The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls: An Analysis

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Children's rights have come to the forefront in recent years. However, with children’s rights becoming a controversial topic, restrictions on kids have only tightened and become inconsistent. By the time adolescents become adults, they are accustomed to such complex treatment. Practically from puberty, young people are bombarded with mixed signals about the scope of their rights and the depth of their responsibilities. This is not only evident in the real world, but as well as The Glass Castle, a novel by Jeannette Walls. Many argue that laws restrict underage children, such as Jeannette, who were more than capable of taking on more responsibility. Yet, many argue that giving children more rights can be very dangerous.
The biggest problem when …show more content…
The fact that every person is different and develops at their own pace doesn't make the creation of these policies any easier. Parents can guide their children, and let them learn from their mistakes when they need to. But when you have parents like Jeannette’s, this simply doesn't happen. Kids like her are simply thrown into a world where they have the responsibility of an adult but with the rights of a child. These complications hold many kids back and in the end lead to homelessness, extreme poverty, and persuades them to live a life of crime and violence. This all started in the Progressive Era when reform efforts and adolescent research began to change opinions about growing up. Eventually, the federal government enacted child-labor laws, keeping kids from working and ultimately making their attendance in high school mandatory. These laws were great for kids in middle and …show more content…
Children can be emotionally bullied at home, they can be taken away from activities and causes that they are incredibly passionate about all because they are not given the rights as normal citizens over the age of 18. The Glass Castle is a great example of how children can be subject to such horrible conditions. Jeannette and her siblings lived in freezing cold wet houses to dark basements for most of their childhood. Age should not dictate abilities, because there are kids at the age of nine that could live on their own, given the ability to sign contracts and get a job. Children have an incredible amount of potential that is capped by the sole fact that they are not employed, and that is not by their own faults. Jeanette's first run-in with the restrictions of child-labor laws was when she was only thirteen. She had seen a “Need help” sign in town at a jewelry store and needed the job otherwise her siblings and herself most likely would have starved. So she went in to apply but was deeply afraid she might not get the job because of her age. “I was afraid that Mr.Becker wouldn’t give me the job if he knew I was only thirteen, so I told him I was seventeen. He hired me on the spot for forty dollars a week, in cash” (Walls 215). Jeannette and her siblings are the kids that are negatively affected by these laws. If states reform
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