The Glass Castle Themes by

Cycles of Abuse

drazon444 — 2025-02-27 18:35:33 UTC

Throughout The Glass Castle, Jeannette writes about many, odd shall we say, people. However, as Jeannette's mom points out, "No child is born a delinquent, they only became that way if nobody loved them when they were kids." Some of the odd kids we're introduced to, include Billy Deel, Dinitina, and even Uncle Stanley and Rex to some extent. In Billy Deel's and Dinitina's case, they come from broken households which have almost certainly contributed to their bad tendencies and characteristics, which will certainly carry on to where they may have children, starting the cycle again. In Uncle Stanley and Rex's case though, we already see the results of that cycle assuming Erma was abusive to them, and the fact that they both have major problems which Rex seems to have passed on to Maureen.

Perseverance

drazon444 — 2025-03-03 05:09:49 UTC

The plant growing between the slightest crack between two stones, a man rolling a boulder up a hill, a rover on mars, all of those things have a little something in common called perseverance. Perseverance is persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. It is also something that someone in a situation like Jeannette's would need in bulk if they'd ever make something of themselves. Fortunately for her, it's something that Jeannette seems to have unlimited amounts of, even when faced with tougher challenges than some people face in a lifetime. One standout challenge when "Someone had slashed him apart with a knife and stolen all the money." with the him referring to a piggy bank named Oz which held Lori's, and by relation her escape fund. In the end of the book, it is also shown that most of the Walls children, through sheer perseverance, have not only survived their situation, but come out the other end successful.

Family

drazon444 — 2025-03-03 05:11:52 UTC

A big topic of importance in The Glass Castle is very clearly shown to be family. Not only is it about Jeanette's family though, but the book also touches on many other types of families and the type of people that they create. The biggest type of family the book touches on, of course with the Walls family being one of them, is a dysfunctional family. Of course though, it also shows different types of families than normal ones as well, like how the Walls siblings came together through hardship and became like a small family of their own. However, it does also touch on how you shouldn't ever give up on your family in a way, like as Rose Mary says, "You should never hate anyone, even your worst enemies," this quote along with other messages in the book showing how you should never give up on your family, no matter how bad it may be.

Forgiveness

drazon444 — 2025-03-03 05:14:01 UTC

Something the Walls children struggle with, after how they were raised, is forgiving their parents for putting them through all that happened in their earlier years. As The Glass Castle starts to come to the end, we see how each different child handles forgiveness in regard to their parents. Although it's not just prevalent in the end, but shown through Jeannette's relationship mainly with her father, with regard to what he puts her through. The Glass Castle also explores how forgiveness differs in family situations, with Jeannette admitting "I could not imagine what my life would be like without him in it. As awful as he could be, I always knew he loved me in a way no one else ever had." Though forgiveness can be hard to dole out in any situation, the familial bond is shown to undoubtedly make it easier, although not guaranteed as best shown in Brian's case.

Home

drazon444 — 2025-03-03 05:15:23 UTC

Home means many different things to many different people, and while the definition of it is simply where someone lives permanently, there's so much more to it than just where you lay your head at night. The case seems to run especially true for Jeannette and the Walls family as a whole though. They don't have a concrete place where they can stay for too long a period of time it seems. Even in the future, when Jeannette is living on Park Avenue in a stable relationship, she realizes, "Park Avenue was not where I belonged." Home, rather seems to be a shifting thing, whether that be from a physical place, or from the relationship with close ones and that bond itself.

Disillusionment

drazon444 — 2025-03-03 05:17:07 UTC

One word that describes Jeannette's journey throughout her life in The Glass Castle almost perfectly, is disillusionment. Disillusionment is a feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be. Disillusionment could be the results of looking through rose tinted glasses at something, before that illusion shatters and you finally look at something for what it really is. For much of Jeannette's early life, she sees her parents through rose tinted glasses, and she sees them as her heroes who can do no wrong, especially her father. As she grows up through, those glasses crack and crack until they shatter, and Jeannette comes to see the reality of her parents, even confronting her dad about it after he asks, "Who do you think you are? She's your mother." responding by saying "Then why doesn't she act like one? And why don't you act like a dad?"