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In Jeanette Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, the author and protagonist reveal the decrepit setting that she and her siblings lived in, while she exposes how she loses her infatuation with her parents. She soon realizes that they are not deserving of any credit for utter neglect of their parental responsibilities. This passage reveals the setting to be extremely dysfunctional as they do not have the basic requirements for life.  Jeanette lives an impoverished lifestyle, and she states, “But month after month, the money would disappear before the next paycheck arrived, and once more I’d find myself rooting in the garbage at school for food” (Walls 197). The Walls family is constantly unable to make ends meet, while usually living paycheck to paycheck. Jeanette is always confused as to how other parents are able to manage feeding their children. This marks the beginning of the breakdown of the hero worshipping of Jeanette to her parents.  She begins to start seeing the extent of their negligence and how little it concerns them that they are dehumanizing their own children. The narrator’s disillusionment begins by her comparison of her parents to others as she thinks, “Other moms did it. I tried quizzing her. Was she spending the money on herself? Was she giving it to Dad? Was Dad stealing it?” (198). Here the author reveals feelings towards her parents that she had always suppressed; she starts to accept the reality of suffering caused by her their negligence.  The common theme of hero worship causing suffering is prominent throughout the memoir; it results in the suffering of Jeanette and her siblings. The situation eventually became so desperate that the children took over the role of the adults. The passage states, “Lori and I did work out a budget, and we included a generous amount for Mom to cover luxury’s such as extra-large Hershey bars and cut crystal vases” (198). Not only were the children considerate of their mothers needs and wants before their own, but they were concerned enough about their family’s well being to attempt at taking control of the on-going money struggle. Through this situation Lori and Jeanette realized that they had a false sense of security in their parents, as they felt like it was their own responsibility to manage what their mom allocates money towards. It is evident that having to take on this adult role at a younger age created a loss of childhood innocence which had lasting effects. Using insight into the Walls’ family and developing the theme portrayed in Jeanette’s memoir, the author reveals the impact her parent’s behaviours had on her development. As a result of their selfishness, Jeanette had been put through a childhood of abuse and neglect.

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The child abuse described in great detail in the memoir Glass castle is reflected today especially during the pandemic were instances of domestic abuse and violence, including child abuse are increasing. The looming loss of wages have resulted in incredible stress and frustrations to those who are forced to stay home with out-of-work parents. A recent article by CBC News brings awareness to the common situation of abuse rates rising from the pandemic as it states, “Calling it a disturbing trend, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario says the number of children under one presenting with fractures and head trauma since September has more than doubled compared to the same period the previous year” (CBC News). Today, struggles in the home due to the pandemic, are causing more parents to neglect and abuse their children. Similarly, in The Glass Castle, Jeanette and her siblings are constantly faced with neglect from their parents who struggle with money and have no structure which creates a great amount of stress. The pandemic today, has caused a significant amount of job losses, which is a cause of the increasing homelessness. Many families cannot provide for their children or even themselves, as it states, “It’s a stressful time for parents and caregivers. We all know it takes a village to raise a child. With staying at home during the pandemic, it can feel like the village is gone” (CBC News). Parents have to juggle work and multiple chores that they cannot hire help for, while still being able to preform perfectly for their job. The modern parent is focused on providing children with more than just the necessities in a difficult time, which is still significantly better than what the Walls’ parents did. There is so much that goes into raising a child, and Jeanette’s parents barely did any of these things for her.

