The Walls parents are irresponsible. It’s good that they allow their children freedom, it’s only necessary that a child has some form of independence, but they take it too far. Rose Mary allows her daughter to cook by herself whenever she’s only three years old. This results in Jeannette being hospitalized for burns after the kitchen catches fire. Immediately afterwards, Rex takes her out of the hospital before she’s done recovering. They also let these children run around completely on their own whenever they’re hardly older than ten, something Jeanette talks about while they’re living in Battle Mountain.  Not to mention that Rex repeatedly gets drunk around the children and lashes out violently towards Rose Mary right in front of them. That’s not to say Rose Mary isn’t irresponsible either. She lets flies and cockroaches swarm inside of her house, she won’t patch Jeanette up after she gets a bad gash in her knee in Battle Mountain, etc. To be a good parent you need to have some basic responsibility, something these two lack.

That being said, I’ve noticed there’s a certain level of self awareness within the Walls family. On page 116, Jeanette tells Rex that what she wants for her birthday is for him to stop drinking. He seems to sink into himself after she says this, and says she must be really disappointed in him. On page 69, Rose Mary has a breakdown upon discovering her children have resulted to eating margarine to keep themselves fed. She says she doesn’t like living like this, referring to their poor and unhealthy lifestyle. To me this self awareness feels like a glimmer of hope, like they could become better if they just did something about it. Maybe it’s the little things they do for their children, the things many would consider kind, that act as some sort of compensation for the horrible things they’ve done. How Rose Mary teaches Lori to paint, or how Rex lets his children “claim” stars. How they encourage them to be tough and independent, even if it’s through some somewhat questionable means.

Do I believe Rose Mary and Rex are bad parents? To be blunt, yes I do. Do I understand it’s not completely their fault? Yes, I do. Things like addiction, which Rex clearly suffers from, can tear a family to pieces. Do I recognize that they do some things right? Yes, I do. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t found the two of them charming at times. However, I don’t think this excuses any of the bad things they’ve done. Nobody should put a child through the lives that Jeannette, Lori, and Brian had to live. Do I believe that these two are redeemable? Well, that’s not my choice to make. That’s up to their children, not me. I do believe, though, that people can change. As mentioned earlier, there’s a level of self awareness that Rose Mary and Rex exhibit. If they took the time to realize their faults and do something about it, I do believe that they could become better people and better parents. The only antidote to despair is action, and it’s about time that they take it.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: she is irresponsible. Rose Mary refuses to get a job despite being perfectly capable of doing so. In fact, she quits her teaching job after having her certificate renewed. This job is one of the few things keeping their family fed. Her own children recognize this, and beg her to not quit her job. She asks Lori and Jeannette why don’t they get jobs, why does she have to be the responsible one? Mind you, Jeanette is only twelve when this happens. The only reason she quits is so she can have more free time to herself. When the children find her a diamond ring, she refuses to sell it despite that being their plan. She says she wants to keep it. When their food is infested with maggots she tells her children to get over it and eat it anyway. She’s dismissive, irresponsible, and selfish.

I hate to sound so unsympathetic towards both Rex and Rose Mary whenever discussing these sort of things. Truth be told I do understand what they’ve gone through, and I understand their experiences are what have shaped them into who they are now. I also understand they can be kind, and that they have done a few good things for their children. However, their own traumas and the few good things they’ve done never have and never will excuse their actions. I know people who have gone through similar things to Rose, and they’re nothing like her. Same goes for Rex. They’re kind, caring, empathetic, they learn from their mistakes, unlike the Walls’ parents who seem to be stuck in a cycle. Experience is not an excuse for bad actions. 

Rose Mary’s irresponsibility, selfishness, and dismissive attitude of her children’s problems is a serious issue. If you are to be a parent, you need to be responsible, be willing to make sacrifices, and be willing to listen to your child when there’s something wrong. These are traits that Rose Mary lacks, and for this reason I don’t believe she’s a good parent. 

Rosemary is a scared and forcefully trying to have a positive outlook for her self avoiding her children because she more worried about her self esteem than her family because when brain and Jeannette scavenge found a diamond ring that could provide the walls family with food and other necessities but  Rosemary refused to sell it for her selfish reasons.  Jeannette proposed to her mother  to leave her husband Rosemary reacted as she has no power to do anything by herself this episode shows she is refusing to change her ways it also showed she less inferior the her husband  pg (186-188). Rosemary started to work for her own personal greed because she used her money for items on layaway for herself pg(197).Rose Mary is actions is divesting to read how she is always hypocritical when to tell Jeannette about avoiding other people comments.

