Glass Castle Themes by Patrick The Star

Promises rely heavily on trust and breaking promises can destroy said trust.

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:01:58 UTC

This image represents the trash that filled the Glass Castle's foundation. It's also a symbol of how many promises Rex has broken, exemplifying the theme of broken promises.

Parental neglect causes great suffering and adversity for the children whose needs are not met.

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:04:50 UTC

This image represents the house in Welch that the Walls family lived in. The messy, horrid conditions show just how neglected the Walls children were and the suffering they must have went through.

Independence is the act of becoming reliant on oneself rather than others and is an important step to becoming an adult.

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:11:58 UTC

Jeannette worked at The Phoenix newspaper initially after arriving in New York. This is the start of her new, self-sufficient life away from her parents; this exemplifies the theme of independence.

There is a sharp contrast between our boundless, creative imagination and the cold, hard reality we all face.

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:16:30 UTC

The image above represents how Rose Mary wants to view the world and what it's really like, illustrating the theme of imagination vs reality. On the right, it looks vibrant and exciting, like the adventure Rose always claimed her life was. On the left is the monotone reality full of hardship she experiences.

We often give love freely without conditions to the people we trust most, like our parents.

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:23:11 UTC

Family is often the main reason for unconditional love. Jeannette, for example, blindly trusted her father for years despite all of his faults solely because he was her father. Even after Jeannette became aware of her mother's lack of parental guidance, she still supported Rose Mary with necessities out of her own pocket.

Disappointment breaks our trust in other things or people due to unmet expectations.

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:25:30 UTC

Rex's rampant alcoholism was the main cause of his family's poor situation. It represents his irresponsibility and lack of care for his children. As a result, the children can only feel disappointment in their 'father'. This is a prime example of the theme of disappointment.

Full Explanation

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:29:40 UTC

In The Glass Castle, the Walls family lived a poor lifestyle. Rex Walls repeatedly promised that things would improve and that he was working towards building a better life for all of them. For example, he and his children dug out the foundation for the promised glass castle he planned to build. However, the foundation started to fill with trash. Although Rex claimed that "he was going to hire a truck to cart the garbage to the dump all at once," he never did (Walls, 155). As a result, "the hole for the Glass Castle's foundation was slowly filled with garbage," (Walls, 155). Rex has lied countless times throughout this memoir without ever following up on most of his promises. As the memoir progressed, the children slowly lost what little trust they had in him to begin with.

Full Explanation

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:39:53 UTC

The Walls children were heavily neglected in The Glass Castle. Despite the opportunities to feed their kids, Rose Mary often was too selfish to try any. Meanwhile, Rex Walls spends their money faster than they earn it. The combination of these two resulted in food insecurity and poor living conditions for the children. Rose even refused to sell a ring for money because "at times like these, self-esteem is even more vital than food," (Walls, 186). Her desire to please herself is far greater than meeting the needs of her children, demonstrating parental neglect. Their house in Welch was also in terrible condition. "Everything in the house was damp. A fine green mold spread over the books and papers and paintings that were stacked so high and piled so deep you could hardly cross the room," (Walls, 185). The parents could have also reached out for help from local churches, but they just decided not to.

Full Explanation

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:53:20 UTC

Throughout most of the memoir, Jeannette had great faith in her father's claims and promises. She trusted him even when Brian and Lori both started having doubts about Rex's reliability. Rex specifically "told me I was his favorite child, but he made me promise not to tell Lori, Brian, or Maureen. It was our secret," (Walls, 78-79). Jeannette replied with absolute faith, claiming that "I would never lose faith in him. And I promised myself I never would," (Walls, 79). This exemplifies the blind, unconditional love between a parent and child. Despite all of Rex's faults and mistakes, Jeannette wholeheartedly believed in him until he finally crossed the last line later on in the memoir. Additionally, Jeannette, despite being neglected by her mom, strives to connect with Rose Mary and even goes as far as to support her. These actions show the power of unconditional, familial love.

Full Explanation

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 22:56:35 UTC

Lori, Jeannette, and eventually Brian all moved to New York to make a living for themselves and escape their vagrant lifestyle. Lori initially worked as a waitress and then "as a freelance artist specializing in fantasy," (Walls, 274). Jeannette worked for the news and "met real estate developers, agents, heiresses, fund managers, lawyers, clothing designers, professional basketball players, photographers, movie producers, and television correspondents" to interview (Walls, 270). Brian became a police officer and was eventually promoted to "a decorated sergeant detective, supervising a special unit that investigated organized crime," (Walls, 286). These all show how the Walls children moved on from their terrible childhood to build their own life in New York, achieving independence and success with their own bare hands.

Full Explanation

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 23:05:21 UTC

In The Glass Castle, one of the Walls family rules is to treat every experience like a fun, exciting adventure. It is their way of coping with the hard, adverse environment they choose to live in. Sometimes, however, their true feelings bubble up to the surface. Rose cracks and screams "'Do you think I like living like this? Do you?'" (Walls, 69). The quote shows the stress Rose is under as she lives her vagrant life, despite all the positivity she radiates most of the time. This break in character comes from the most carefree and positive out of all of them. Regardless of all they do to cover up reality with their imaginary adventures, reality's ugly visage peeks through every so often.

Full Explanation

bella12acer — 2025-02-27 23:05:38 UTC

Throughout the memoir, The Glass Castle, Rex Walls repeatedly fails to meet his family's expectations. All he does is gamble and drink despite claiming to be developing The Prospector, a machine to find gold for them. Rex claims that he's working on it every time he goes to the bar, but no progress is ever made on anything except his blood alcohol level. Even early in the memoir, Brian had already lost faith in him. When Rex asked "'Have I ever let you down?'", "Brian said, 'Yes,'" in response to Rex (Walls, 78). Later on, Rex almost whored Jeannette out for $80. Not even 10 pages later, Jeannette "found Oz on the floor. Someone had slashed him apart with a knife and stolen all the money," (Walls, 228). It was quickly revealed that Rex was the culprit. He somehow finds a way for his kids to be even more disappointed in him than they already are by stealing their hard-earned money. Even at the end of the book, Brian muses that "'it's really not that hard to put food on the table if that's what you decide to do,'" expressing his disappointment in his parents.