Glass Castle Jeannette Wall\'s

Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls

There has always been much controversy regarding the relationship between parents and children through the ages. While some consider that parents are responsible for their children material upbringing and that they need to provide their offspring with the basic needs, others believe that parents primarily need to focus on the intellectual upbringing of their children. Jeannette Walls' situation is self-explanatory when considering parents who would rather induce creative thinking in their children instead of trying to provide them with basic needs.

Even with the fact that most people are inclined to associate parents with teachers and children with pupils, the truth is that children can also take on the role of teachers. Through adopting such attitudes they can instruct their parents in regard to their limits and to their responsibilities. The fact that Jeannette's parents, Rex and Rose Mary, attempted to provide their children with a different way of parenting made it difficult for the girl and her siblings to understand what their role was in the family. Although this is not necessarily the best way to raise a child, society promotes the belief that parents need to raise children in ways that are not consistent with how they actually want to behave.

One of the most important roles of children and parents alike is related to how each group needs to accept the other. Rose Mary tells her daughter that "your father and I are who we are" (Walls 5) in order to have her understand that it is wrong for her to keep hiding. Jeannette's mother had always considered that the girl was "mature" (Walls 11) for her age and did not hesitate to provide her with missions that would normally be performed by an adult. It is probably because of this that Jeannette burned herself badly while she was cooking hot-dogs as a little girl. When looking at things from this perspective it becomes logical that society wants to impose a series of relatively uncomfortable and limiting legislations on children.

3. Jeannette Walls experienced the hardships of being homeless from a first person perspective. Even with this, she hesitated to explain her attitude at the moment when she started an argument with Professor Fuchs as a result of the fact that the tutor understood that Jeannette claimed that "homeless people want to live on the streets" (Walls 257). The teacher was unable to comprehend that Jeannette had a much more complex understanding of homeless people and thus decided to associate the girl with a stereotype, as she most probably considered that the student originated from a privileged environment.

Jeannette is particularly interested in social acceptance and she feels that it would be impossible for someone like her mother or her father to be accepted by a demanding society that is unwilling to understand people's behavior as long as they are unwilling to put across socially accepted behavior. One can even say that the professor was a hypocrite at the time when she asks Jeannette what she knows "about the hard-ships and obstacles that the underclass faces" (Walls 257). It is probably this attitude that influences Jeannette to keep quiet. The girl feels that people like professor Fuchs are actually the ones who will never be able to understand homeless people.

Jeannette is not necessarily frustrated with who her parents are, as she is actually irritated with society's attitudes and with people's tendency to discriminate in spite of the fact that they are mostly unable to understand others. Her reluctance to speak is also caused by the fact that she is upset with her attitude and with the fact that she is inclined to deny her background.

7. The Walls family is dysfunctional because Rex and Mary Rose are unable to see further than their personal objectives. They cannot understand that their behavior reflects negatively on her children. Jeannette is a happy case, but she is also tormented as a result of trying to pose as someone she is not. While the family's dysfunctional condition does not initially prevent them from being satisfied with their situation, things gradually become uncontrollable and these people experience more and more hardships as a consequence of their reluctance to balance their lives.