Mary de Sousa
Ms. Prastash
English 30-1
Becoming Independent and Responsible
In the novel The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Walls explores the ideas of taking big responsibilities
at a young age. In this novel, she shows how her and her siblings had to pretty much take care of one
another growing up, since their parents were not responsible enough to do so the right way, which is
providing them with food, security, and the right education. They were all very close as a family, but
eventually Walls and her siblings grew up and realized how wrecked and screwed up their family
actually was. Walls is very specific and detailed when describing the scenarios she was put in when
growing up, including the abuse and danger she had to go through. The Walls family consisted of four
children and her parents, Maureen was her younger sister, Brian her younger brother, and Lori was the
oldest, her mom is Rosemary, and her dad's name was Rex. Rosemary only cared about herself, and was
very childish when it came to acting like an adult, her behavior forced her children to assume the
responsibilities of an adult shortly after they learn to walk. Rex was a very skilled man, and smart
enough to get a job, but he had an alcohol problem that lured him away from his responsibilities. Some
of the ideas developed by the author about the ways of taking responsibilities are how the Walls kids
have to look for their own food in the garbage, how they have to get money on their own way because
their parents spend it on alcohol and pointless things, and how they have to take responsibilities for
their parents acts.
The Walls family is very poor, Jeannette parents do not really worry about...