponsible bystander. In fact, in one section of the book, Walls wrote about how her father once came home in the middle of the night and asked her to stitch up his arm, regardless of her obvious disgust and reluctance. Walls also wrote about how she and Brian once found a diamond ring, but rather than selling the ring to pay for food and other necessities, their mother wanted to keep it to "boost her self-esteem." Walls later contrasts these moments of selfishness with her and her siblings' hard work and determination in their work. As adults, Jeannette, Lori, and Brian made so many sacrifices in order to do what was right for them and their loved ones. With this use of juxtaposition, Walls effectively achieves her purpose of conveying the themes of hypocrisy and selfishness throughout her childhood.