Rex and Rosemary have changed throughout the part Welch I had lost faith that parents can change and had destroyed their own family by hurting their own children. I wonder about Rosemary childhood because through this part of the glass castle I had incite of Rex past not Rosemary. Jeannette , Lorie had left as soon as they to be away from their own parents on their own choice because of all their parents choices and decisions. I can't believe that Rex and Rosemary Will not get their act together and stop neglecting their own children . How will brain and Lorie survive when Jeannette and Lorie leave.  

Rosemary is confusing as a parent because she pretends that life's an adventure and doesn't care about her children; all Rosemary cares about is her self-esteem and her potential  for her art career.  Lori allowed her parents to live with her and Maureen  when Rex and Rosemary were kicked out, because of their own selfish reasons, from a boarding house and a flop house. Lori saved herself from insanity by telling  her mother to leave pg (252-254) and Rosemary moved backed into their white van with her husband. Jeannette suggest ideas for her mother to move back to West Virginia or back to Phoenix at a coffee shop and use her resources to get back on her feet but Rosemary  quotes “I’ve spent my life taking care of other people ;now it's time to take care of me” pg (258-259)  .I believe Rosemary is addicted to adventure and living in the streets because after Rex  battled tuberculosis and he received a job as a maintenance man. Rex had a stable home ,a job, and was staying sober longer than the detox in Phoenix. Rosemary convinced Rex to quit and go back to being homeless back in the city and the hardships of the city forced Rex to go back to drinking alcohol pg(262). Rosemary needs help I believe she is a manipulating person ,weak and she will follow Rex dragging down the rest of the family with her wants and desires. Rosemary lied to her children and needed them to take care of her because of her own greed. She owns land in Texas, a house in Phoenix, a two carat diamond ring and wanted Jeannette to borrow  a million dollars from her fiance to buy her uncle Jim”s land in Texas.  Rosemary  wanted to have it for the family and was disappointed in Jeannette for asking her for a favor pg(272-273). I believe Rex was destroying his family from the alcoholic consumption, it open my eyes to see that Rosemary caused more physical damage to her children.

Rex was not the best father but he changed ;I respected him through this part of the Glass Castle because in bad situations people are forced to change while rex was in the hospital learning and pondering about Mortality and the nature of the cosmos and the chaos theory and believing there's a god pg (260-261) and when recovered he a stable a job as a repairman , lived in a apartment and stop drinking alcohol but it never lasted long. I wish Rex would accepted and take the initiative to change on his own. He should have accepted his presents that Jeannette give him on Christmas instead of leaving Lori”s apartment pg (262-263). I believe Rex was trying for what he had even through he quit his job he helped Jeannette  finish school by helping her pay the rest of her school by playing poker he might have not provided as a parent but he wanted his little girl to secede in a education  pg (264-265). Rex may have lived the life he wanted being married to Rosemary and lived providing for his children but his actions throughout this book were unacceptable as a parent. I felt bad when Rex passed away from his rare tropical disease because how would Rosemary , Brain , lori and Jeannette react without their father in the world. Rex tried his best even through he struggle with his flaw of alcohol  he was very smart and hoped he had help Jeannette before died two week later pg(277-279).

Rex and Rosemary are not ideal parents but I believe through this book that all families  struggle it doesn't matter if you are rich,or poor or want to be homeless Jeannette , brain , Lori , Maureen have learned life lessons with their family even though the Wall’s children left home at a young age. Their life showed them how they are going to be parents in the future from life lessons they learned as children. The only thing I wished Rex and Rosemary did differently was try to helped their children more than themselves. Rex and Rosemary have different qualities as parents some good and bad but that relationship had destroyed the family as the children grow up a parent role changes. What do people call a family? Rex and Rosemary were a family thick and thin even thorough their children had lives of their own; a family always stay together and a family relationship grows. 

     

It seems as though creating a distance between themselves and their parents has improved the relationship between the Walls family. Not perfectly of course, after all Maureen practically goes mad upon being kicked out of the house and no longer talks to the rest of the family. Getting out and having their own places, their own families, their own jobs, has significantly improved the relationship between this broken family. Sometimes there are people that you can really only handle in small doses, and it’s clear that for their children Rex and Rose Mary are two of those people. They come together as a family on Christmas and Thanksgiving, Rex and Rose Mary call their children to check in every now and again, and there’s even what feels like a moment of reconcilement between Jeannette and Rex before Rex passes away. With some distance this family handles itself better.