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Jeanette Wall’s prose, The Glass Castle brings up a very personal question about why my parents strive so hard to provide me with more than just the bare minimum, when the author’s parents had not even done enough for their children’s survival. For years, my parents have toiled after me, spending countless hours invested in my future. There were and still are so many things that my parents do for me, as I have always been their top priority, something that I have felt since my childhood, and something that continues to give me strength and confidence. Jeanette’s memoir reveals that her parents had barely tried to make her or her siblings a priority, “He picked up a knife too, tossing it from hand to hand. Then he knocked the knife out of Moms hand, dropped his own knife and wrestled her to the floor. We kids pounded on Dads back and begged him to stop, but he ignored us.” (122). After reading this, I found my self thinking, “Would my parents ever put me through something traumatic like this?”, the answer is no, as it has always been their choice to support me on a mental and physical level. Jeanettes parents were hardly playing the “parent” roll, at most times they did not even consider that their children’s lives have been in their own hands. I have always been very grateful for the lifestyle that my parents give to me, they have always worked extremely hard to provide for our family of three, which is very different to how Jeanette describes her parents. “I never believed in Santa Claus. None of us kids did. Mom and Dad refused to let us. They couldn’t afford expensive presents,… So they told us all about how other kids were deceived by their parents” (39). Its unfortunate that Jeanettes parents could not afford Christmas presents, but it was shocking to me that they choose to not give their children these luxuries simply because maintaining a job and source of income to provide for their family of four children, was not a priority.

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The song “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten would be a fitting theme song for a film adaptation of The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. The lyrics of the song represent the protagonist’s struggle from disparity to finding hope and eventually being able to save herself. The song starts with the lyrics, “Like a small boat on the ocean” (Platten ln 1). Already, the relation of Jeanette being insignificant and never in control of her life, is comparable to the story told by the lyricist. At the start of the novel, the despair of the author is evident as she is at the mercy of an environment that is beyond her control. Her transformation from vulnerability into being in control of her own life, is captured by the lyrics, “Sending big waves into motion” (ln 2). All the things that happen to her eventually lead to chaos like waves that started with simple turbulence. Jeanette is constantly deflecting disasters of epic proportions that stem from the inconsistency of her childhood, showing how important basic shelter and sustenance is for the development of a healthy child. Both Platten’s song and the memoir showcase their emotional abuse as something that had been draining and destructive. The silence of victims is evident when the lyrics state, “And all those things I didn't say” (ln 9). Jeanette too was emotionally silenced by her parents, anything that had bothered her was pushed aside and manipulated, her feelings had been invalidated so often in her childhood that she became accustomed to not deeming her emotions as valid. The overall theme and message brought out in “Fight Song” mirrors the powerlessness Jeanette endured in her childhood and offers a chance to transform into a powerful individual who can heal and move on from previous trauma. Jeanette’s mental state is perfectly captured in the lyrics, indicating that the song is befitting.

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In The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls constantly shares how devastating her childhood was as she was always searching for food. At one point in the book, there is nothing available for her to eat other than ham which was expired and had maggots crawling on it. The picture of a fridge is significant as it creates an idea of what the common resident-of-York Region’s fridge looks like. To compare, a situation like Jeanettes would be unheard of in York region, to know that children are eating food that is crawling with maggots. Even though it may still be happening it is highly likely, that the average resident’s fridge would be consistently stocked with lost of food available, unlike Jeanettes description of her food situation, “We now had food in the fridge, at least until it got toward the end of the month, when we usually ran out of money because neither Mom nor Dad ever mastered the art of budgeting” (76). Jeanette explains that an empty fridge was not unusual for her family whereas the fridge in the picture depicts a large variety of food. This is common as almost all York region households are very aware of nutritional needs of developing children and families, so there is lots of balance and required food groups, where as Jeanettes household never had these offerings, “Mom would soak them overnight, boil them the next day with an old ham bone to give them flavor, and for that entire week, we'd have beans for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If the beans started going bad, we'd just put extra spice in them, like the Mexicans at the LBJ Apartments always did”. While Jeanette eats dangerous food that can cause food poising, in York Region this would be deemed a health crisis and an intervention by Children’s Aid Society would come in. The comparison of those who experience food struggles and those who are fortunate enough to never have to worry about where their next meal is coming from, is evident through the average York-Region Citizen’s fridge, and Jeanette Walls’ life as described through her memoir, The Glass Castle.