Loss Of Innocence In The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls

Words: 601
Pages: 3

Going to school, playing with friends, believing in fairy tales, and enjoying life are some of the inimitable parts of being a child. Children should be able to be free spirited with nothing to worry about on their mind. However, in some cases children lose their innocence way to soon. In her memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls develops an emotional theme of the loss of innocence between four siblings who struggle to find their way through life. Jeannette, Brian, Lori, and Maureen are all siblings who didn't get lucky when it came to innocence and childhood. Since their parents were too lazy to work they had no money so Christmas was a rough holiday for them. Most of the children in the world are head over heals excited on the night of december 24 for a jolly old man called Santa Claus to come and give them gifts. However, things are not like that in the Walls household. This is shown when Jeannette states, “I never believed in Santa Claus”( ). She then goes on and says that he mom didnt allow any of the kids to believe in him. It's crazy how a parent would want to deprive their child of a main source of joy and innocence. …show more content…
Not allowing the to believe in santa is just one small part of a much larger picture. Another part is that they didn't care for their children the way they should have. Specifically Rose Mary who mentions a heartbreaking way she goes about raising her children by saying, :Suffering when you're young is good for you..”( ). Jeannette also mentions that her mom just ignored them when they cried. This absolutely took the innocence right away from these poor kids. They deserve to be coddled and taken care of when they are small. Any child who is forced to take care of themselves is definitely growing up way too