The Glass Castle By Jeannette Walls Analysis

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The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
1. At the start of the memoir Jeannette persuades her mother about taking help from her during dinner at a Chinese restaurant by saying, "I'm not rich, but I have some money. Tell me what it is you need” (Walls 4), as both of her parents were homeless living on the streets of New York. The above statement foreshadows into the future of the Wall’s family of how the parents became homeless and Jeannette was living in a very nice apartment with her husband. The statement also shows the helping of tendency of Jeannette to help her parents get off the streets and into warm and safe roofed house.

2. During a conversation between Lori and Jeannette about how many places they have lived so far in their lives. Lori sarcastically responds to the question by saying, "That depends on what you mean by 'lived. If you spend one night in some town, did you live there? What about two nights? Or a whole week?" (Jeannette 18) This is ironic because the Wall’s family had lived in different places ranging from a couple of hours, to days, to weeks, or even years. This conversation also forms as a flashback as in the start of the story Jeannette was a grown up adult. But …show more content…
Rex lying down on his death bed in his old rundown apartment has a brief conversation with Jeannette and in the middle of it says, "Never did build that Glass Castle" (Jeannette 177), to her. This shows that all Rex was working for was for nothing in the end. The glass Castle forms as a theme for the memoir because Rex all the way from the start in the desert wanted to build the castle and have a happy fulfilling life with his family. All the prospector and gold mining projects were all for this. But when the time came Rex filled the hole that they created for the castle with garbage. He also did not take care of the house he was living in, letting it rot and leak. Jeannette loses hope in Rex after he fills the hole with garbage and decides to move to New York like her
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