Book Analysis ~~ The Glass Castle ~~

I recently read “The Glass Castle”, Jeannette Walls’s memoir/autobiography, and I wrote my reflections on how her parents’ philosophy eventually motivated her, as well as her siblings, to go to New York. Though it doesn’t exactly qualify as a book analysis, it was the closest I could come to a title that wasn’t extremely long. I’ve also written a book review on “The Glass Castle”, which can be found here. This is my mini-essay:

In “The Glass Castle”, a memoir by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette’s parents encouraged their children to be independent and follow their dreams, though their actions didn’t always support this philosophy. Ultimately, this philosophy led Jeannette, Brian, and Lori to go to New York on their own despite their parents’ unwillingness to let them go.

Jeannette’s parents had a lot of philosophies that made Jeannette and her siblings more independent and better able to follow their dreams. For example, Jeannette’s father once tossed Jeannette into the lake, rescuing her whenever she sank only to toss her back in, so that Jeannette would learn to swim. Meanwhile, Jeannette’s mother didn’t like the clean city water, explaining that unfiltered water was better because “Water from the wild helped build up your antibodies.” Her mother also thought that “Suffering when you’re young is good for you . . .” Her parents also taught Jeannette a lot, as well as making her more responsible. Jeannette’s father was very knowledgable when he wasn’t drunk, and he taught the three siblings a lot about math and science, while Jeannette’s mother taught them a lot about living in the wild. Jeannette had learned how to cook hot dogs by the time she was three! Eventually, Jeannette, Brian, and Lori went to New York against their parents’ wishes–their father even stole their money for going to New York!–because of these philosophies. Jeannette’s parents also taught the three not to be materialistic, and instead to do what they loved. They were independent and had been taught to follow their dreams, so they went to New York despite their parents’ reluctance, and they had the ability to survive their because of everything they had learned because of their upbringing as well as their parents.

Book Review ~~ The Glass Castle ~~

Today I read the book “The Glass Castle,” Jeannette Walls’s memoir of her life. If it had been fiction, I would still have enjoyed the book; since the book was a true story, it was a lot more real to me and showed me how hard some kids’ lives can be (even though I found Jeannette’s struggles to be full of hardship, there are people with lives far worse than hers). Despite all the problems in her life, though, many stemming from her family, the story really illustrated how close-knit her family was, even though her father was an alcoholic and the family was quite poor. Her story about her father, who was homeless on the streets at the time, managed to earn $1,000 from gambling in a week but gave it all to Jeannette because she hadn’t earned enough to go to college, was truly heartwarming, and the book was filled with times she and her siblings worked together to accomplish something; she and Brian teamed up against some bullies, and Jeannette, Brian, and Lori managed to travel to New York City because of how close the three siblings were. Overall, I thought the story was amazingly well-written, and I recommend it to just about everyone who wants to read a good, fairly long story. I would rate it 9.9/10.