The Glass Castle by Riley Haxton

Self-Sufficiency

rileyhaxton2006 — 2025-02-27 18:07:15 UTC

When Jeannette is discussing the clear family issues that are present, she explains to her mom that welfare could be a possible step in the right direction, Rose Mary explains how "Welfare... would cause irreparable phycological damage to us kids." This shows the perspective of the Wall's parents perspective on welfare, and why their kids are in the situation they are. The parents believe they can be self sufficient instead of relying on the Government to provide them money, food, or shelter. Despite this however, they are not self sufficient, and suffer psychologically and physically because of the trauma of not having their needs to grow (pg. 188).

Forgiveness

rileyhaxton2006 — 2025-02-27 18:11:49 UTC

When the Walls family is having Thanksgiving at Jeannette's farm, Brian admits to his mother that "...it's really not that hard to put food on the table if that's what you decide to do." Brian clearly has faced a lot of trauma growing up, and finally gets a little bit of revenge with this public call out about his mom and his past. Although Jeannette can't fully forgive her parents, she accepts her past for what it was unlike Brian, who never even wants to see his mom, and tries to stay as far away as possible. Obviously, Brian struggles with forgiveness due to the sheer amount of extended trauma he experienced as a kid (pg. 288).

Acceptance

rileyhaxton2006 — 2025-02-27 18:13:25 UTC

Jeannette explains how when she was eating "the beans were so overcooked that they fell apart when I stuck my fork in them and so salty that I could barely force myself to swallow. I pinched my nose closed, which was the way Mom had taught us to get down things that had gone a little bit rotten." Jeannette clearly has had a very tough upbringing through not being provided for nutritionally. Even then, Jeannette accepted her reality and did what she could to stay alive by eating whatever food was in front of her no matter the condition (pg. 132).

Coming of Age

rileyhaxton2006 — 2025-02-27 18:18:26 UTC

After getting hit by here father, Jeannette realized "Nobody was ever going to do that to me again. The second was that, like Lori, I was going to get out of Welch." It was clear at this point specifically, Jeannette was fed up with everything her parents had put her through, and realized the only way to fix her situation was to leave (pg. 221).

Education

rileyhaxton2006 — 2025-02-27 18:19:32 UTC

When Jennette starts attending Welch High, she explains how "I started working on the school newspaper, The Maroon Wave. I wanted to join some club or group or organization where I could feel I belonged." Clearly, Jeannette sought what she has missed her entire life, which is security. Education provided that, and school in general, allowed Jeannette to flourish into someone who had new life meaning, and even led her into her present day career in book writing, and her career in newspaper editing (pg. 203).

Fantasy vs Reality

rileyhaxton2006 — 2025-02-27 18:27:42 UTC

The Walls family had very little rules to follow, and always had to find ways to manipulate the rules to get around things, usually the parents doing this. However, Jeannette violated one of her families personal "...unspoken rules: We were always supposed to pretend our life was one long and incredibly fun adventure." Jeannette said this to her mother when she was hungry, which according to Rose Mary, they are not supposed to do and instead, "pretend" they are not hungry, and make the best of their own situation. This indicated that although you can try to fantasize of a better more ideal life, the reality of hunger still sets in (pg. 69).